Split (1)

train · 64k rows

id stringlengths 4 8	title stringlengths 0 255	metadata dict	text stringlengths 0 12.6M
10846698	Look This Way Forever	{ "Archive Warning": "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings", "Category": "M/M", "Characters": "Kuroko Tetsuya, Aomine Daiki, Kagami Taiga, Momoi Satsuki", "Fandom": "Kuroko no Basuke \| Kuroko's Basketball", "Language": "English", "Rating": "General Audiences", "author": "by deliciousshame", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-07T00:00:00", "words": "3,126", "Additional Tags": "Alternate Universe - Artists, AoKuro Week 2017, AoKuro Week", "Relationship": "Aomine Daiki/Kuroko Tetsuya", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": "AoKuro Week 2017, Perfomance Arts AU", "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	He only comes because Kagami-kun tells him to. While he can appreciate the skills and effort it takes for one to become a talented dancer, it doesn’t especially catch his interest most of the time. Still, he respects Kagami-kun’s professional opinion, and if he says this representation is worth it, then it surely is. That’s how he found himself sitting at the back of a small theatre, watching the curtain rises over a black stage and a pair of performers. Tetsuya spares a minute to wonder at how hard dancing must be when one is a woman as buxom as the one standing next to her partner, a tall, dark man, before the show starts. Usually, when he goes to dance representations, Tetsuya finds himself lost in the music and often forgets to watch the dancers, but no one in the room could possibly ignore the presences on the stage. Their every move demands the whole room’s attention. He’s entranced, like every single other person in the room.Time flies like it always does in the presence of true art, but there is one moment, only a few seconds, when Tetsuya feels like his eyes meet the male dancer’s. It’s almost impossible, what’s with him being all the way back and shrouded in darkness on top of being generally unnoticeable, and yet Tetsuya can read in those dark eyes the thrill of the dance, rising exhaustion and love of his craft, all that on top of what he can’t discern.Then the connection breaks as he seamlessly slides into another movement.Tetsuya thinks he might be in love. _____________________He goes home and starts writing. He knows he has to do it while inspiration strikes. He lets the notes and the dance moves stir his pen. He usually writes the lyrics first, but tonight it’s a melody that rings in his ears, begging to be put to paper and then played. The lyrics aren’t far. They lurk at the back of his head, but he’s not there yet, and it’s late. He’ll work on them tomorrow. _____________________“So, how was it? They’re good, right?”Tetsuya slurps on his milkshake and stays calm. “It was fine.”Kagami-kun stares at him like he just insulted his mother. “It was fine. You went to see Momoi and Aomine, and you thought it was fine!? Have you secretly been thinking I suck since the day we met?”Tetsuya is offended. “Of course not. You’re a very talented dancer.”“If I’m very talented, they can’t just be fine. I’ve been dancing for a few years. They’re both classically trained ballet dancers from dancing families. They’ve been at it since they were four. I know when I’m outclassed, okay? I wouldn’t have sent you see someone that isn’t amazing anyway.”Ballet dancers? “That wasn’t ballet.”Kagami-kun rolls his eyes at him. “Wow, you managed to notice that much. From what I heard, they were really good, but Aomine wasn’t into it, so they went rogue together. Pissed off their families and all. Gotta love the art world. They’re doing more contemporary styles now.” Lovers defying their families to do what they’re passionate about together. It would make for a beautiful musical. “They must be a formidable couple.”Kagami-kun snorts. “You could say that. Momoi is pretty nice, but Aomine can be a pain to deal with.”“Which is which?” If Kagami-kun is going to give Tetsuya the life stories of strangers, he would like to know at least this much. “Aomine is the guy. Aomine Daiki. Momoi Satsuki is the girl.”Aomine-kun is his name. “I see.”“…Is there something going on here? Am I missing something?”“No.”Damn it, he answered too quickly. Kagami-kun is frowning. This isn’t good. He should change the subject before this worsens. “Don’t you have a performance coming up? When is it again? Should I come?”“…Well, I do have a thing coming up, and you should totally be there. I’ll text you the address later when the details are confirmed.”His distraction worked. Tetsuya is good. “I’ll be there.”_____________________Tetsuya failed. “What is this?”“It’s the thing I told you about.”This is not the kind of “thing” Tetsuya expected. “Why are those people here too?”“It’s a gathering. It’s full of other artists, you’ll fit right in.”Tetsuya does not think he’ll fit right in with all these living models of human perfection, all tall and slightly muscular and graceful. Damned dancers. He’s small and pale and unseen most of the time. He would stand out like a sore thumb if someone could somehow notice him. He always enjoyed the part of Kagami-kun that never held the fact that he was a bit too normal against him. Kagami-kun never judged him for anything but his talent. It’s just that sometimes, he doesn’t notice things he should because of it. Like this time.They are in a small pub with a small clear area in a corner. It’s probably used for karaoke. Tetsuya orders some food from a waitress that seems to resent him for interrupting her attempts at flirting with another guest. He sits down and looks around their table. Or he would, but some people leave for the karaoke corner? Are they singing? Is that why Kagami-kun brought him here? He throws an interrogating look at him, but Kagami-kun shushes him with a move and gestures for him to keep looking over there. So he does. There’s a blond man, whom he had taken for another dancer, reciting lines. An actor? Are they doing a play? Here? Maybe just some improvisation? He’s quickly joined by a black-haired man, and they get into what seems like a practiced sketch. Their whole table is watching the two actors, as do quite a few of the other patrons. They’re pretty good, and Tetsuya claps politely when they’re done. They exit the area and are quickly replaced by other members of this gathering. Tetsuya gets what is happening now. The owner is probably a friend of one member or another, and they’re using the place to hold their party. That’s okay. Tetsuya much prefers to watch all those people perform than have to talk to them, especially regarding the dancer that caught his eyes, who is currently chatting with his girlfriend. That would just be awkward.After a while, Kagami-kun taps on his shoulder. “You’re up next.”Tetsuya freezes. “What.”“It’s gonna be your turn.”“No it’s not.”Kagami-kun grins at him, that jerk. “Yes it is. It’s that kind of gathering. It would be super rude of you not to perform.”Right in his weak point. Tetsuya does not want to be rude. “Am I supposed to sing a capella?”“I brought your guitar.”Kagami-kun is far too pleased with himself. “You couldn’t have.”“You need a better roommate. I asked and he gave it to me.”Ogiwara-kun is going to hear from him. You don’t just hand over a musician’s instrument to some stranger. Not that Kagami-kun is a stranger, but the point still stands.“You really want me to go over there and sing.” Really. Now. In front of him.“Yup. In fact, take your guitar now, they’re almost done.”Tetsuya pulls out the guitar from its case. “Why did you even bring me here?”“Don’t worry about it. Just go!”Tetsuya still wants to complain. He didn’t even get to prepare anything. He just has to improvise. At least he has his own guitar. Using a familiar instrument will help.He gets into the right head space. Without his conscious will, his fingers start playing the opening notes of his newest composition. His public doesn’t know they’re the first to hear that one song. Hopefully he won’t mess up. It goes as well as it could be expected. Tetsuya does not mess up his song despite his lack of familiarity with it. He only glances in his direction once. He doesn’t want to be serenading a stranger here. Still, when he looks over there, trying his hardest to make it just another casual glimpse at his audience, he finds Aomine-kun staring back at him, and his heart skips a beat that gratefully doesn’t translate into his singing. Of course Aomine-kun is looking. Everyone at their table is. It doesn’t mean anything. The song ends. He’s met with the same kind of polite applause everyone else got, so he figures he did decently. “Hey, I never heard that one.”That’s Kagami-kun, obviously still too pleased with himself. “It’s a new composition.”“It was pretty good.”Tetsuya could do without Kagami-kun’s overenthusiastic back pats or his arm holds, but since it’s Kagami-kun, he allows it. For a little while. “Please let go of me.”“Nope. I know you like it, don’t be shy.”Great, he’s blushing now. He needs new friends. “So that’s Kuroko-kun! It’s a pleasure to meet you! I’m Momoi Satsuki! That’s Dai-chan! Don’t mind him, he’s got no manners.”Aomine-kun rolls his eyes at her. “I’m the one with no manners here, right.”Tetsuya glares at Kagami-kun. He never told him they knew each other. Tetsuya thought he was just sharing dance gossip. Worse, they know him. What did Kagami-kun tell them. “I’m Kuroko Tetsuya. It’s a pleasure to meet you too.”Kagami-kun turns his attention toward Momoi-san. “Your show went well?”But it’s Aomine-kun who answers. “Of course it did, who do you think you’re talking to?”“I wasn’t talking to you.”“Too bad, I replied anyway. What are you gonna do about it?”Momoi-san shakes her head. “I’m sorry about them. They’re been like that around each other since they entered the same competition and Kagami-kun got second place behind Dai-chan. Poor Dai-chan got spooked.”“When was that?” Tetsuya never heard about that. That’s surprising. “A few months ago, I think.”“I see.” Tetsuya sort of remembers Kagami-kun telling him about winning a prize around that time, but no words about someone like Aomine-kun.“Never mind that, tell me about you! It’s rare for this group to see new faces. How did you and Kagamin meet?”“It’s not much of a story. We went to the same high school. He saw me at an open mic and recognized me. We went from there.”“Oh, I see. And we did you start dating?”Tetsuya chokes on his glass of water. “Excuse me?”Momoi-san hands him her handkerchief. “You don’t have to worry about it. We’re a pretty open bunch. In fact, who’s sleeping with who is a bit of a local sport. I’m just curious about the man that caught Kagamin’s heart!”Kagamin. “We’re not dating.”Momoi-san lets out a polite little laugh. “Are you sure? Because he seems very fond of you.”Kuroko gives her as much side eye as he can without being rude to someone he just met. “As far as I know, Kagami-kun is uninterested in men.”Momoi-san stares at him with wide eyes. “You’re kidding.”“I’m not.”“He’s not even bi?”“Not as far as I know. Contrarily to what you seem to believe, I don’t really care.”“Even though he’s a dancer?”“You’re being prejudiced. Also, what would your boyfriend think about that kind of talk?”She frowns. “My who?”It’s Tetsuya’s turn to be confused. “Aomine-kun? Kagami-kun said you were together since childhood.”“No! Well, yes, but not like that! Damn it, this always happens! I need to arrange a duo with my girlfriend. Maybe that would help.”“Oh.”It’s Momoi-san to give him the side eye. “You’re not straight. I mean, I already knew that, you never even once looked down my cleavage, but I’m even more sure now.”Why is he having this conversation with a complete stranger? Why is he here? Kagami-kun owns him so much. “And that matters because...?”“As I was saying, most people here aren’t? They might be interested to know that. And we really thought you were Kagamin’s boyfriend even before tonight. He was always talking about you.”There is apparently an assembly of unnaturally attractive dancers (more or less) that likes to speculate about his and Kagami-kun’s sex life. How is this happening. “This has been very pleasant, but I think I’m going to take my leave now. Good evening. Kagami-kun, I’m going.”Kagami-kun takes a few seconds out of his increasingly agitated argument with Aomine-kun to look at him. “What, why? Don’t go, the night is just getting started.”“I’m sorry, but I really have to go.” Nothing good is going to come out of this thing. He’s starting to get scared by the glint in Momoi-san’s eyes. Also, he thinks the blond actor might be looking his way, and that’s another thing he doesn’t want to have to handle. “I’ll walk you to the station. You’re not that familiar with the area, right?”Now that he knows, he can see how people could interpret Kagami-kun’s well-meaning concern as romantic interest. They’re wrong, but he can see it. “I managed to find my way here, I’ll manage to get back.”Kagami-kun snorts. “Yeah, thirty minutes after everyone else. I know you just tried your “I’ve been there since the beginning” shtick again. You got lost, admit it.”“You really don’t have to bother.”“Yes, Kagamin, forget it. Dai-chan will go.”“What! Satsuki, the hell!”“We have practice early tomorrow, and if I don’t send you to bed now you’ll just sleep right through your alarm. Go, go!” She gestures him out.“Fine, whatever. Let’s go.” That’s addressed to him, Tetsuya guesses. Well, there are worse things. “Okay.”At that, Kagami-kun turns toward him, but Tetsuya deliberately stares ahead and doesn’t meet his eyes. He does catch Kagami-kun exchanging a look with Momoi-san. He’s so happy he getting out of there. Until he finds himself walking down the busy street alone with Aomine-kun. That’s a sudden reminder that yes, Aomine-kun is ridiculously attractive and apparently not in a relationship with Momoi-san, not that it changes anything for him. Nothing at all. He’s a complete stranger to Aomine-kun. He’s struggling to find something interesting or intelligent to say, but he’s beaten by Aomine-kun. “You were good earlier.”Tetsuya prays that the low evening light will hide the blush blossoming on his cheeks. “You were good too.”Aomine-kun turns his head toward him. “You saw me dance? When?”“About two weeks ago? You had a representation with Momoi-san in Chiyoda.”“Oh, that. Did we meet then? I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere.”Oh, our eyes met and I knew you were my soulmate. Somehow, Tetsuya doesn’t think that would work very well. Then again, Aomine-kun is the one that brought it up, so maybe he wouldn’t sink as soon as he said it. Not that he will. Not this obviously. “We never talked, but maybe you saw me in the crowd.”“…That must be it.”The silence engulfs them again. Until “You sure? You feel… familiar.”Aomine-kun really needs to stop throwing him lines. They start sounding like, well, lines. “I do think I would remember meeting you. You’re very striking.” That’s the farthest Tetsuya is willing to go right now. Staring at someone without looking like you’re staring at them is an art Tetsuya never had to perfect, considering no one ever notices him staring. He has to be very careful while trying to figure out Aomine-kun’s reaction.Except Aomine-kun is looking at him. That makes it pretty much impossible. Tetsuya goes back to staring straight ahead, half wishing they would arrive at the station already, half hoping it’s still hours away. “So I’m striking.”Tetsuya should have kept his mouth shut. “You must be aware of this fact already. You don’t exactly blend in the crowd.”Aomine-kun shrugs. “It’s not always a blessing.”“But it helps when your career edges on you being remarkable.”“It doesn’t. It rests on me being better at it than everyone else. That doesn’t have anything to do with what I look like.”Maybe he hit a sore point. “I’m sorry. That was thoughtless of me.”Then Aomine-kun takes a second, good look at him. “What is it?”“I just don’t hang around a lot of people that apologise and are honest about it. Maybe I’ve been hanging out with the wrong crowd all my life.”“I wouldn’t know. I don’t hang around apologetic people either.”Aomine-kun laughs. It’s a beautiful sound. Tetsuya doesn’t think he could compose a song half as melodious, but he will certainly try later. “Yeah, Kagami is a lot of things, but definitely not apologetic.”What can he do to keep that smile on Aomine-kun’s lips? He doesn’t know, but he would love to. He doesn’t really know how to feel when he realises the station is in sight. But then it turns out they’re going in the same direction, so they sit side by side, like they’re two friends instead of barely acquaintances. “What are you singing.”Tetsuya stops at once. “Nothing.”“Come on, tell me. One of yours?”He has no idea what he was singing under his breath. Probably just a song to be but not there yet. “Yes.”“Sounds good. Sing it to me?”“Here?”“Sure, why not. We’re alone in the car.”That’s not strictly true. There’s a salaryman sleeping a few seats over and a couple of teenage girls chatting together at the other end. They probably wouldn’t notice the train was on fire unless smoke obstructed their view of their phones. “It’s not even done.”“So sing the part you know. I don’t care. Far from me to interrupt your creative process.”Obviously, Aomine-kun isn’t going to take no for an answer. “Fine, just don’t expect too much.”That’s how he ends up letting out a few unpredictable notes in a low voice in a train riding home, Aomine-kun sitting a bit too close for comfort, their thighs resting against each other’s. “Sorry, that’s my station.”Tetsuya blinks. How long has he been singing to himself, unaware of the passage of time? The girls have left. He blinks himself out of it. “I thought you didn’t apologise.”“I said I didn’t hang out with people that apologise, but you’re right, I’m not really one for apologies. Maybe you just bring out that side of me. Look, I really have to go or I’ll miss my stop, but here’s my phone number. Call me. Thanks for the song, it was pretty.”And he escapes through the door, leaving Tetsuya to wonder if the whole evening was a fever dream and he’ll wake up next morning sick like a dog. And yet. He clenches the piece of paper he left him. There’s a phone number but also an email address. Tetsuya smiles. He’ll have to do something about that.
10825554	Dreams and Bonds	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "F/M", "Characters": "Tyki Mikk, Fem!Harry Potter, Sirius Black, James Potter, Lily Potter", "Fandom": null, "Language": "English", "Rating": "Teen And Up Audiences", "author": "by Angelwolf11021", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-05T00:00:00", "words": "2,080", "Additional Tags": null, "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": "The Unexpected", "Collections": null, "Fandoms": "D.Gray-man, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling", "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	Tyki looked around the misty forest with a frown on his face. It was dark with a chill in the air that seemed to leech away the warmth inside of him. Tyki grimaced and began walking as he tried to figure out where he was. The forest was much too silent when even in winter, a forest had some sort of sound. Not even the wind was blowing, it made his hackles raise and his eyes narrow as he walked. He soon saw a familiar figure walking through the trees ahead of him and moved towards her. Feeling himself lighten, Tyki called out to her, "Enya!" Only for her to continue walking as if she hadn't heard him. Tyki frowned and moved faster only for Enya to seemingly do the same. It wasn't long until she stopped and played with a ring. He managed to catch up and placed his hand on her shoulder only for it to go through her. Frowning softly, he turned into his Black side and attempted to touch her only for it to fail. Enya's bright emerald eyes closed as a tear ran down her cheek, "Sirius, Mom, and Dad I need to talk with you. Please." Three spectral figures appeared as Enya twisted the cracked stone on the ring. Tyki recognized all three of them from the photo album she'd shown him. Enya smiled weakly as Sirius let out a bark-like laugh, "Took ya long enough to contact us, pu-Ow!" Enya's mother, Lily, shot a glare towards Sirius which reminded Tyki of Enya when she was angry, "Sirius Orion Black! Don't say things that like, my daughter has enough to worry about!" "Sorry, Lils," Sirius rubbed the back of his head where Lily had hit him. James Potter moved towards his daughter, but didn't attempt to touch her. Tyki could see where Enya got the shape of her eyes, her nose, and the wildness of her hair even if it was curlier than James'. Enya had tears rolling down her cheeks as James said, "This happened a lot back when we were all alive." Enya let out a watery laugh as she shook her head, "I don't doubt that," She tried to wipe away her tears, "Daddy," Her voice cracked, "I need some advice." "I know, Bambi," James looked at her sadly, "I don't like what you're doing," "But it's necessary," Lily said as she and Sirius moved towards Enya, "No matter how much it pains me to say it," "They'll hate me for this," Enya murmured no doubt speaking of the friends she'd told Tyki about. Tyki came to the realization that he was seeing what had happened to Enya during the final battle. The thought of what was coming next horrified him. Tyki felt a roar of rage leave him as the sickeningly green curse slammed into Enya's chest and sent her to the ground. Seeing her emerald green eyes that were always filled with life dull, Tyki felt something inside of him break. Even if he knew that Enya would be coming back and she was alright, Tyki couldn't stop himself from feeling despair over seeing her die even if it was only for a few short minutes. He moved towards Enya and reached out to her even if he knew his hands would just go through. Tyki grit his teeth as he heard the snake-like man that had tormented Enya for years laugh and speak of his greatness over conquering his greatest foe. Tyki glared at the woman that approached Enya to check to see if she was breath. Seeing her chest rise and fall slowly, Tyki felt relief run through them as he listened to their whispered conversation. Seeing Enya kill the man that had caused her so much trouble, Tyki felt overjoyed even as he saw Enya's eyes darken in grief. He knew exactly what Enya had felt at this moment as she had told him once she trusted him enough with her past. The cheers of those around her made Tyki inwardly growl at them. Tyki sat up as he came to and frowned as he thought of his dream. He wondered how he'd seen that even if it did give him some insight to what happened to Enya. Tyki knew he'd have to see Enya as soon as possible. He had been planning to do so since she appeared in his bedroom two days after his meeting with the rest of the family. He got out of bed as he made plans for his trip. Enya had just pulled the last of the cookies she had decided to make out of the oven when her wards went off. Putting them on the cooling rack, she took off her apron and moved towards the door while wondering if Tyki had finally met with his family. Opening the door, Enya let out a small squeak of surprise as Tyki pulled her to his chest. They stood there for awhile before Tyki murmured, "We need to talk." "Alright," Enya attempted to move only for Tyki to tighten his grip on her, "Tyki, I'm happy to see you too, but you need to let go of me. I need to close the door before any talking happens," To her surprise, Tyki frowned at her and shook his head as he said, "I don't want to let go of you." Worry ran through her upon hearing him say that. Enya tried to think of anything that could have happened that would make Tyki say something like that, but nothing came to mind. Enya tried to pull away again only for Tyki to tighten his hold even more making it a little hard to breath, "Tyki, you can hold me when we're sitting down and right now, you're making me uncomfortable." Tyki finally let go of her and walked further into the house though he stayed close. Enya closed the door and moved towards the kitchen making Tyki asked, "What are you doing?" "I'm going to make hot chocolate spiked with calming draught and whiskey since you seem to need it," Enya told him while entering the kitchen with him following her, "Plus, I need to put the cookies I made onto a plate," "You made cookies?" Tyki asked seemingly braking out of his worrisome mood. Enya nodded while waving her hand towards the cookies, "If you would be a dear, please get them onto the plate." "Alright," Tyki reached into the cupboard where she kept her plates while she went about making them hot chocolate. As soon as they were sitting, Tyki pulled her into his lap and wrapped his arms around her. Enya squirmed a bit, but soon relaxed into his hold as she asked, "What's going on Tyki? Did the Earl say something that worried you?" "No," Tyki had his face buried in her hair, "I had a dream," "What kind of dream?" Enya asked curiously while reaching out to grab her mug of hot chocolate and taking a sip of it. Tyki was silent for a few moments making Enya's worry increase. When he finally spoke, Enya found herself relaxing, "I don't know how, but I dreamt of the finale battle you spoke of. The one against Voldemort." "Oh that," Enya felt Tyki stiffen as she placed her mug back onto the table. "'Oh that'?" Tyki moved her to his side and looked at her incredulously, "Enya, what do you mean by that?" Enya smiled at him, "When a phoenix bonds with someone, they share some of their memories with them. They usually come in the form of dreams since that's the easiest time for the mind to process information." "So you bonded with me and that's why I saw your memories?" Tyki asked earning a nod from Enya, "How is that possible? Your just a witch that has a magical animal form, right?" Enya shrugged while reaching towards her mug and his. She handed Tyki his mug with a pointed look making him drink some. She drank some more of her hot chocolate before answering him, "Magical animagus' are on a diffrent level than normal animagus due to the fact we're usually more magically powerful than the regular witch or wizard. We're effectively whatever magical animal our animagus form is only with a human form. As a result, our being bonded is possible." Tyki took out his cigarette's as he got up and walked over to the window. Enya watched him as he lit one after opening the window. He took a long drag from it before finally speaking, "So what does it mean for us?" "It doesn't really mean anything other than I care for you greatly," Enya grabbed one of her cookies, "A phoenix only bonds with someone if they care for them a great deal," "Are you bonded with Allen?" Tyki asked earning a low sigh from Enya. "Not like I am with you," Enya didn't even know how to phrase it, "The bond between Allen and I is only a partial one. From what I was able to get from Fawkes before coming to this world, the ones we see as family always gain a partial bond with us," Enya took a bite of her cookie as she thought of her bond with Tyki, "We have a full bond or what is going to be a full bond," "What do you mean by that?" Tyki asked while looking at her curiously. "We're currently in the second stage of creating a bond which is a memory transfer," Enya explained feeling slightly tired as she did so, "You won't see all my memories. You'll only see just enough to get a deeper understanding of me," "Does it work both ways?" Tyki asked with a slight frown. Enya shook her head, "No. The only way I could see your memories is if you let me and the process of doing so is a bit..." Enya struggled to find words for it, "Interesting." "Interesting?" Tyki took another drag of his cigarette. "I would have to drink your blood," Enya winced as he started coughing. He stared at her with wide eyes and asked, "How the hell would that work?" Enya opened her mouth and focused her phoenix magic into her upper canines. A dull ache formed her teeth as they lengthened and became razor sharp. When they stopped, Enya had a pair of fangs. She brought her pointer finger up to the tip of one and carefully pierced the skin. She winced slightly as she removed the finger and showed Tyki the bleeding digit before stuffing it into her mouth as she removed her phoenix magic from her teeth. Enya removed her finger once her saliva had healed the cut and said, "I would bite you and take about a pint of blood before stopping. In my human form, my saliva contains the healing properties of phoenix tears." "That is both bizarre and interesting," Tyki finished his cigarette and returned to the couch, "When will the bond be completed?" Enya was a bit surprised by how well he was taking it, but decided that he'd probably heard of weirder things either because of his Noah memories or just being a Noah in general. Enya thought about it before shrugging, "It could take anytime from a few days to a few months be completed. It really depends on how much time we spend together. If we don't spend much time together, it'll become complete in around six to seven months," Enya frowned feeling a little guilty, "I'm sorry about this Tyki." "Why would you be sorry?" Tyki asked earning a look of confusion from Enya, "You didn't decide to bond with me right?" Enya shook her head as she said, "The bond just happens." "Which means it's not your fault," Tyki smiled at her, "I don't mind it," "Really?" Enya asked with surprise. "Nope," He pulled her into his lap and wrapped his arms around her, "It shows us just how close we are," Enya curled her arms around him and smiled as she leaned her full weight on him. She felt slightly guilty for not telling him that the bond came about because she was falling in love with him. She would tell him one day, but for now, she would take anytime she could get with him. She didn't see him often enough. End of one-shot! I'm thinking of calling this the phoenix universe or something.
10894182	Punishment	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "M/M", "Characters": "Hank Lawson, Evan Lawson", "Fandom": "Royal Pains", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Explicit", "author": "by Synnerxx", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2010-07-01T00:00:00", "words": "2,081", "Additional Tags": "Incest, Sibling Incest, Spanking, Belts, Rough Sex, Subdrop", "Relationship": "Evan Lawson/Hank Lawson", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	“At some point, you're going to have to forgive him.” Evan said, hands braced on the counter, shoulders tense. He hated fighting with Hank, but he was being unreasonable. Sure, what their father had done was crappy and yeah, it still stung to think about it, but Eddie was back and he was sorry. Something that Evan had thought he'd never see. He couldn't understand why Hank was being so hateful towards him. It wasn't like Hank either, to be so outright mean to someone.“At some point, you're going to have to realise that I won't.” Hank glared at him, green eyes burning with fury, as he took another drink of his beer. He couldn't understand how Evan could seemingly forgive and forget everything that Eddie R. Lawson had ever done to them and their mother. How he could just let it all go after twenty years of not caring, only to pop back into their lives and steal all their money. He couldn't understand why and frankly, he didn't want to. He just wanted Evan to stop acting like a brat to him.Evan scoffed at him. “Whatever. Hold a grudge. For the record, I tried.”Hank felt his anger rising again, boiling in his blood, so close to the surface of his skin. It was always like this nowadays. Hovering in the back of his mind in a while that it hadn't for years until he came back into their lives. He tried to shove it back down, but it was no use. It wanted out and well, who was Hank to stop it? He slammed his beer bottle down on the counter, making Evan flinch. He smirked dangerously and walked around the counter. He invaded Evan's personal space, smirk still twisting the corners of his mouth, watching as his brother struggled not to move back from him and meet his gaze.He reached out and grabbed a fistful of Evan's shirt, crushing their lips together fiercely, causing Evan to yelp in surprise and pain. Hank pinned Evan to the counter, gripping his hips tightly, knowing he was leaving bruises on the pale skin, but too angry to care. He would later. Maybe. He jerked back from the kiss to examine the damage he had done. Evan's lips were red and swollen, blood beading up in the cut from where Hank had bitten him.Seeing that Evan was opening his mouth to speak, Hank cut him off, voice rough. “Upstairs, now.”Evan looked like he wanted to protest, but snapped his mouth shut when Hank glared at him and hissed, “Go.”He obeyed and left Hank standing in the kitchen. Hank took a few deep breaths, trying to calm himself down a little. Evan deserved the punishment he was going to get tonight. He needed to be reminded who exactly was in control here and who he belonged to. Hank eyed Eddie's belt that was lying on the table, briefly considering using that on Evan. He decided not to because Evan was his and he didn't want anything of Eddie R's marking his flesh. That was Hank's job. Evan was his and he wasn't planning on sharing anytime soon.He finished off his beer and headed upstairs where Evan was waiting for him in his bedroom. He was sitting on the edge of the bed and glanced up when Hank walked in, shutting the door behind him. Evan looked like he wanted to say something again, but Hank spoke before he could. “Shut up. I don't want to hear anything you've got to say right now. You've done enough talking for tonight.”Evan frowned, but didn't say anything. Hank was in a scary mood and he didn't want to incur anymore of his wrath than he was already getting. He had a pretty good idea of what was going to happen. He wasn't looking forward to it, but he wasn't all that opposed to it either. Well, except the pain aspect of it. In some weird way, it kinda turned him on, seeing Hank so angry and dominating. It was hot.Hank gestured for him to stand up. “Get undressed.”Evan sighed and slipped out of his shirt, hesitating for a moment before letting his shorts slide off of his hips. He stepped out of the pile and kicked it away from him. Hank narrowed his eyes. “All the way.”Evan took a deep breath and tried to calm his sudden bout of nerves. There was a dark and threatening undertone to Hank's words and suddenly he was more than a little afraid of his brother. He did what he was told and allowed the boxers, his last barrier of defense, to fall to the floor and kicked it away too.“Get on the bed. Lay on your stomach.” Hank ordered.Evan complied, laying down with his arms underneath a pillow, head resting on it. Hank walked to the end of the bed, raking his gaze across his brother's lean form, watching the way the muscles tensed and relaxed underneath his skin. As he watched in silence, a flush of red made it's way down from Evan's neck, onto his shoulders, and down his back. He smirked again. So he was making Evan nervous. Good.Hank unbuckled his belt and pulled it free from his belt loops. He kept his eyes on Evan, watching the way he tensed when he heard the gentle clink of the belt buckle coming undone. Hank gathered both ends of his belt in one hand, making a loop of leather. He smacked it against the palm of his hand once, relishing in the flinch that it invoked in Evan. Evan buried his face into Hank's pillow, muffling his whimper.Hank brought the belt down hard on the unprotected skin of Evan's ass and watched as the skin instantly reddened. Evan cried out in pain, instinctively trying to jerk away from the blow. Hank swung the belt again and again, loving the red marks that appeared on Evan's flesh and the sounds Evan made were so fucking hot. Whimpers, gasps, moans. It was just like when they had sex, but this time it was more pain than pleasure. Maybe Hank should have been disturbed by how much the sight and sound of his brother in pain was turning him on, but because it was him that was inflicting it and in such an erotic way, he didn't care. Not at the current moment.After the tenth and final blow, Hank dropped the belt, panting harshly. His shoulders burned in a good way, like after a long bout of exercise. Sweat tickled the skin of his back, dripping down his spine. He stared at Evan, automatically assessing the welts on Evan's skin. They weren't bad, weren't even bleeding. They just looked red and angry. He reached out and pressed his hand against them, feeling the heat of the abused flesh, the muscles again tensing at the sting of pain. Evan hissed, pushing up against his hand.He rid himself of his clothes and walked over to his nightstand, pulling out a tube of lube. Evan didn't notice as he still had his face pressed into the pillow. Hank could hear him breathing, harsh, shaky breaths. Hank trailed his fingers down Evan's back, brushing against his spine lightly. Hank felt most of his anger drain away as he crawled back on to the bed with Evan and urged him up onto his hands and knees for him. Hank uncapped the lube and poured a generous amount of it onto his hand, rubbing it between his hands to warm it up some.He gently pressed one finger lightly against Evan's entrance, dipping in shallowly and pulling back out, trying to get Evan to relax. He kissed any part of Evan that he could reached and thrust his finger in all the away, working it in and out, stretching Evan. Evan groaned and rocked back against Hank, his own arousal growing again. Hank added another finger inside of him and wrapped his free hand around Evan's cock, stroking slowly, barely touching him, teasing. Evan whimpered, not knowing if he wanted to buck his hips forward or back. Hank's touch was overwhelming on his sensitized skin. Another finger was added and Evan arched his back, gasping.Hank smirked. Evan was so responsive to him, no matter what. He pulled his fingers out and slicked his cock with some more lube and positioned himself against Evan. He pushed forward slowly, easing in inch by inch until he was all the way inside of Evan. He groaned, stilling, so Evan could get used to the invasion. He stroked Evan a little more firmly and pulled out only to thrust back in, hard and fast.Hank set up a steady rhythm, hard, fast, and punishing for Evan. He couldn't keep up with the hand on his cock or the pleasure-pain from Hank being inside of him. It was all too much for him to handle and he came hard with a strangled scream, arms giving out and letting him rest on his forearms and elbows. A few more deep thrusts and Hank was coming too, hands tightening again on Evan's hips. There would definitely be bruises there tomorrow.He pulled out and lay on the bed next to Evan, who slowly straightened himself out so he was laying on his stomach again. He didn't say anything and he didn't look at Hank either. Hank reached out and touched his cheek, silently willing him to turn over and look at him. He wasn't sorry for what he had done; they had both needed it, but Evan was starting to scare him a little. Now that he could think clearly without the haze of anger, he was worried that he might have hurt his brother more than just physically.“Evan?” He asked tentatively, hand still caressing his cheek.Evan didn't answer, didn't look at him, didn't do anything except lay there. Now Hank was really worried. “Evan, come on. Look at me, please?”Slowly Evan turned his head towards Hank, but his eyes were focused on something over Hank's shoulder, refusing to meet his concerned gaze. He still didn't say anything. Hank swallowed dryly. What had he done to his brother? Sure, there was a bit of physical pain and Evan probably hadn't liked that, but he could have said no, could have told Hank he didn't want this.No, he couldn't have. You told him you didn't want to hear anything he's got to say, so he didn't say anything. Face it, this is your fault. He was scared of you. Hank winced and pushed that voice of out his mind. Surely Evan would have said something if he hadn't wanted this too. Right?Evan blinked and his glassy gaze sharpened. He glanced over at Hank, sighed, and pushed himself up off the bed and disappeared briefly into the bathroom. Hank heard water running so he figured Evan must be cleaning up. A few minutes later, Evan crawled back into bed with Hank after stripping the top blanket off. It was warm enough that they didn't need it and besides, there was no way he was sleeping in the wet spot, even if it was his own.Hank wrapped his arms around him and just held him as if he were something infinitely precious and fragile. Evan combed his fingers though Hank's hair and kissed the top of his head. “I'm fine, really. Sure, I won't be able to sit or walk properly for the next few days, but I'm okay.”Hank laughed against his shoulder and kissed his collarbone, sucking until the blood welled up just under the surface of his skin. “I'm glad you're okay. You had me worried there for a minute.”“Hmm, you know sex makes me stupid. Gotta let me come down from the high, man.” Evan snickered.“I guess.” Hank rolled his eyes and pulled Evan down for a soft kiss.“Good night, Henry.” Evan kissed him one last time before snuggling down into his arms.“Night, Evan.” Hank smiled into Evan's curls as he tucked his head underneath Hank's chin.“Evan?” Hank asked a few minutes later.“Yeah?” Evan yawned.“I love you.” Hank murmured softly.“Love you too.” Evan brushed his lips against Hank's chest, just above his heart.Things still weren't completely okay between them, but they were a lot better, for tonight anyway.
10839120	Light	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "F/F", "Characters": "Kara Danvers, Lena Luthor", "Fandom": "Supergirl (TV 2015)", "Language": "English", "Rating": "General Audiences", "author": "by psychshuleslover2000", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-06T00:00:00", "words": "2,434", "Additional Tags": "SuperCorp, I wrote this way back when and just typed it up, kara/lena - Freeform, Dorks, luvers, that's our new ship name right XD, Post 2x08", "Relationship": "Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	It was 2 a.m. and Lena Luthor had just assisted Supergirl in defeating the leader of Cadmus, who just so happened to be Lena’s mother. Lena had sent her mother to jail and saved alien kind, and however undeniably good that was, Lena still didn’t feel like celebrating. Instead, she decided to go home, sit alone and drink. Now, Lena Luthor had never usually been one for alcohol; not in excess anyway. It dulled your senses, made your mind less sharp, and made people do stupid things; feel emotions they usually kept hidden. Being a CEO, having an image to uphold and, most importantly, being a Luthor, meant that Lena couldn’t afford the side effects of alcohol. She couldn’t afford to give the public a weakness to exploit. Being a Luthor meant she had to keep her nose clean one hundred percent of the time. Just one transgression, no matter how minor, would fuel the public to brand her to be just like her mother and brother. The Luthor name would forever be evil, and she would never be able to bring the company into the light where so so hoped it could be. However, tonight-tonight she decided that, Luthor or not, she deserved the luxury of a few drinks. The luxury of feeling numb. So here she was. Alone in her apartment and almost dangerously drunk. Because “a couple of drinks” had quickly turned into “so many drinks that Lena lost count.” It didn't take Lena very long to remember the other reason she didn't drink as well. She was an emotional drunk, once she had gotten enough in her, and her mind quickly turned to the events of the day that she was trying so hard to forget. She saved alien kind, turned her mother over to the authorities, and did objectively, good. But in doing so she betrayed the only family she had left. And Supergirl. “God, Supergirl,” Lena said aloud to herself. She could feel the iciness off of Supergirl today, the hesitance that wasn't there before. And do maybe the way she went about getting her mother arrested; going it alone and playing the part, delivering her “But I’m a Luthor” line, wasn't because that’s what she needed to do. She just wanted to hurt Supergirl just a little bit like-The doorbell rang and Lena looked up in surprise. She made her way to the door and opened it, only to see Supergirl. Her timing was too impeccable, and Lena had to smile wryly. “Supergirl?” Lena asked. “Is there some kind of trouble?” Lena asked dazedly, somewhat struggling for words. “I-no… I just wanted to… Lena are you alright?” Supergirl asked, concern on her face. Lena looked down at herself. She was wearing old sweat pants, a plain white t-shirt (she was pretty sire she had spilled some liquor on it at some point) her hair was in a messy bun, and her makeup was still on her face- probably significantly smudged. Oh, and, she realized, she was still holding her last drink. Lena sighed, understanding Supergirl’s concern. She looked like shit. To be fair, she hadn't been expecting company at 2 am either. “I...I’m fine. Just...very drunk,” Lena managed. “Why are you here, Supergirl, at 2 in the morning?” Supergirl winced. Lena had said Supergirl’s name with more venom than she had meant to, and Supergirl noticed. Supergirl followed Lena into her apartment, which she noticed was incredibly clean, aside from the couch where Lena had presumably been drinking. “I came to thank you,” Supergirl said, “I know it's late but I figured you'd still be up.”“Thank me?” Lena asked. “For betraying my mother? For playing the hero and saving the city?” Lena asked sarcastically. There were tears in her eyes but she ignored them.Supergirl looked at her almost in shock, “Lena you are hero! You saved all of National City's alien kind! You should be proud of that,” Supergirl said, stepping towards her. She sounded confused at Lena's sarcasm but she said it so earnestly that Lena almost believed her.“Ha,” Lena laughed dryly. “Maybe. But I lost everything else today. Any... any delusion that I had a family or that...someone cared,” Lena said. The tears were pouring down her face now. “And I was... so angry with you because you forced me to see it --forced me to see what I already should have known,” Lena's voice was shaking and Supergirl was sure she was going to drop her glass at any second. She was grateful when Lena seemed to realize this too and put it down. “Lena…” She stepped closer to Lena and tried to put a hand on her shoulder, but Lena shook her off.“But you...you said I was good, and I wasn't like her. You, only you, believed me. Believed that I could be something other than my last name. But by being good I betrayed what was left of my dysfunctional family and that just makes me just like them doesn't it? A real Luthor,” Lena spat out. “No, no Lena. That does not make you a real Luthor. It makes you better than that! You... you’re Lena! You don't have to be defined by your last name. You know that! Lena-” Supergirl took a deep breath, “has anyone told you what the name Lena means?”Lena shook her head no, sp Supergirl continued.“Lena means light. So...so even with Luthor at the last name, Lena is always going to shine brighter. Because your choices as Lena, as you as an individual, or what define you. Not the choices of the people who share your last name,” Supergirl said fiercely.Lena’s soft tears turned into sobs, and Supergirl was relieved when Lena let her pull her into a hug and sit down on the couch. Supergirl glanced at the bottles lying near them, knowing Lena must've drank enough to give Alex a run for her money when she would drink. She looked down at the woman in her arms, knowing this is what happens when someone so broken inside tries to hold themselves together, alone, for too long.“Shh...It's okay you're okay,” Supergirl whispered rubbing Lena’s back as she cried. It was unnerving, seeing Lena cry. She had never seen this side of Lena before, had hardly imagined it existed, but she should have known.When Lena had finally cried herself out, Supergirl could feel her tense up in her arms.“Lena,” Supergirl chanced a whisper. Lena sat up, wiping her eyes. She felt a tad more sober, and mortified.“God, I'm so sorry Kara,” Lena said, closing her eyes and taking Steadying deep breaths. “Wh-what? I’m not Kara, what’re you-” Supergirl babbled. Lena managed a soft smile through her tears, “Kara calm down. I've known the whole time that you are Supergirl. Did you really think glasses and a cape would fool me? I had two friends and National City, and you both have the same kindness. I always knew.”“Oh,” Kara said. Lena looked away, wiping her eyes. She was still drunk, but at least she wasn't crying anymore. Lena felt Kara move closer to her, and put her arm back around her shoulder. When Lena looked back up, their faces were impossibly close. Lena saw Kara’s eyes flicker down to her lips, and without thinking about the consequences, because god damn it, what else did she have to lose tonight, Lena closed the distance between her and Kara.The kiss was brief, but despite the alcohol on Lena’s breath, Kara had never before been kissed with such a mixture of desperation and gentleness at the same time.Lena kept her eyes closed one she pulled away. “I’m sorry.”Kara smiled at her, “It’s okay,” she said, pressing a gentle but firm kiss to Lena’s lips. Lena felt like a child, keeping her eyes shut but she couldn't bear to see Kara’s face.When Kara kissed her, her eyes fluttered open. Any clear-headedness that came with Lena's anger was gone, and she was just really, really drunk.It was clear that Kara could see this too, because, with a soft smile still on her face, she started helping Lena to her room. Lena was half-asleep, already, by the time she got in bed and Kara was extra grateful for her super strength.“Will you stay?” Lena asked, her eyes fluttering shut. “Of course,” Kara replied, though she knew Lena was asleep by then. Kara walked out to the other room and cleaned up the empty bottles, putting them in the recycling. She did her best not to make any noise, but she knew it wasn't likely to wake Lena up, and anyway.Once Kara had finished cleaning up, she found Lena's Advil and poured a glass of water, which she sat on Lena's bedside table. She then used her super speed to fly home, and grab a few things, and then she settled herself on Lena's couch. Lena had asked her to stay, and that's what she planned to do. When Lena woke up, her head was pounding and one glance of the clock told her she was very late for work. There was, however, a glass of water and a few aspirins sitting on her bedside table, and that was all it took for her memories of the previous night to come back to her. Lena sighed and shoved her face into a pillow, which ended up hurting her head even further. So she reluctantly sat back up and took the medicine. Then she shoved her head back into her pillow, groaning. She wasn't lying there very long, however, when she heard her door creek open oh-so-softly.“Are you awake?” Kara’s voice asked softly, and Lena only groaned, and lifted her arm, giving Kara a thumbs up.She heard Kara move, and felt it when Kara sat down on the edge of her bed. Lena didn't move or make any effort to get up, so Kara just started talking again.“I called Jess at your office to make sure you didn't have anything important and told her you got food poisoning and wouldn't be in today.”Lena finally rolled over, a soft smile on her lips. “Thanks Kara, but I'm sure everyone will figure out why I'm not there when they see the news,” Lena said quietly. Kara nodded.“How... how much do you remember from last night?” Kara asked. “You were pretty drunk.”Lena sighed, dropping eye contact again. “All of it, Supergirl. Sadly, drinking doesn't make me forget,” Lena replied. “Oh.”They stayed that way for a few more minutes--Kara sitting on the edge of the bed, and Lena lying on her back with her eyes closed, before someone spoke again.“Why did you stay here for me,” Lena asked quietly.Kara smiled, “You asked me to. You are half asleep, but you asked me to. Besides, I wasn't going to leave without knowing you're okay this morning,” Kara replied simply, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. As if Lena should expect her to care she was okay.Lena was about speak again when Kara shot up. “Ah shi-” Lena heard, as Kara was gone into the other room in the blink of an eye. She returned a few minutes later with a sheepish look on her face. “Sorry, I just almost burnt the pancakes,” Kara said. “You made pancakes?” Lena asked, sitting up. “I don’t think I even had pancake mix in the house?”“Yep, I went home and got some things last night--including pajamas and pancake mix. Also, I made you coffee,” Kara said brightly, extending a hand to help Lena up. Lena smiled confusedly at Kara. Even with all Lena's talk about Kara being her only friend in National City, she had never been expecting this type of kindness. She could hardly even imagine it. She took Kara’s hand to get up, and didn't let go as they walked out to the kitchen together.“Everything looks amazing, Kara. Thank you,” Lena said sincerely, turning to face Kara.“Of course,” Kara said, beaming at her. They sat down, facing each other, at Lena's little island in her kitchen. Everything did look amazing. Kara had made a stack of pancakes high enough to last Lena a week, that is if she didn't know how much Cara could eat. Lena's hand, walk to the counter, and brought Lena her coffee.“I didn't know what you take,” Kara said gesturing to the cream and sugar sitting next to them.“Thank you, Kara,” Lena said again, and that seemed to be all she could say this morning. She fixed her coffee then she turned back towards Kara, who was watching her carefully. “Is everything alright?” Lena asked her. Kara nodded, “Yeah, I just. I-” Kara’s eyes flickered down to Lena’s lips and back up again. “Did you mean it? Did last night… mean anything?” Kara asked, finally addressing the elephant in the room that they both had been avoiding. With the previous night acknowledged, the smiles slid off both of their faces.“I, I know you were drunk and upset and-” Kara babbled, so instead of answering, Lena just leaned forward, reaching a little, since she was slightly shorter than Kara without heels on, and pressed a kiss to her lips. “As long as you want it to, it meant something,” Lena said to Kara, waiting-waiting for the rejection or fear or something. But never came. Kara just smiled. “Good, because I was worried that it was just a heat of the moment or lapse of judgement or-” Kara didn’t get to finish her babbling because Lena kissed her again. This time not-so-chastely, and Lena pushed her up against the counter. Kara’s hands went to Lena’s hips and Lena ran her hands through Kara’s hair, finally resting them on Kara’s shoulders as the kiss became slower and they finally broke apart. Kara giggled when they pulled apart, making Lena smile for longer than she’d done in a very long time. “Wow,” Kara said. “Wow,” Lena agreed. Lena knew there was probably a lot to talk about. She knew that dating Supergirl wouldn’t be easy. She knew that there was probably some unresolved pain from her drunk crying and rambling. She knew that both of them had their demons. But with the sun hitting Kara the way it was, with her looking at Lena so happily, with Kara’s smile so bright--everything for once seemed like it was going to be okay.
10848393	Nothing Left To Say	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "F/M", "Characters": "Belle (Disney), Adam (Disney), Cogsworth (Disney), Lumiere, Babette (Disney), Mrs. Potts (Disney), Maurice (Disney), Chip Potts, OFC, i.e. the triplet that i gave a personality in baff", "Fandom": "Beauty and the Beast (1991)", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Teen And Up Audiences", "author": "by TheTeaIsAddictive", "chapters": "6/6", "completed": "2017-05-09", "published": "2017-05-07T00:00:00", "words": "7,559", "Additional Tags": "Halloween, Marriage Proposal, Christmas, Graduation, Inspired by The Gift of the Magi - O. Henry, it's really just a collection of one-shots that i'm finally organising, into one collection/story", "Relationship": "Adam/Belle (Disney)", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": "I'm Afraid She's Rather Odd", "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	Halloween "Are you sure your aunt wants me to go tonight? I get the feeling she doesn't like me." Adam glanced around the door at his worried girlfriend, who was sitting on his bed in a grey school skirt and unbuttoned blouse, a red-and-gold tie and stick from the garden beside her."She likes you plenty," Adam called out, applying the other set of cat whiskers to his yellow-painted face. "Or at least, she will once she admits she was wrong about you. She's like me, she absolutely hates changing her mind." Satisfied, he made a snarling face at the mirror, and zipped up his lion onesie."I'm just afraid they're going to think I'm some sort of gold digger," Belle muttered, tucking the blouse in and not quite buttoning it all the way up."Nonsense," Adam said. "It was a legal requirement for you to know nothing. And besides, even if they do think that, your elegance and loveliness will prove them wrong instantly."Belle blushed at the compliment, tying her tie, and reached up to kiss Adam lightly on the lips. "That's all you're getting tonight - don't want to spoil that face paint," she grinned."Screw the face paint," Adam said, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her again, properly."We'll be late," Belle murmured, but he began to lightly kiss her neck, and she melted into him. Their lips met again, and Adam felt her slender fingers on the back of his neck, twining into his hair. He tightened his grip on her waist with one hand as he gently trailed another up the seam of her blouse. Belle pulled lightly on his hair, and he groaned into her mouth, and it was moments like these, he reflected, that his brain could detach itself from the physicality of what they were doing and reason that he really, truly loved her at these times."Ahem."The two of them detached quicker than lightening, as a vamped-up Lumiére snickered at their obvious embarrassment. "If you two love birds are done," he continued, seemingly oblivious to the awkwardness in the room, "we have a party to go to.""Come on, Adam," Belle smiled."At your service, Miss Granger," he responded, as they backed out the apartment and locked the door behind them. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Belle and Adam were sitting in their living room, both absorbed in their relative tasks - Belle was doing some required reading for the third year of her English course at the University of Inverness, and Adam was carefully tilting his laptop towards his body, trying to avoid letting Belle see the Christmas present he was trying to get her. He was hoping to get a poster with the quote "I am no bird, and no net ensnares me" from Jane Eyre, Belle's favourite book, but the person he was currently in a bidding war against on eBay seemed as determined as he was to get it. He huffed a little in frustration, and tucked his long hair behind his ear.Belle glanced up at the noise, and a smile softened her face as she looked at her boyfriend of nearly two years. They had been through a lot together, she thought, as she remembered the dramatic events of her first year at university: their initial disagreements, their bonding over books and the deaths of their parents, her father's mysterious disappearance for months on end, and her struggles to move on from what even now she had trouble thinking of as an abusive relationship with her high school boyfriend, George Castin. Not to mention what had happened between him and Adam that fateful night in January . . .She shivered at the remembrance. It's in the past, Belle, she thought. It's over. Still, she was having trouble focusing on her books now that George had come into her mind again. She got up, and walked over to the radio, planning on distracting herself with a little music. As the radio popped to life, she thought she could hear the end bars of the eternal Christmas song by Mariah Carey dragged out every year, that she unashamedly loved to pieces."Aaaalright, everybody, that was 'All I Want for Christmas Is You', by Mariah Carey - not that you needed told." Adam looked up. "Next up," the radio presenter announced, "another Christmas classic. Come on folks, why don't you just rock around that tree." Adam started to smile, and as the room filled with music, he darted over to Belle, and snuck his hand around her waist."You dancing?" he asked, in an atrocious Glasgow accent."You asking?" Belle replied, in an even shabbier one."I'm asking," he smiled, as the song started to play."Then I'm dancing," Belle grinned, and she turned up the music as Adam led her to the middle of the living room floor. He placed his hand on her waist, she grabbed onto his shoulder, and they started careering around the room. Rockin' around the Christmas tree, Have a happy holiday Everyone dancin' merrily In the new old-fashioned way. The instrumental hit, the saxophone started playing, and the dancing got even madder. Adam was spinning Belle around like mad, and she screamed with laughter. They met again, and started doing a very bad waltz, which was hampered by the fact that the song was in 4/4. They slowed down again a little bit for the verse, as Belle whispered in his ear, "Your neighbours are going to hate us." You will get a sentimental feeling when you hear Voice singing 'Let's be jolly, Deck the halls with boughs of holly' "I'm going try and swing you round on the last line!" Adam laughed, as they swayed energetically on the spot."Don't you dare! You'll drop me!" Belle said back, only half-joking. Rockin' around the Christmas tree, Have a happy holiday Everyone dancing merrily In the new "Brace yourself," Adam said. Old "Wait, you're serious?" Fa- "Deadly," he said, gripping her waist tightly. -shioned Adam lifted Belle suddenly, and she grabbed onto his shoulders as hard as she could - Way! He spun her around, once, twice, three times, her hair flying about, both of them laughing and shrieking like idiots, before Adam lost his balance and they both crashed into the waiting sofa, Adam painfully sandwiched between the hard edges of what was normally a soft sofa and the full weight of his girlfriend on his chest."I told you it wouldn't work," Belle teased, a smile bright as summer on her face, before she leaned down and kissed him. It was soft but excited, lingering but still over too fast. They broke apart, and outside the window, snow began to fall."Merry Christmas, Belle," Adam said."Merry Christmas, Adam," she smiled. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- All I Want It was a particularly cold winter the year Belle and Adam had the adventure that would later be the second-most popular bedtime story their children ever heard - the most popular being the story of how they met. The heating was spotty at best, the gas and electric bills weren't being correctly charged, and their respective Christmas bonuses had both been spread thin trying to pay for everything that let them keep the house.It was a wonderful old house that Adam had found while they were celebrating their third anniversary trying to find a clear spot to gaze at the stars. It was built in the 1910s, a ground floor and a first floor, with four bedrooms, a study facing the garden for Adam to work in, and a large Room of Stuff for Belle to store her various archives of old book reviews if she ever needed to reference them. The kitchen was about twice the size of the galley kitchen in Adam's flat, the living room had an actual fire in it (that neither of them had yet dared to light) and if Cogsworth, Lumière, Babette or any of their other friends wanted to visit, there was plenty of room for all of them. It was a truly lovely little house, if it wasn't for all the heating and electric problems. It reminded Adam a lot of his childhood home.That particular year, Belle and Adam had agreed to try and get each other's Christmas presents in secret, despite this failing completely every year they had tried it. Time had marched on, Adam still thinking he had plenty of time to get Belle's present, when suddenly it was Christmas Eve and he still didn't have the money needed to buy her gift. He had noticed for a while now that Belle's collection of Charlotte Bronte novels (which really meant Jane Eyre, Villette and Shirley - Belle didn't like The Professor) was deficient, in that she stubbornly held onto the old copy of Jane Eyre he had bought her three years ago in Leakey's bookshop, trying to get her to like him, instead of getting one that matched the covers of the other books. So, this Christmas he had had the bright idea of getting older copies of Villette and Shirley, so that they matched Jane Eyre. But the flaw in his plan was that the problems with the house had eaten all his money, and he was both too proud and too poor to borrow money off of anyone else.And that was how he ended up pacing up and down the streets of Inverness at 5 p.m. on Christmas Eve, trying to think of a way to get enough money to buy Belle her Christmas present. He really didn't want to go back to Belle empty-handed. Adam knew she wouldn't really mind - she knew as well as him that money was tight for the both of them - but he still wanted to do something for her, Belle, Belle, the love of his life, hopefully someday maybe his -Out the corner of Adam's eye, he saw a small illuminated sign that read 'Secondhand Instruments: Buy And Sell'. He remembered the old violin he had in the back of his car Cogsworth had found in his attic last week - the violin that had belonged to his father and his grandfather. He remembered his father playing on that violin every Christmas, and how Adam had started to learn on that same violin just a few weeks before the crash that had killed his parents. But then he imagined Belle, with a Christmas present that she would love and would make her happy. And he knew he would do anything to make her happy. This wasn't sacrifice. It was love, pure and simple.Adam turned and ran back to his car, hoping he would get to the secondhand instrument shop and the bookstore before both of them closed.---Adam pulled up in front of his house, the books sitting in their bags beside him. It was pitch-black outside, but he could see Belle through the living room window, sitting at the table - maybe reading? He smiled to himself, and let himself in."I'm home!" he called, hanging his coat up on the rack just inside the door."Great!" Belle called back. "Can you come into the living room? I have something to show you."Adam followed her voice, making sure to keep the books behind his back. When he turned into the living room, he saw Belle, her back against the table, her fingers tapping an urgent beat, as she always did when she was nervous, or worried, or excited. He smiled at her. Adam always smiled whenever he saw Belle. She grinned back."I know we said we were going to wait until Christmas Day this year, but I actually can't wait," she said in a rush. Adam laughed out loud at her enthusiasm, and she giggled along with him."Maybe one of these days we'll actually open our presents on Christmas Day," he said. (They wouldn't. Their children's school friends were often puzzled whenever the kids announced that they had opened their presents two weeks before Christmas.)"Maybe," Belle smiled back. "Have you got my present handy?""It's actually in my hands," Adam said. "On the count of three?""Okay," Belle said. "One, two, three!"There was a moment of stunned silence for both of them when the presents were revealed. Adam held the two books in each hand, but whatever Belle had gotten him was still in brown paper."I - I think there may have been a breakdown in communication somewhere," Belle said."What do you mean?" Adam asked. "Is something wrong with the books?""I - I got you a violin case," Belle said quietly. "And I sold Jane Eyre for it, and you've gone and gotten me the other Bronte books so they would have had matching covers!""You got me a violin case?" Adam was stunned. "I sold the violin for these books!" He smiled a little. "Now that's irony if ever I've seen it." He looked up, expecting to see a serious or sad Belle, only to see a Belle struggling to keep in a laugh."It is sort of funny," was all she said, before the two of them burst out laughing, placing both presents on the table."Belle - wait right there, please. I'll be back in a second," Adam said, and he ran out the room, up the stairs, and back down again before Belle could even yell up to him to ask him where he went."Belle," he said quietly, a little box in his hand, "I sold the violin case, but I didn't sell this." He opened the box, and Belle gasped. It was a beautiful little ring, a silver band and a single teardrop shaped diamond in the middle. "Belle, you are . . . incredible. You're the kindest, smartest, most wonderful -" he paused, as his voice broke on the word "wonderful" "- most wonderful girl I've ever met. He caught her eyes, which were filled with emotion. "Belle, do you - may I - what I'm trying to say is -""Yes," she said, and she grabbed his collar, pulled him down to her height and kissed him. Her hands wound around his neck, and Adam pulled her close to him with the hand that wasn't holding the ringbox. They broke apart, smiling, and Adam carefully slid the ring onto Belle's finger."It was my grandmother's," he said quietly."It's a perfect fit!" Belle said, and she kissed her fiancé again, before saying, "Come on. Let's tell everyone we know." ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- The Graduate "It doesn't even feel like I'm graduating, really," Belle said. "I've already been at the new job for two months.""How's that going, anyway?" Resa asked, her voice slightly tinny in the way only landlines made it sound."Oh, great," Belle said. "I'm so glad I went for it. It's one thing to work at something you like; it's something else to actually work in your field.""Newsflash, Belle: I know how you feel!" Resa laughed. "I've been working part-time at the nursery for months now!""True," she grinned. "I'll see you tomorrow?""Wouldn't miss it for the world," she confirmed. "You and Babs are some of my best friends, y'know.""Thanks, Resa. You know I feel the same." Belle sat herself back up on the sofa, where she'd been lying for the past half an hour chatting to Resa. "Remember you're meeting my dad and Caroline outside the theatre.""Mm hmm. Bye, Katie.""Bye, Theresa." Belle hung up the phone, and got up to start dinner. The kitchen in their new house was a lot easier to navigate than the one in the flat Adam had moved into after he graduated, and even more so than the one in the residence halls where they'd first met and fallen in love. Before long, the smell of food was wafting through the air, as the sun set in all its usual fanfare, lighting the room in red and pink. Belle dished up, before washing her hands and slipping her engagement ring back on from the stand kept in the kitchen. It was in the shape of a little elephant Caroline - Mrs. Cobbs as of two years ago - had given Belle as a gift from her honeymoon. Belle ran her fingers over the ring, remembering the events that had led to Adam's proposal the previous Christmas.As if her thoughts had summoned him, her fiancé appeared in the doorway, undoing the hair bobble that held back his still-long hair. He froze in the doorway, taking in the scene."You didn't have to make tea tonight, Belle," he said. "I was going to do it, after I finished filing the case study.""Work's been rough for you lately," she said. "I don't mind doing this." She walked over and kissed him sweetly, rising up on her tiptoes to do so. He kissed her back, pulling her back in for two, three more kisses, before she backed away."Food?""Food," he agreed. They grabbed the bowls and sat at the table, eating for several minutes in companionable silence."Lewis wanted to know if we had an itinerary for tomorrow," Adam said."He didn't organise it himself like he did for yours?""I guess not," he chuckled. "Does it surprise you?""A little," she said thoughtfully. "I guess he's mellowed out in the last three years.""Lewis? Mellow?""I said he'd calmed down, not that he'd changed his personality!"Adam laughed. The thought of Lewis Cogsworth being mellow in any way was strikingly funny, but he had definitely calmed down since Belle had first met him. It probably had a lot to do with the fact that his cousin's will was no longer hanging over him like a threat these days."It feels so weird," Belle continued. "This time tomorrow, Lewis, Babs and I won't be students anymore. It feels like leaving high school again." She paused to take a drink. "Except this time I'll actually have friends who like me. And you, of course.""Of course," Adam grinned. "You've definitely got everything laid out so you won't forget it?""I'm not going to pull a Lumière and get to the theatre without my cap and gown, no." Belle finished her meal first, and got up from the table. "Could you clean up?""No bother, Lecteur," Adam said. Belle smiled at the old nickname, making her way to what was affectionately known as her Room of Stuff, to finish off editing a review. She could hear Adam putting the dishwasher on, and then his soft singing as he puttered around, trying to not disturb her. It was these kind of quiet evenings she loved most - ones where they existed with and around each other, there if needed and close by if desired. Small arrangements for the wedding had begun, mainly the setting of the dat as spring of the next year. Belle and Adam both agreed that given their current situation in life, a long-ish engagement was probably for the best. She didn't worry too much about it, though. If married life was even half as good as the last four years had been, through all the arguments and make-ups and bad times and fun times, with the comfortable rapport they had together that surpassed petty fights and held steady in serious moments - if marriage was even half as good as that? Belle knew that it would still be the best thing in the world, because she would be doing it with Adam.A few hours later, in bed, he rolled over and said, "Talk to me.""Huh?" Belle asked eloquently."You're doing that stoic silence thing again. Is it the graduation ceremony?"She turned on her side to face him, shrugging the duvet up over her shoulders to keep in her body heat. "Sort of. I've just been thinking about high school again." She absently played with a strand of Adam's hair, rubbing it between her fingers. "I was so scared, back then. I had a few moments, sure," she said, remembering their first meeting, "but mainly I was quiet and mousy and afraid. And a lot of that was because of him, yeah, but . . . I can't imagine being that insecure and alone, now that it's four years later. I'm just - I'm not the same person anymore.""I know how you feel," Adam said. "Except for me, it happened in the space of four months, not four years."Belle smirked. "You were a good person all along. You just needed to remember it.""Same with you," he said. "You were this person all along." A mischievous light came into his eyes. "Ye just had tae be bahrayve enuff tae see it.""Adam!" she laughed. "What did we say about Disney and the bed?""If ye had the chance tae chaynge yer fayte -" he continued loudly, before Belle pounced and shut him up with a kiss, sending him rolling onto his back. His hand settled on her hip, and when she pulled back, her hair formed a dark curtain on either side of them."Wood ye?" she completed, smirking. She kissed him again, warm and soft, until it became something else entirely and put an end to talking that night."Fate-changing has definitely been a part of our story," Adam continued as if uninterrupted the next day, picking up his shirt. "Can you imagine what would have happened if I never got up the nerve to ask you out to Leakey's?""You might not have gotten that scar," Belle said, running her fingers over it softly as she dashed past. Picking up her jewellery, she hurried back to the small vanity mirror set she'd had since she was little, now perched on a window ledge that overlooked Inverness. The sun was showing its face for once and the city looked particularly fine today, no mater how much the wind would make them feel half-frozen."Hey, that scar makes me look tough," Adam said, trying to lighten the mood. "Shows I had to fight for your love, too - like the knights in those Arthurian legends you were studying in third year.""I suppose you're right. After all, faint heart never won fair roommate," Belle misquoted cheerfully, inserting her earrings. "I'm going to get the car keys and my robe, okay? Are we picking Babs up nor not?""We are," Adam said. "Lewis is getting a ride with Lumière, and Resa's making her own way there, same as your dad and Caroline.""Cool," Belle said. "I'll see you at the car. Love you." She blew a kiss across the room, and Adam caught it, pressing it to the still-bare skin above his heart. "Sap," she smiled."I love you too," he replied.---The three of them - Adam, Belle, and Babette - ended up only just getting there on time, due to the hellish traffic that day. Waiting her turn to walk across the stage, Belle could see Cogsworth near the front of the line, and Babette somewhere between him and Belle. She'd dyed her hair blonde a few weeks earlier testing out a new formula, and Belle still found herself struggling to recognise her friend sometimes. She applauded loudly as her old roommates walked across the stage, unable to pick out her other friends and family in the crowded audience. And then, quite suddenly, it was her turn to collect her diploma.She walked across the stage, not looking out to the audience but at her professors instead, the men and women who had taught her for four short years. She was calmer than she thought she was going to be, all things considered. As she shook hands and collected her diploma, Belle smiled at her teachers one last time, before making her way through the audience. She nearly started laughing when she saw Adam had dragged her father and Caroline to their feet, an enthusiastic Lumière supporting Maurice's arm and half-squishing her parents between her two friends. Belle assumed they got all the pictures they wanted in the brief span of time she was walking, but even if she had asked, she doubted she would have processed their reply. Belle made her way back into the space where her other classmates were gathered, and that was it.She had graduated.After saying her goodbyes to the other people on her course, Belle managed to find her group outside the theatre like they had arranged. Babette ran shrieking into Belle's arms, and the two of them hugged fiercely."Congratulations!" Belle grinned."The same to you, Belle!" Babette said, flicking her lighter hair out her face. "Cogsworth! Get over here!"With less hemming and humming than he would have done three years ago, Cogsworth joined the women, allowing himself to be dragged into a hug. "Congratulations, Belle, Babette," he said."Mon amour!" Lumière swung Babette into a deep kiss, pulling away eventually but refusing to let her out his arms. As he effusively congratulated her in French (using both the language and the kiss), Maurice and Caroline approached."My girl," he said proudly, before he was enveloped in an embrace by Belle. "Your mother would be so -""I know, Papa," she said simply, when it became clear he couldn't continue. She had never needed words to understand her father, just his embrace. It was his familiar hug of old, the one he pulled out on even the smallest of celebrations; her first loose tooth, her first short story, her first responses from university. Belle pulled back, wiping her eyes. "Caroline, come over here," she sniffed. They embraced together, before Maurice rejoined them in a family hug."Well, if everyone else is getting in on the action," Resa said, pulling Belle away to give her a hug as well. "Proud of you, Katie.""Yeah," Belle managed, her throat tightening. It was as all-encompassing as the first time they had hugged, after the disastrous events of the 2013 Christmas ceilidh. Belle squeezed her friend a little harder at the memory. Her long hair tickled slightly, but it was nothing Belle wasn't used to already. "Thanks, Resa.""Congrats, Lewis," Adam said, giving his cousin a tight hug that lifted him clean off his feet. "You'll knock the courtrooms dead. It'll be like Legally Blonde! Except you're not Reese Witherspoon. And you're not blonde.""Yes, thanks Adam," Cogsworth laughed once he was back on solid ground. "I'll take that as a compliment." He huffed a sigh, his eyes growing a little serious. "I'm so glad you're here today." They hugged again, before Adam straightened up and cleared his throat."Shall we go take some pictures?""Sounds good to me," Belle said, slipping her hand into his as they led the way. She squeezed gently, and she felt a gentle pressure back. Grabbing onto her cap to stop it flying away in the breeze, Belle stopped him a few feet away from their still stationary friends."I love you," he said quietly."I love you too," she replied. "It feels so weird to be a graduate."Adam smiled, tucking her hair behind her ear. He wrapped his arm around Belle's waist, pulling her in for a kiss, when her hands on his chest stopped him."Mr. Darensbourg," she said in fake shock, "you're trying to seduce me!"He started to laugh, and Belle pulled him into a kiss. Their windswept hair flew around them, Adam smiling beneath her lips, and Belle knew that while part of her life had just ended, an incredible new chapter was about to begin.There were five photos from that day Belle and Adam would show their kids regularly. After looking over the individual shots of Belle, Babette and Cogsworth, both throwing the caps and standing still, they drew their attention to the small collection.First, the three graduates posing together. Belle and Babette stood to the left and right, their caps barely staying on, while Cogsworth stayed in the middle. They were pointing their fingers at the camera, pouting (or at least attempting to pout). Belle's poker face had started dissolving already, mainly because Lumière and Adam had been shouting instructions at the three of them. It was captioned 'Cogsworth's Angels'.The next one showed Belle, Maurice, and Caroline standing together, smiling. Belle's cap had been foisted onto Maurice, and the three of them looked like they were about to burst out laughing. (This was because behind the camera, Cogsworth had managed to throw his cap on Adam's head without Adam noticing.) 'Belle and #Cotts' was written in black pen on the back of the photo.The third photo had the confusing subtitle of 'Team Cupid + Honorary Member Resa Gerard'. Babette, (in one of the few remaining photos of her as a blonde, before she destroyed the other ones because "I looked ridiculous - like I had a feather duster on my head!") Lumière, Cogsworth, and Resa were in mid-jump, holding hands High School Musical-style. Adam liked to mention how all of them lost their balance when they fell apart from Cogsworth, an achievement that would impress Adam significantly more than anyone else in their friend group.The fourth photo is of Belle and Adam, kissing in the middle of a busy street. His arm is around her waist, and her hands are holding his face. Her heels mean it's one of the few times she doesn't have to go on tiptoe to reach him, and despite their windswept hair covering most of their faces, Adam's grin is still visible. 'The Graduate' is written on the back, but to its immediate left in blue ink is written, 'Just AFTER Belle quoted'.The last photo is of Belle, Adam, Lumière, Cogsworth and Babette, all crowded around a park bench. Belle and Babette are leaning over the top, directly behind Adam and Lumière, respectively. Cogsworth is between the two of them, on the bench. Resa managed to catch them mid-joke, all of them laughing. Belle says they were talking about the time Cogsworth and Lumière exchanged the lamest insults ever, about a clock and a candlestick. Adam maintains they're re-hashing the subject of Adam's twelfth birthday, when Cogsworth broke four plates and set off the fire alarm. Twice.It's simply titled, 'The Flat'. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Belle had known who gave her the copy of 'Jane Eyre' almost before she read the little card that accompanied it. She'd been wanting to thank Adam in a meaningful way, but she couldn't think of a way to do it without bringing up a conversation about feelings it was frankly absurd to be having the day after they had a . . . date? Not-date? She sighed."Hey," Adam said, bursting into the shared living area of the pod with three straining bags of groceries in his arms."Hey," she smiled. "Need a hand bringing those in?""No, I'm alright," he said. "This is all I bought today - the shops close ridiculously early around this time of year.""I could have told you that no bother," Belle snarked cheerfully. "Do you want a hand putting them away?""Sure," Adam said, and the two of them quickly unpacked the bags. "So where is everybody else tonight?" he asked."I think all three of them are out in Inverness for some sort of overnight theatre extravaganza. Or possibly they couldn't be bothered catching the bus back at half eleven. Either way, they're not here." Belle clicked on the kettle, setting down a mug and rifling around for a teabag. Adam handed one to her, fresh from the packet. "Thanks," she smiled."No problem," he said. "So, since they're all out tonight, you got anything planned?""Nothing exhilarating," Belle groaned. "I was going to go over my folio again for like, the fifth time today.""That way madness lies," Adam said, only the faintest hint of teasing in his voice - although his eyes told a different story. "Believe me when I say you can only go over coursework so many times in one day before you actually make it worse.""Well, I didn't have anything else planned tonight," Belle said, sipping at her freshly-brewed tea."I have an idea," Adam said. "Want to watch either an atrociously bad movie or an epically timeless one on a low-quality laptop?""Which movie?" Belle asked."We have Mamma Mia," Adam said with a frown, "or Beauty and the Beast.""Disney's Beauty and the Beast?""But of course," Adam said, a twinkle in his eye.Ten minutes later the two of them were settled on Adam's bed, his old laptop balanced precariously on their laps, and a careful cushion wedged between them. Adam had picked it up from the floor and handed it to Belle, and for reasons she would have been hard pressed to justify she placed it between them. Of course, that didn't stop their shoulders and legs coming into close contact. Nor did it prevent Belle from feeling the heat radiating off Adam, or practically hearing his heart beating in his chest. But if she could feel his heart, which was fairly quick, she didn't like to think about the fact he'd be able to feel the irregularity of her own."Did you know," Belle said as the opening music began to play, "the original design for Beauty and the Beast was completely different?""Really?" Adam asked, turning to face her."Uh-huh," she nodded. "One design had Belle with brown hair and a blue dress, not the black hair and red dress here. And I think her dad was supposed to be an inventor in that one, not a merchant.""This one's more like the fairytale, though, isn't it?" Adam said."It is," she agreed, and apart from general ribbing on the Disney 'style' of fairytale, they were silent for the rest of the movie. At some point, Adam's arm had ended up propped over the back of Belle's pillow as it had started to develop pins and needles. At another indeterminate time, Belle's head had started to rest on Adam's shoulder. It was a very nice shoulder, she thought. Warm, and comfortable, and just generally a nice shoulder. Adam smelled nice, too. Mint and lemon and a strange unlabelled scent Belle could only describe as 'boy'. His heartrate had evened out more than when she'd first sat next to him, Belle noticed. But she couldn't really bring herself to care about that fact at the moment. Not when her eyes were so heavy, and Adam so comfortable to lean on. She barely even noticed when he closed his laptop and curled his arm a little tighter around her pillow. If it was any closer to her body it might encircle her shoulders. How nice that would be, Belle's last conscious thought was. How nice it would be to have Adam's arms around me . . .When Belle eventually woke up, she found herself in that exact situation.The cushion had been abandoned at some point in the middle of the night, and she was tightly wound up in Adam's arms. Her face rested perfectly in the crook of his neck, and she could feel the slow regular breathing of sleep on the top of her head, gently running over her hair. Her leg was slung around his waist - When did that happen? Belle thought anxiously - and her arms hooked around his chest. Her left hand rested mere inches away from Adam's face. His own hand was a comforting warmth on the small of her back, and to her surprise Belle realised she was happy, here in his arms.But it was too weird for her to think about the niceness of sleeping next to Adam when they'd only just gone on a first date. Quietly, she disentangled herself and padded to her room, but not without a parting glance at Adam, still sound asleep. A new emotion stirred in her chest, but Belle chose to ignore it. The time for feelings of that nature would come later, she told herself. So she scurried back to her own room and tried to go back to sleep in her own bed. But for some reason, her sleep didn't come as easily as it had when she was in his arms. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- "Belle?" Cogsworth asked, seeming a little more harried than usual, "could you come here for a second?" Belle set her book aside and uncurled from her reading position on the sofa in the living room, nearly upside down and burrowed deep into the corner where the arm met the body of the sofa."No problem, Cogsworth. Do you need a hand with something?" Her toes flexed energetically on the carpet, the only indication that she was longing to get back to her book and find out if Captain Nemo and his crew would be able to reach the South Pole. Behind her back, Lumière and Babette exchanged a knowing look, and quietly walked past Belle and Cogsworth out to the hall."Yes, actually," Cogsworth said, his face a little redder than normal. "Could you come out to the hall? There's something in the cupboard under the stairs I need to get, but I'm not flexible enough to reach it.""Okay," Belle said, desperately trying to cover a laugh at the mental image of Cogsworth being 'flexible' enough to reach whatever it was he needed. It wasn't often somebody as short as Belle was asked for help to obtain an object, and she couldn't help feeling flattered he'd asked for her help. He quickly showed her where the cupboard was, and as Belle crouched down to have a better look at the very, very small space she was about to enter, Cogsworth frantically gestured to Lumière and Babette to go up the stairs."Hey, what exactly are you looking for again?" Belle asked."Oh! Um, it's a, a, a . . . a whisk," Cogsworth said. "Electrical. Very essential for the run up to Christmas Day.""Okay," Belle said. "Is there a light?" Cogsworth flicked a small switch on the outside of the cupboard, and a small, weak bulb started pulsing weakly."I know it's not the best," Cogsworth said, "but I just haven't gotten around to fixing it yet." He glanced nervously up the stairs, and at some unseen signal, suddenly starting bundling Belle into the cupboard. "Anyway, I guess you'll just have to make do, in you go now. And thanks again for doing this!""Cogsworth!" Belle shrieked, as she was unceremoniously shoved into the small space and had the door slammed behind her. The force of the shove sent her tripping over a stray hosepipe on the ground and almost crashing into the set of shelves directly in front of the door. She managed to catch herself in time, as a series of loud jolts and crashes told her somebody - or rather, a group of somebodies - was coming down the stairs. She couldn't hear any of their conversation except muffled sounds, but Belle was sure she heard Babette and Lumière. She drew closer to the door, pressing her ear against it to try and hear something from outside. The muffled sounds grew closer, and suddenly Belle realised she could hear Adam, too. They seemed to be in a calm conversation, and Belle relaxed. It was certainly weird for Cogsworth to throw her into the cupboard like that, but not anything unusual.Suddenly, the door was flung open and Adam came flying into the small cupboard, crashing straight into Belle and also nearly falling into the shelves. He instinctively had his arms around her to try and break the fall, and as they staggered towards the back of the cupboard Belle ended up with her face pressed against his chest and a mouthful of his hair. She could feel his heart racing from the sudden shock, and the warmth of his arms wrapped around her."Sorry," Adam said quickly. He drew back as much as he was able (which wasn't much), and a small part of Belle was upset that she wasn't as close to him. Which was ludicrous, as they were practically hugging in the small space clearly not made for two people. And also because he was her friend. "I didn't mean to crash into you like that," Adam was saying. "Lumière is surprisingly strong.""What are you doing down here?" Belle asked. "Cogsworth asked me to get an electric whisk.""Lumière and Babette asked me to find a hoover," Adam said slowly."Cogsworth!" Belle yelled. "What are you playing at?!" Her phone suddenly beeped and she fished it out her jeans pocket; the small area meant she had to do an awkward duck and twist to get it out, bringing her closer to Adam again for a split second. In that brief moment his face underwent a change of expression strangely unidentifiable, if Belle had seen it. Instead, she opened her phone to find a message from Cogsworth."You two have been acting really weird lately. You're not coming out until you've got it sorted. Also, sorry for lying about the hoover. But if you find the whisk that would be great.""Unbelievable," Adam said when she'd finished reading it out. "This is completely ridiculous - THIS IS COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS!" he shouted in the general direction of the door, twisting his head around. "We barely have room to move, let alone 'sort out' whatever this is.""What do you mean, 'whatever this is'?" Belle asked. "We're fine, right?" Even as she said it Belle realised what Cogsworth had been talking about. Their outings together had been becoming increasingly more date-like than at the beginning, but Belle and Adam both seemed to be acting as friends at home. She could barely admit to herself that she wanted to go out with Adam - that she wanted to be able to confide in him, to have his arms around her without either of them making lame excuses, to kiss him -Whoa there, Lecteur, slow down, she thought. Even if you feel that way, there's no reason Adam needs to know. But as soon as the thought crossed her mind, Belle realised she did need to tell Adam about her feelings. It was putting a ridiculous strain on their friendship, and clearly it was obvious enough that Cogsworth, Lumière and Babette had noticed."Yeah," Adam said a little breathlessly, "we're fine." But in such close proximity, Belle could feel his heart racing, and she knew he was lying."Do you think . . ." Belle took a breath to steady herself. "Do you think that we've maybe been acting differently since we started going out?" She suddenly blushed fiercely at her choice of words, and hurried to fix her mistake. "I mean - not that we're going out or anything, but all the trips to the park, and the cinema, that's not really going out is it? I mean, we're friends. Good friends. We - we're not going out." She turned her face to the ground, bright red, suddenly very interested in the dust patterns on the floor. She noticed Adam's feet were almost twice as big as her own, much like how he was in general able to engulf her. The fingers on one of his hands could stretch across two of her palms easily, and his body in general was so large she would be able to fold herself up in it if she so desired."No, we're not 'going out'," Adam said, a shade of nervousness in his voice. "But - I wouldn't mind if we did."Stunned, Belle looked up at him. A cautious fear was in his eyes, as if he was afraid he'd said too much but didn't dare react until she did. Her hands twitched by her sides, as if they'd reach up and cup his face if Belle let them."Really?" Belle asked."Yeah," Adam said. "Is that okay? Can I ask you out without it getting weird?""What, weirder than it already is?" Belle laughed. "Yeah, you can." She grinned up at him, and he smiled back down at her. "Oh, you've got a spider on your head," Belle said, reaching up to brush it off. Adam bent down so she could reach the top of his head more easily, and quite suddenly they were practically bumping noses.Belle's hands were still wrapped up in Adam's hair. The two of them were breathing heavily, as if they'd run a marathon, and Belle could see only a thin silver of Adam's blue eyes as the pupils expanded. Tentatively, she pushed up on tiptoe, bringing her mouth almost in contact with his. Her eyes fluttered shut, and she could feel his warm breath on her lips. Her heartbeat quickened, and she was acutely aware of Adam's hands resting carefully on her waist. Gently, his lips met hers. His lips were rough and chapped, but his breath was sweet, tasting faintly of toothpaste and something distinctly Adam that she knew she'd never be able to properly identify. They broke apart almost as silently as they started the kiss, but barely moved their positions.Belle smiled, and as her happiness filled her, Adam kissed her again. He pressed his hands into her waist as she moved hers down to the muscles of his shoulders. Belle was distantly aware of her foot popping. The crash of something falling of the shelf broke them off this time."What was that?" Adam asked. Belle knelt down to see, and started to laugh."It's the whisk Cogsworth was looking for!" she exclaimed."Let's go give it to him, then," Adam grinned.
10869672	Bit of My Life That	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "Gen", "Characters": "Twelfth Doctor, Bill Potts", "Fandom": null, "Language": "English", "Rating": "General Audiences", "author": "by Es_Aitch", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-10T00:00:00", "words": "1,480", "Additional Tags": "Episode: s10e04 Knock Knock", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": "Twelfth Doctor One Shots Series 10, Doctor Who Fics in Order", "Collections": null, "Fandoms": "Doctor Who (2005), Doctor Who", "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	It was a few hours after the house collapse when Bill wandered back to the university, unsure what to do. She looked up and saw the Doctor was pacing in his room. Well, he had made a comment about not sleeping. She made her way to the door of his office and knocked.“Come in, Bill.”She opened the door and closed it behind her. “How did you know it was me?”He just raised an eyebrow at her. She rolled her eyes and gave the answer. “Because who else would turn up here this late at night?”The Doctor nodded and sat in his chair. He gestured for her to do the same, but she shook her head and paced in silence. The Doctor rested his elbows on the desk, his chin against his folded hands, and waited. This went on for a few moments. Finally Bill sat and took a deep breath. “Look, I know this is probably against some rule of Time or something, but…”The Doctor held up a finger to stop her. “No conversation that ever started with that sentence has ever ended well for anyone.”Bill swallowed hard. Okay, clearly not the right approach with the Doctor for this. Or maybe he was upset with her about the ‘granddad’ thing, or maybe upset that she told him this was the part of her life where he wasn’t welcome. But he had said he understood. Even said that there were lines between them… So why would he be upset?His voice broke into her thoughts. “Consider it a bit of advice, before you continue.”She shook her head, because she was now confused. Maybe she was the one with the problem. After all, since he stayed, he ended up saving them. She had been so sure she had been right about things. But clearly she had been wrong. After all, as soon as the problem was solved in the Doctor’s mind, he had left, as she had asked.The Doctor was tired of her pussy-footing. He stood and gestured to the TARDIS. “I have a better idea, go to the TARDIS.”Bill sighed, more from frustration at herself than what he had said. “Doctor, I’m not really in the mood for an adventure right now.”“Good. Neither am I. Go on.”That caused something to break in her. She stood and started to pace in an agitated state. “You don’t understand! Everything that I held dear was in that house and it’s all gone! Everything that I wanted near me. Things that help me when I’m sad! It all was in there and now I don’t have any of it!”The Doctor was completely calm in the face of her outrage. For a brief moment he thought about telling her about the times he had been without the TARDIS or the destruction of Gallifrey, but that would bring up other things he didn’t want to talk about. “I do understand. Go into the TARDIS.”She had started to cry against her will. She never wanted to cry in front of the Doctor. As if that would break some unspoken agreement between them. But they were a mixture of tears. Anger at him for behaving like this. Sadness for all she had lost. The lingering horrors from having watched people get consumed by the lice. Relief since their lives were restored. She was over tired as well. Basically she probably wouldn’t have been able to stop herself from crying if she wanted. She slumped into a corner and sank to the floor, trying to make herself as small as possible.The Doctor approached her, but didn’t rebuke her tears. He simply offered a hand to her. “Bill, please.”It was the ‘please’ that caught her attention. She didn’t think the man ever used that word other than as a way to manipulate others. Only this time, there was a sincerity that she couldn’t ignore. She looked at the hand and in it was a tissue. She hadn’t even noticed it at first. She really was in a state. She took the tissue with a mumbled, “Thank you,” before using it to dry her eyes and blow her nose.The Doctor gave her a few moments to do that and then he offered his hand – just his hand this time, to help her up. “TARDIS.”She sighed and against her better judgement, accepted his assistance to stand, and went to the TARDIS. She put her hand on the handle and turned back to the Doctor. He gestured with a wave of his hand that she should go in. She sighed heavily again and pushed the door to enter.There, in a big pile were all her things, just like they had been in the morning. Her eyes started to well up again. She turned and the Doctor was much closer than she had expected. She gasped. “H-how did you…?”“Time machine.” He interrupted.She shook her head. “I know that much. How did you know I’d ask?”He offered a small shrug. “I know what it’s like to lose everything.” He approached the TARDIS and rested his hands on the console in an affectionate manner. He had lost her so many times. “And I know what it means to have something precious I lost returned to me.” He turned to face Bill. “Besides, I told you that ‘Time and Relative Dimension in Space’ means two things: ‘What the hell’ and ‘Life’. This time it was both.” He offered a sheepish sort of smile to her.Bill approached him. “Brace yourself, Doctor. Because I have the impression you’re not the hugging sort, but I’m going to this time.”He tensed at her words, but still offered her a nod to say that it was okay.She approached and wrapped her arms around him. “Thank you. I was only going to ask for the photos of mum. I didn’t know how much I wanted the other things until I saw them here.”He gave her a small hug in return. “It was my pleasure.”“I didn’t give an order this time.”“You didn’t have to.”“Didn’t even have to ask, apparently.” She paused for a moment as she broke the hug. “What about everyone else’s stuff?”The Doctor shook his head. “I told you. I’m in hiding. If I were to go around rescuing everything, well....” He shrugged.“I understand.” But she couldn’t quite keep the disappointment out of her voice.“Of course, they could go to the charity shops on High Street. They might find some things there.”Bill smirked. “You can’t do it, can you? You can’t ever give in.”The Doctor pursed his lips. “Oh, I can. And I have. But this is preferable to that.”Bill’s expression turned serious. “Doctor, I’m sorry.”The Doctor looked confused. “For what?”“Trying to push you away. Telling you that there’s parts of my life you’re not allowed.”“Bill, you’re my student. Even if we expand it and say I’m your mentor, I have no delusions that I’m allowed in every bit of your life. But… when people’s lives are in danger…”Bill smirked. “You’ll save them no matter the cost. Yeah. I get that. I suppose I’m apologising for being blinded to the fact that you weren’t trying to invade my space, but that you just wanted to help.”The Doctor smirked now. “You were surrounded by other students, you were trying to build a reputation with them. Even if I don’t understand why humans behave in the silly ways they do, I understand how the behaviours work.”“How do I explain this to Moira?”“Tell her the truth, she’ll never believe you.”She gently swatted at his arm. “Shut up. I’m being serious.”“So am I.” He shook his head. “Okay, okay. You said she wasn’t going to be around today anyway. So just tell her you ended up only moving bedding and such and had changed your mind and decided to get the rest later.”“Is that a secret offer to deliver everything back home?The Doctor smirked. “Secret? I thought I was being rather overt.”“We’re okay, then? You still want to help me with stuff like this?”“Bill, would it make you feel better if I told you there were parts of my life that I didn’t want you in either?”She offered a relaxed kind of smile. “Actually, yeah, it does.”He nodded. “Off you go, then.”She looked confused.“Home. I don’t want to show up there if Moira is there, so you go and text me if she’s not and I’ll drop this stuff off for you.”She nodded. “Okay, see you in a few.”With that, she went off home. The Doctor decided he had done well in choosing her. Even mundane things like moving were more interesting with her.
10863447	if this love is pain	{ "Archive Warning": "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings", "Category": "M/M", "Characters": "Jeon Jungkook, Kim Taehyung \| V, Park Jimin, Kim Namjoon \| Rap Monster, Kim Seokjin \| Jin, Jung Hoseok \| J-Hope, Min Yoongi \| Suga, Lee Dongmin \| Cha Eunwoo, Moon Bin, Kim Myungjun \| MJ, Park Jinwoo \| JinJin, Yoon Sanha, Park Minhyuk \| Rocky", "Fandom": null, "Language": "English", "Rating": "Teen And Up Audiences", "author": "by orphan_account", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-09T00:00:00", "words": "7,022", "Additional Tags": "Minor Kim Namjoon \| Rap Monster/Kim Seokjin \| Jin, Minor Jung Hoseok \| J-Hope/Min Yoongi \| Suga, Minor Park Jinwoo \| Jinjin/Kim Myungjun \| MJ, Minor Lee Dongmin \| Cha Eunwoo/Moon Bin, Angst, no happy ending, (not really) - Freeform, Jeon Jungkook is Bad at Feelings, Slow Burn", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": "Jeon Jungkook/Kim Taehyung \| V, Kim Taehyung \| V/Park Jimin, Kim Namjoon \| Rap Monster/Kim Seokjin \| Jin, Jung Hoseok \| J-Hope/Min Yoongi \| Suga, Lee Dongmin \| Cha Eunwoo/Moon Bin, Kim Myungjun \| MJ/Park Jinwoo \| Jin Jin", "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": "방탄소년단 \| Bangtan Boys \| BTS, ASTRO (Band)", "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	if this love is pain (darling, let’s hurt tonight) one \| about friendships --Jeongguk took one glance at the clock and yelped. “Shit!” he cried. “I’m late!”Namjoon heaved an exasperated sigh. “Isn’t it your first day of school?” He muttered, watching his younger brother pace a hole through the floor searching for his bag.“Details, details,” Jeongguk retorted, pushing his head through the opening in his dark grey sweatshirt. “Where’s Jin-hyung?”A fond smile crossed his older brother’s features. “In the kitchen,” he answered, dimple popping in his left cheek.Jeongguk could have gagged, honestly. If he wasn’t so late.“D’you think he’d give me a ride?”“Probably, he’s a sweetheart.”“Sweet! Thanks, hyung!” Jeongguk called out, taking the stairs down two at a time and flying into the kitchen.Seokjin shot him a half-hearted glare when Jeongguk swung an arm around his shoulder. “My favourite hyung, what’s up!”“What is it, Guk-ah?” the older boy sighed, pulling his oven mitts off.“Want to drive me to school, hyung? Cause you’re so great and all?” Jeongguk’s bottom lip pushed out into a pout, and he widened his eyes, blinking furiously.Seokjin groaned, resolve weakened, and whacked his sniggering boyfriend on the arm as they passed him. “Have a good first day, yeah?”Jeongguk buried his face in his arms. “It’s not my first day ever, hyung,” he whined, and Seokjin giggled cutely, leaning over him and popping the door open.“Make some friends, Guk-ah!” He called after the young boy, who flushed and stumbled past the staring students cluttered at the gate.The first two periods of the day passed without a hitch, Jeongguk being able to slide into spare seats and make minimal human contact. Third period rolled around, and Jeongguk shot a sparing glance at his timetable, groaning at the letters spelling out ‘Economics’.The tiny classroom seemed already half-full when he stepped into it, and a couple of curious glances were sent his way, but he kept his head down and moved to the back row, setting his things down on a spare table. He spent the next few minutes organising his books when a hesitant cough sounded to his left.Jeongguk looked up, eyes wide.“Um,” the other boy coughed awkwardly. “I just – uh, there’s a seat next to me, if you wanted to sit there?”Jeongguk blinked, clearing his throat. “Oh! Uh, sure, yeah, thanks,” he finally managed, lugging his things over to the spare desk and shooting a grateful smile at the other boy. “Thank you,” he said again.“You’re welcome,” the other boy smiled back, grin endearingly rectangular. “Just, uh, nobody sits in the last row, not really – teacher would’ve started picking on you, and stuff.” Oh. “Seriously, thank you,” Jeongguk blurted, eyes wide. “I bet you saved my life just then.”“Seriously, you’re welcome,” the other boy repeated, smile widening. “I’m Taehyung, by the way. Kim Taehyung.”“Jeon Jeongguk.”The answering smile from Taehyung was blinding, and Jeongguk was, maybe, a little bit in love with him. two \| about scars --“Gukkie! Where are you?”Jeongguk rolled his bottom lip in between his teeth, muttering a vague answer somewhere along the lines of “on my way”, and Taehyung hissed through the phone.“I can’t believe you’re late!” The older boy cried dramatically, and Jeongguk winced, holding the phone a little further away.“I’m not late!” he defended instantly, shoving his way through the crowded bus. “The bus was late!”“Same difference, Gukkie,” Taehyung whined, and Jimin snickered in the background.“Aish, impatient hyung,” the younger boy mumbled, pushing himself through the bus doors. “I’m here, I’m here,” he added.“I can see you! Bye, Gukkie!”Jeongguk slipped his phone into his phone as he spotted the older boy waving furiously from the entrance. “See! I’m not late, Tae,” he teased, and Taehyung shoved him lightly, pouting.“You were almost late.”“Not late,” Jeongguk repeated firmly, letting Taehyung drag him up the stairs. “What’s the hurry, anyway?”“It’s your first carnival with us, Gukkie! I don’t want it to be bad for you,” Taehyung answered, turning his head to shoot his younger friend an excited smile, and Jeongguk sighed.“It’s not my first sports carnival ever, Tae,” he murmured, but his smile widened. “And it’s not going to be bad, I’m sure.”Taehyung smiled again, eyes soft, and Jeongguk looked away quickly, heart pounding strangely in his chest. “Gukkie! I’m so proud of you!”“Oh my God, Tae,” Jeongguk groaned, returning the older boy’s hug.“I’m sorry, I’m just so…I’m so happy,” Taehyung sniffled, burying his face in the younger boy’s neck. “You came first!”“I know, Tae, I was there,” Jeongguk teased, smiling down at his friend.“Shut up and let me be happy,” Taehyung retorted, slapping Jeongguk lightly on the chest.“Okay, okay,” he laughed. “Thank you, Tae.”“You deserve it, Gukkie,” he murmured, head falling against the younger boy’s shoulder, breath warm against Jeongguk’s sweaty skin.Jeongguk hesitated, fingers tilting the older boy’s chin up. “You do too,” he murmured, and Taehyung blinked.“What? I didn’t even race…”“Not the win, Tae,” Jeongguk exhaled, and Taehyung tilted his head. “I just…I can see it in your eyes, you know? You’re not always…happy, with yourself, with life, I don’t know. But I can see it. And I just, I want you to know that you deserve to find happiness, I guess.”Taehyung regarded the younger boy cautiously, gaze shuttered. “Everyone deserves happiness, Gukkie.”“Especially you.”He smiled then, eyes warm. “I know,” he answered gently. “I’m trying – but it’s, it’s hard sometimes, to find it.” He paused, unwinding his arms and pulling his sleeve up.Jeongguk’s breath caught in his throat, fingers reaching up to trace the scars on the older boy’s arm.“It’s okay, Gukkie,” Taehyung whispered, eyes still impossibly warm. “They’re old, I promise.”He swallowed. “I’m sorry, Tae.”“Nothing to be sorry for, Gukkie.”“No – I’m sorry. I’m sorry that happiness doesn’t come easily for you. I’m sorry you can’t see how amazing you are, Tae. I’m…I’m just sorry this is how you feel.”Taehyung smiled again, pulling his sleeves down and thumbing away the tears welling in the younger boy’s eyes. “It’s okay, Gukkie. I promise.”“You don’t have to hide them,” Jeongguk murmured, pushing his sleeves back up, and Taehyung blinked.“I know,” he finally answered, eyes tracing the shape of his scars. “It’s just…the reminder. It’s kind of painful, you know?”Jeongguk only smiled sadly at the older boy. “Hey, Tae, Guk! We got you chips and shit, get your lazy arses over here!”“Must be Yoongi-hyung,” Taehyung laughed, hands cupping Jeongguk’s cheeks for the briefest of moments. “You okay?”“I should be asking you that, Tae,” Jeongguk answered, knocking the older boy’s shoulder with his own. “Come on, I want chips.”Taehyung laughed again, looping his fingers around the younger boy’s wrist and tugging. “Come on then, you pig.”Melancholy still lingered in the recesses of Taehyung’s eyes, but his smile was so irrevocably forgiving and Jeongguk was, maybe, a little bit in love with him. three \| about insecurities--“Hyung, do you reckon I look okay?”“What are you, gay?” Yoongi snorted, pushing a hand through his reddish-brown mop of hair. “And that’s coming from the gay one.”“Yoongi-hyung, pleaseeee,” Jeongguk whined, slipping his feet into a pair of wedge-heeled Converse, doing the metallic side-zip up, and walking to stand beside Yoongi.The older boy chuckled. “Guk-ah, you look fine. You taking the mask?”Jeongguk smiled slightly, accepting the white face-mask from Yoongi and slipping it over his face. “Are they coming over now?”Yoongi flashed the younger boy a gummy smile. “Should be here soon – if Hobi takes any longer to put on his fucking jeans, I swear to God.”“Just date already, hyung,” Jeongguk groaned, ducking to avoid Yoongi’s flailing arm.“Fucker, we’re not in love or any shit like that, God!”He chuckled unbelievingly. “I’m sure, hyung,” he appeased the older boy, voice patronising. “Make sure to close your mouth when you’re ogling him!”“Fucker, get the fuck back -!”The door of their room swung open as Yoongi’s fist met thin air, Jungkook side-stepping his hyung’s small body to greet Jimin. “Jiminnie, Yoongi-hyung is bullying me,” he whined, hissing when Jimin whacked him on the arm.“Don’t be mean to him, Gukkie,” he scolded lightly, and the younger boy pouted pathetically. “And where’s my hyung, disrespectful brat?” He added, eyes curving into teasing crescents.“Yeah, Gukkie, don’t be mean to me,” Yoongi smirked as he passed, ruffling the back of Jeongguk’s neatly brushed hair.“Yah, hyung! My hair!” Jeongguk groaned, words muffled by his face-mask and the sound of Jimin and Yoongi’s laughter.“Hobi-hyung and Taetae are coming over soon,” Jimin interrupted, smirking at the sudden flush erupting on Yoongi’s pale cheeks. “They should be here – “The door slammed loudly against the wall, cutting through Jimin’s speech, and Taehyung and Hoseok stood there, sporting matching grins. “The party has started!” They chorused, whooping, and Yoongi sighed heavily, rolling his eyes.Jeongguk nudged him in the side, whispering, “you have great taste, hyung,” before moving back to avoid Yoongi’s heated glare, missing his muttered, “so do you, apparently.”“Gukkie!” Taehyung chirped, throwing his arms around the younger boy’s neck and pulling him in for a hug. “Let’s get breakfast!”“Yeah, don’t worry about us!” Hoseok called from behind them.“No need to – you have Yoongi-hyung!” Jeongguk called back, a pleased grin plastered on his face when Taehyung hollered, “that’s my boy!”(He ignored the sudden increase in his heartbeat.)“Where’d you get the mask?” Taehyung questioned, breaking the comfortable silence as they walked up the steps, and Jeongguk frowned behind it.“Yoongi-hyung.”“Ah, no wonder you look like him,” he teased, and the younger boy halted in his tracks.“What’re you talking about?” He snapped accusingly, feeling his cheeks heat up as Taehyung gave his outfit a slow, thorough once-over.“It’s just…that shirt, Gukkie? Those jeans? Those shoes?” He hesitated, biting his lip. “You just, you look kinda…gay, if you know what I mean.”Swallowing his anger, Jeongguk averted his gaze. “I don’t think I know what you mean,” he admitted quietly. “But it’s cool, hyung. I don’t really care.”He missed the guilt that flashed across the Taehyung’s face in his desperate attempt to make it to the dining hall before he burst into tears. “Aren’t you warm?” Moonbin gave his outfit a once-over, lips pulling down into a frown at his thick sweater. “It’s like, fifty fucking degrees out, dude.”Jeongguk shrugged half-heartedly, eyes trained on his Converse. “It’s fine – I get cold easily.”He heard the other boy sigh heavily, looking up to meet his sympathetic gaze. “Jeongguk-ah,” he hesitated. “If you need to talk to someone, I’m always here.”He smiled then, eyes curving into hesitant crescents. “Thanks, Bin-ah.”Moonbin tilted his head at him, running a hand through his chocolate hair, before glancing behind him and smirking knowingly. “Guess I should take my leave now. Catch you later.”A second later, he felt warm arms drape around his neck. “Where’d you run off to, Gukkie?”“Got hungry,” he replied shortly, ducking out of the older boy’s grasp and ignoring the slightly wounded look on his face.Taehyung bit his lip, eyeing the younger boy with wary eyes. “You put a sweater on,” he noted, eyes trailing the knitted navy material curiously. “Why?”“Someone told me I looked gay, so.” Jeongguk said lightly, turning to smile sweetly at the older boy before moving forwards in the line, slinging an arm around Moonbin when he reached him. “You fucked up, Guk-ah,” Yoongi sighed, wincing when Hoseok poked him sharply in the ribs.Jeongguk groaned, head falling into his palms. “I know, hyung,” he whined.“Why’d you do it, then?”“I enjoy pettiness.” He deadpanned, and Yoongi snorted into his coffee. “Real talk, though, I was a little hurt by his comment. I don’t know. It was weird, you know? Like, I’m not usually insecure or anything – and why are y’all looking at me like that?”Hoseok slapped his palm over Yoongi’s mouth just as he blurted, “you’re in love, Guk-ah!”Jeongguk blinked, brows furrowing. “In love? With who?” Yoongi stared evenly at Hoseok before turning his gaze back to the younger boy. “Wait, with Taehyung? No way, hyung! I’m not…I’m not gay, or anything.”Yoongi’s gaze didn’t waver. “So, which part did you find offensive?”“The part where he insinuated I dress like a gay guy!” Jeongguk spat out, breaths harsh. “I mean, no offence intended, y’all dress like fashion Gods, but I’m not gay! I have like, zero fashion sense!”“True,” Yoongi snickered, pouting when Hoseok slapped him on the arm.Hoseok sighed heavily, his arm falling to rest easily around Yoongi’s shoulders. “Maybe you are,” he voiced hesitantly. “And you just don’t know it yet.”Jeongguk frowned, face mask draped around his neck. “I would know,” he answered decisively, ignoring their knowing glances. “Right?”“It doesn’t matter now,” Hoseok finally muttered. “You gotta find a way to make it up to Tae.”“How do I do that?” Jeongguk inquired quietly. “I’m not good at…at this. Friends, feelings, shit like that. How am I supposed to apologise when I don’t even know what I’ve done wrong?”“You don’t need to know what you did wrong to apologise,” Hoseok countered softly, sparing a glance at Yoongi, whose head lolled heavily against the dancer’s shoulder. A fond smile played on his lips. “You just need to apologise for hurting his feelings.”“Then what?”“Talk to him about why you got mad. Tell him you’re still finding yourself, and it’s hard to take insults without a pinch of salt, I don’t know,” he sighed. “Just…make it up to him. It’s weird when you guys are fighting.” “Come on, hyung! I’m so excited for this – I haven’t seen Jaws in so long, and it’s such a good movie! I’m so happy camp has movie night, honestly.” Taehyung’s voice rang loud and clear as he dragged Hoseok away, arm looped around his neck.Jimin sighed from beside Jeongguk. “You gotta apologise, Gukkie, before Yoongi-hyung murders Taetae with his glare.”‘Okay, fine,” Jeongguk groaned. “Can you help me?”Jimin side-eyed him, huffing in irritation. “What do you mean help you?”“Like, get him to wait outside or something,” he pleaded, pouting.The older boy exhaled again, turning to glance at Yoongi who trod behind them, murderous glare directed at the ground, before nodding. “Okay, I’ll stall him. Hurry your slow arse up.”Jeongguk watched him jog up the hill towards the hall, heart heavy in his chest. “Don’t worry, hyung,” he said quietly, watching Yoongi’s eyes flit up for a second. “Taehyung doesn’t mean any harm.”“I know,” Yoongi finally responded, beanie pulled low over his ears. “I’m just scared that Hoseok will leave me for someone better.”Jeongguk scoffed. “He has a serious case of heart-eyes for you, hyung,” he reassured the older boy. “Trust me, he wouldn’t leave you even if it meant his death.”A smile playing on his thin lips, Yoongi only grunted in response, giving Jeongguk a slight push towards the hall. “Good luck, kid. You’ll be fine.”When Jeongguk stepped into the carpeted hall, the projector flashing the beginning scene of Jaws on the screen, he spotted Taehyung, Jimin and Hoseok instantly, sitting in a tight circle, and sighed heavily, trudging his way over and noticing the way Taehyung wouldn’t meet his gaze, back turned to him.Jimin met his eyes and shrugged helplessly.Irritation simmered under his skin and Jeongguk rolled his eyes, walking across the hall to sit with Moonbin and his group of friends. A quarter of the way through the movie, Dongmin nudged him in the side, fixing him with a curious glance. “What are you doing here?”Jeongguk bit his lip, refusing to look in the direction of Taehyung. “Watching the movie, hyung,” he answered, hearing Jinwoo sigh from behind him. “You don’t like my company?”Moonbin shot him a glance as Dongmin chuckled lightly. “It’s not that, Jeongguk-ah,” he assured. “What about Taehyung-ssi?”Jeongguk coughed awkwardly. “What about him?”“He’s been staring at you the entire time, Jeongguk-ah,” Jinwoo interrupted, and Jeongguk turned in time to see Myungjun flick him on the arm, hissing a gentle ‘shush’.“Literally the entire time,” Minhyuk piped up, arm slung comfortably around Sanha’s bony shoulders.“He’s not even watching the movie! And Jaws is such a good movie, too,” Sanha pouted, and Minhyuk ruffled his dark hair affectionately.Something lodged itself heavily in Jeongguk’s throat as he watched them, and he blurted quickly, “are you guys dating?”Minhyuk and Sanha shot each other amused glances before turning to Jeongguk and shaking their heads. “Nah, hyung,” Sanha answered, giggling and jabbing Minhyuk’s side playfully. “We’re just super good friends.” Minhyuk made a sound of agreement in the back of his throat. “MJ-hyung and Jinjin-hyung are the ones who’re dating.”“Dongmin and Binnie may as well be, honestly,” Myungjun interjected, head resting gently on Jinwoo’s shoulder and chuckling as Dongmin and Moonbin made indignant noises in their throats.The six fell silent after a moment, Jinwoo licking his lips before saying, “you got a problem with gay guys, Jeongguk-ah?”“No, nothing like that, hyung,” he laughed quietly, and Myungjun breathed a sigh of relief. “Just that – I think I’m…jealous? I’m not really sure,” he admitted, and Dongmin placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, eyes curving warmly.“Jealous?” Sanha blinked, sitting up in Minhyuk’s arms. “Of us?”Jeongguk chuckled. “No, not of you, just…Jinwoo-hyung, how do you do it?”“Jinjin is fine,” the older boy muttered, absent-mindedly running his thumb over the back of Myungjun’s tan hand. “Do what?”“You know…” Jeongguk shrugged loosely. “I can’t imagine people have been too…accepting.”Myungjun giggled a little nervously, fingers curling around Jinwoo’s. “Of course not,” he answered lightly. “But, you know, when you’re in love it doesn’t really matter what other people think of you.”Jinwoo smiled giddily, eyes curving at the corners and gums flashing, pressing a kiss into the side of Myungjun’s head of fluffy dark-golden hair. “Aw, babe, I love you too.”The feeling of eyes on his neck made his skin prickle uncomfortably, and Jeongguk shifted in his spot, ignoring the knowing glance Moonbin sent him. His phone vibrated furiously in his front pocket and he shifted again, turning his back towards the direction he knew Taehyung was sitting, lips probably pulled down into a sad pout and eyes flickering back and forth between Jeongguk and the screen.Jimin [21:23]: taetae is saaaad, guk-ah :( Jeongguk [21:24]: nothing I can do about that…he won’t even look at me. Jimin [21:25]: he’s been looking at you the whole time Jeongguk [21:26]: not what I meant. Jimin [21:27]: anyway he’s going to the bathroom soon Jeongguk [21:28]: so…am I supposed to stalk him into a cubicle or what Jimin [21:29]: no, idiot, wait for him outside the bathroom Jeongguk [21:30]: … Jeongguk [21:31]: … Jeongguk [21:32]: sureOut of the corner of his eye, Jimin and Taehyung got up, the shorter male’s hand wrapped around Taehyung’s bicep, and headed out of the hall, the heavy door swinging shut silently behind them. A moment later, Jeongguk placed a hand on Moonbin’s shoulder and said quietly, “don’t wait for me if I don’t come back, Bin-ah.”Moonbin shot him a smile, and Dongmin did the same, eyes curving sweetly. “Good luck, Jeongguk-ah,” the two boys murmured. “Yah, Chimchim, there’s no toilet paper left here!”Jeongguk snorted quietly – trust Taehyung to be hygienic to the point of using up all the toilet paper. “There’s some here,” he finally said, tearing a wad off from the next cubicle and slipping it under.Taehyung was silent, fingers brushing over Jeongguk’s briefly. “Thanks.”He leant against the wall outside, heard the toilet flush, and pushed a couple of fingers through his hair, biting his lip nervously as the door swung open and Taehyung stepped out.“So, um, where’s Chim?”“Probably went back to the hall.”“Hmm.”“Look, hyung,” Jeongguk sighed, placing a hand on Taehyung’s forearm. “Can you please – can you please, just, look at me?”Taehyung’s eyes flitted up to meet Jeongguk’s for a second. “I am looking at you.”“Fine,” Jeongguk snapped, releasing the older boy and exhaling. “Fine, don’t, just – can we talk, at least?”Taehyung bit his lip, glancing up at the younger boy again. “Sorry,” he blurted. “Sorry – I’m sorry, I’m being difficult…”“No, oh Tae, no,” Jeongguk groaned, wrapping an arm around the older boy’s middle and pulling him in, pressing a hesitant close-mouth kiss to his temple. “Tae, it’s not your fault…I’m sorry for overreacting, it was rude of me. Please stop crying, Tae, oh my God – ““Sorry, sorry,” Taehyung blubbered, smearing the back of his palm across his eyes and sniffling. “God, I’m sorry – I’m sorry, Gukkie…”“Tae, please, please, stop crying,” Jeongguk murmured desperately, pressing the pads of his thumbs across the bags under his eyes, wiping away the tears. “I’m sorry for being rude before, I shouldn’t have let it – ““I shouldn’t have said what I did,” Taehyung sniffled, leaning heavily into the younger boy’s touch.“I shouldn’t have overreacted, hyung,” Jeongguk said quietly, tightening his hold.The two stood in their awkward embrace for a while, Taehyung’s sniffling quieting slowly until Jeongguk released him from the hold, skin tingling underneath the older boy’s intense gaze.“What are you looking at?”“Just…you,” Taehyung answered, his smile so impossibly warm, his eyes so impossibly fond, that Jeongguk found himself flushing a pretty pink, from his cheeks to the tips of his ears. “Thanks, Jeonggukkie,” he murmured. “You’re nice.”He chuckled lowly. “Nah, Tae, I’m not nice – not at all,” he sighed.“No, you are,” Taehyung interrupted firmly, hands brushing loosely, distractedly, over Jeongguk’s bomber jacket. “You are, Gukkie, you really are.”Taehyung looked up at the younger boy, and Jeongguk’s breath caught in his throat. He was so incredibly beautiful, the starlight trapped in his shining eyes, the whole universe trapped in his dazzling smile, and Jeongguk was, very likely, a little bit in love with him. four \| about stars--The night air nipped at his exposed skin and Jeongguk shivered, burying his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket. “Where are you?” He muttered quietly, stomping his feet irritably on the rain-covered cement.“Right here, Gukkie!”“Jesus fuck, Tae, don’t do that,” he scowled, pressing a cold hand over his leather-clad chest and wincing. Taehyung shot him a familiar boxy smile and Jimin giggled, throwing a casual arm over Jeongguk’s shoulder.“Sorry, Gukkie!” Taehyung chirped, blowing the younger boy a kiss.“He’s not sorry at all,” Jimin joked, shooting Jeongguk a cheerful smile.Jeongguk frowned, shifting uncomfortably in the shorter boy’s hold. “Jiminnie,” he murmured lowly, turning his head ever so slightly. “What are you doing?”“Nothing,” the older boy answered defensively, pulling his arm back, eyes wounded. “Sorry, I didn’t realise only Taetae could hug you.”“Wait, Jiminnie, that’s not what I meant,” he stuttered out, watching the older boy turn his back and greet Yoongi, eyes downcast. Yoongi’s own lips settled into a thin line and he shot Jeongguk a heated glare over Jimin’s shoulder, wrapping both arms around Jimin’s waist and pulling him in.“Aish, Gukkie, what did you do now?” Taehyung sighed, sidling up close to the younger boy and pressing the full length of his warm, solid body against Jeongguk’s.“Nothing!” He snapped, offended at the now in the older boy’s question and stepping back.“Sure,” Taehyung replied instantly, an offended smirk playing across his features as he retracted his arm.“…Okay, maybe I hurt his feelings,” Jeongguk sighed, walking behind Yoongi and Jimin as the four made their way towards the crossing. “But I didn’t do it on purpose!”“Nah, I know,” the older boy hummed thoughtfully. “You can be insensitive sometimes, Gukkie, but we all know you don’t mean it.”“Insensitive?” Jeongguk muttered, crossing his arms and huffing.Taehyung giggled, bopping his nose cutely on the younger boy’s cheek. “Yeah, Gukkie, insensitive. Like I said, though, we know you, so it doesn’t matter.”“That’s probably why I can’t make friends then, hyung,” Jeongguk joked, breath hanging in a puff of crystalized air.The older boy laughed loudly, looping his arm through Jeongguk’s and smiling widely. “Yeah, probably,” he teased. “Or you’re just an overly shy, antisocial bunny,” he added, eyes crinkling at the corners.Jeongguk groaned, burying his face in the crook of Taehyung’s neck. “I am not a bunny,” he sighed, trying half-heartedly to suppress his smile.“Sure,” Taehyung replied, and Jeongguk smiled anyway, mouth warm against the older boy’s neck. Hoseok’s apartment, situated close to the harbour overlooking a beauteous expanse of deep azure, was a spacious breadth of immense luxury, the clean white walls and the spotless marble countertops sparkling under the fluorescent lighting. Hoseok welcomed them in, dressed in white sweatpants and a loose-fitting black hoodie, a smile brighter than the sun painting his features.Yoongi stuttered over his greeting and ducked past the dancer, ears flushed red.Jimin and Taehyung laughed after the older boy, each offering Hoseok a wide smile and a warm side-hug before flying off to find the older boy (who no doubt had buried himself in his music by now). Jeongguk toed his Timberlands off and threw his arms around the older dancer’s lean body, squeezing quickly.“Hyung, where’ve you been? Haven’t seen you at dance class in so long,” he said quietly, the two walking towards the bedrooms.Hoseok shot him a nervous smile. “I’ve been busy with work,” he admitted. “But I’ve been catching up on the technique lessons and I’m still choreographing for our next piece,” he added quickly, and Jeongguk sighed, shaking his head slowly.“You overwork yourself, hyung,” he muttered, and Hoseok smiled wanly.“I don’t have a choice,” he admitted, pausing right outside the closed door of one room. “My family isn’t as well off as people think, Guk-ah.”Jeongguk hesitated. “Are you happy, hyung?”Hoseok’s lips curled at the corners. “I’m not unhappy,” he finally said. “This isn’t what I wanted to be, but I’m not unhappy.”Jeongguk didn’t question why his smile seemed so harsh, so bitter around the edges.Hoseok didn’t thank him for it, but the way his eyes softened marginally at the corners was thanks enough. “Fuck, I hate this weather so much!” Taehyung whined, wrapping the thick fleece blanket around his trembling self and pouting pathetically at the fogged-up glass.Jeongguk chuckled quietly. “Stop complaining, hyung,” he joked. “You get the better side of the deal.” With one hand, he gestured to Jimin’s head rested comfortably in Jeongguk’s lap.“Rude,” Jimin retorted teasingly, and Jeongguk chuckled again, using one hand to rub gentle circles into Jimin’s silky pink locks, the older boy’s playful glare mellow at the edges.“Sorry,” Jeongguk sniggered.“He’s not sorry!” Taehyung chirped, and Jimin giggled cutely, eyes scrunching.“I know,” he answered, and Jeongguk muttered a low, “rude.”“Guys, come out here!” Hoseok yelled, sticking his windswept head through a gap in the sliding glass door.“It’s beautiful,” Yoongi called out from behind him, arm slung easily around the dancer’s neck, cheek pressed up against Hoseok’s, eyes full of happiness.“I’m sure it is, hyung,” Jeongguk hollered back.“Hoseok or the view?” Taehyung called out, the three boys snickering at the offended look on Yoongi’s face.“Hoseok, of course!” he shot back, the boys falling silent.Hoseok whacked the older boy’s shoulder, followed quickly by an intimate peck on Yoongi’s cheek. ‘You shithead,” he muttered, the sound carrying.Jeongguk sighed, shuffling to his feet and making his way over. “Move over, then,” he complained, winking at Yoongi behind Hoseok’s back and ignoring the older boy’s indignant splutters.Resting his forearms on the cold metal railing, the harbour-breeze pushing his hair off his face, Jeongguk let his eyes drift shut, the sound of his friends horsing around behind him drowned out in the eerie silence of the night.“Not much of a view if your eyes are shut, is it?”A warm body sidled up close to Jeongguk, and the younger boy cracked a smile without peeling his eyelids open. “I like the night,” he responded quietly, feeling Taehyung’s heavy gaze on him. “I like the feeling of it. The quiet, the cold…” He chuckled hoarsely. “I don’t know how to describe it.”“It’s not about the physical beauty, right?” Taehyung’s deep voice rumbled, and Jeongguk smiled again.“Exactly,” he said.“But the physical beauty also matters,” the older boy murmured.“Yeah, I guess,” Jeongguk muttered, brows drawing together thoughtfully before smoothing out. “The view is really beautiful, I’m sure.”“Yeah,” Taehyung finally answered, voice choked with emotion. “The view is quite a sight.”“Are you okay?” Jeongguk frowned, peeling his eyes open and tilting his head.Taehyung gulped, eyes flitting restlessly between the floor of the balcony and the star-lit sky. “Yeah, I’m okay.”“Are you sure?” Jeongguk hesitated, looping an arm around the older boy’s waist. “You know you can tell me anything, right?”Taehyung turned to him, warm breath fanning over the younger boy’s nose. “Yeah, Gukkie, I know,” he said, smile dazzling in its closeness. “Thank you.”Jeongguk swallowed, turning his face away. “You’re welcome.”It seemed the stars, twinkling safely and happily in the recesses of the midnight sky, were mocking him now.The glass door slid shut behind him, his eyes never leaving the shrouded figure of Taehyung, alone on the balcony. Jeongguk rolled out of the bed, stepping carefully over the body of Hoseok, laying cocooned in his sleeping bag on the floor, and pushing the door of the bedroom open. Squinting in the still dark living room, he snatched the key-card off the breakfast bar and pushed his feet into his Timberlands.Stepping out onto the roof-top garden, Jeongguk inhaled deeply, the wintry early-morning breeze refreshing on his flushed cheeks. He stuffed the key-card into the pocket of his sweatpants and leapt up onto the railing, swinging his legs over and resting his weight on his palms.Closing his eyes for a moment, he breathed in the taste of the sea-breeze and the sight of the sunrise, warm rays of light peeking over the horizon and turning the sky a beautiful combination of watermelon-pink and baby-blue.“What are you doing up so early?”The achingly familiar voice rang out over the rooftop, and Jeongguk smiled wanly. “Couldn’t sleep,” he muttered, fingering the key-card in his pocket. “Yoongi-hyung couldn’t stop saying Hobi-hyung’s name in his sleep,” he added, pleased to hear Taehyung’s giddy giggle.“I’m so sorry,” the older boy teased, stepping to stand beside Jeongguk and leaning over the railing.“Me too,” Jeongguk answered jokingly, watching Taehyung’s eyes crinkle gently at the corners.Silence engulfed the two of them, but it was a comfortable silence, one that didn’t require useless words to fill it, and Jeongguk, unwilling to break the peace, shut his eyes again. Being around Taehyung had always been incredibly easy, Jeongguk realised, marvelling silently at the way their breaths fell in sync.When he opened his eyes again, he was met with the sight of Taehyung, eyes shut, eyelashes turned golden by the sunlight, hair soft and fluffy from a full night of sleep, and Jeongguk was, suddenly, more than a little in love with him. five \| about loyalty --“Guk-ah, can we talk?”Jeongguk glanced up, brows furrowed. “What is it?”“Just – come outside?”“Okay…” Jeongguk muttered, shutting his maths book and following Jimin out of the computer room. “What is it, Jiminnie? You look worried.”“It’s…it’s really nothing,” Jimin answered, giggling nervously and pushing a hand through his hair. “It’s just…I think I’m…gay?”“What?”“Okay, not gay – Rosé is too beautiful to give up – but like, bi?” Jimin giggled again, voice pitched with anxiety.Jeongguk was speechless.“Yeah, definitely bi,” Jimin corrected, biting his lip and looking up at the younger boy through his eyelashes. “Can you please say something, Guk, your silence is giving me freaking anxiety.”“I’m…what am I supposed to say?” Jeongguk questioned. “I mean – I think I already guessed this, but, um, good for you,” he added, and Jimin blinked, staring at him with wide eyes.“How did you know?” he sputtered.“You’re not that subtle, Jiminnie,” Jeongguk sighed, smiling. “So, who’s the lucky guy?”Jimin spluttered helplessly.“Who is it, Jiminniiieeeee,” Jeongguk prompted teasingly. “Tell meeeee.”“Aish, you’re gonna judge me,” Jimin sighed.“No, I promise I won’t! I’ll even help set you guys up!” “Please don’t, you won’t be helping, trust me.”“So, who is it?”“…it’s Taehyung.”Jeongguk blinked. Inhaled once, exhaled once. Blinked again.Jimin frowned, nudging the younger boy in the ribs. “Hey, you okay?”“Huh?” he muttered dazedly. “I mean…yeah, I’m fine.”“So…?”“So what?” he mumbled, scuffing the heel of his shoe on the ground. “I’m happy for you. You’ve accepted yourself – that’s good.”“Please don’t tell him,” Jimin murmured, and the younger boy chuckled bitterly.“Trust me, I won’t.”“Thank you,” Jimin added, hugging the younger boy briefly before stepping back into the room.“Hey, Jiminnie,” Jeongguk called out, hands fisted in his pockets. “Be brave, yeah?”“Okay,” the older boy replied, smiling brightly.“Be careful, too,” Jeongguk added, and the older boy’s smile only widened.“Don’t worry about me, Guk-ah,” Jimin called back. “I’ll be fine, I promise.”“I know,” Jeongguk replied softly, letting his head hang down. “I know you will.” Walking in to the computer room at lunch, Jeongguk’s eyes were instantly drawn to the way Jimin sat next to Taehyung, thighs pressed together, Jimin’s palm flat on Taehyung’s knee. Bile rose in his throat as he froze in the doorway, heart pounding in his chest.“Guk-ah, come over!”Hoseok’s voice resonated throughout the room, and Jimin’s eyes snapped to meet his. Jeongguk swallowed, averting his gaze, before walking up to greet Hoseok and the others.“Hey, hyung,” he murmured, and Hoseok frowned at him, swinging an arm around Jeongguk’s shoulder.“What’s wrong?”“Nothing,” the younger boy muttered defensively, ducking out of the dancer’s hold.“Guk-ah, come over here for a second?” Yoongi muttered, wrapping his fingers around Jeongguk’s wrist and tugging him towards the door, Hoseok following closely.“What is it, hyung?”“There’s something wrong. What is it? Is it Jimin and Taehyung? I know they’re being touchy, but – ““That’s not it, I promise,” Jeongguk chuckled. “I have two gay dads, hyung, do you really think I have any room to be homophobic?”“Okay, point taken,” Yoongi muttered petulantly, pouting, and Hoseok giggled, wrapping an arm around the older boy’s waist. “What is it, then?”Rolling his bottom lip into his mouth, Jeongguk exhaled heavily. “Just…” he hesitated. “Just wondering how I can set them up.”The two older boys shot each incredulous glances. “I’m sure they don’t need any setting up.”“Especially not from you, Guk-ah,” Hoseok joked, ruffling the younger boy’s hair as they headed back into the room.Jeongguk forced himself to swallow the bitter taste in his throat.Since when did he care about other people’s relationships?Since it was Taehyung, a little nagging voice whispered in his mind.For the first time, Jeongguk regretted.He regretted meeting Taehyung.Becoming best friends with him.Falling in love with him.Because that was what was happening, wasn’t it? six \| about memories --“Do you, Taehyung, take Jimin as your…”Jeongguk let his head hang, running a hand through his neatly styled hair and wincing at the sweat dampened locks. He hated to admit it, but his heart still ached in that painfully familiar way when Taehyung smiled at Jimin like he was the eighth wonder of the world. He used to smile at me like that. But no, that wasn’t completely correct, was it? Taehyung had never, and would never, see Jeongguk the way the younger boy had seen him.“I do.”Taehyung’s voice ran clearly throughout the room, and Jeongguk bit back the cry in his throat. Joyful whoops filled the room – no doubt from Jimin’s dance crew and Taehyung’s acting class – and Jeongguk smiled bitterly.He really didn’t understand why he had subjected himself to this.Hoseok brushed the back of his palm with his knuckles and smiled knowingly when Jeongguk turned to him. “You didn’t have to come, you know,” Hoseok murmured.Jeongguk smiled sadly, keeping his eyes locked on the stage. “My two best friends getting married? How could I miss it?”Hoseok sighed. “It’s not a real ceremony, anyway,” he reassured the younger boy.“It’s real enough to them,” Jeongguk replied quietly, pulling his wrist from the older dancer’s grasp.Hoseok swallowed audibly, mouth snapping shut with the weight of Jeongguk’s grief.“It’s okay, hyung,” Jeongguk finally said, smiling sweetly when Jimin caught his gaze. “I’m okay.” “There you are! Where did you run off to?”Jeongguk squeezed his eyes shut, inhaling deeply and feeling the chilly breeze cut through his lungs and dry his tears. Taehyung sidled up next to him, bowtie loosened and tuxedo jacket fluttering in the winter air.He looked so beautiful.Jeongguk looked away.“Needed some air,” he replied quietly, tilting his head back to watch the stars.Taehyung blinked. “Are you okay?”I’m fine, Jeongguk wanted to say. It was just really stuffy in there and it gave me a headache, but I’m fine.Those words never made it out.“No,” he responded honestly, leaning his weight forwards on the metal railing as the balcony door finally slid shut.“What?”“I said no,” Jeongguk repeated, turning to look at the older boy.“What do you mean?” “I used to like you, you know,” he confessed, and he couldn’t even feel bad at Taehyung’s surprised inhale.“You – you what?”“God, look at me, talking in past tense. I still like you,” Jeongguk corrected himself slowly, Taehyung’s eyes burning holes into his skin. “Fuck, why lie about it? I’m in love with you, Taehyung, and now you’re married to Jimin.”“Why didn’t you tell me?”“How could I tell you?” Jeongguk scoffed. “It would’ve ruined everything our friendship had been built upon, and you know it. How could I tell you, and make you pick between me and Jimin? I didn’t want that for you, Taehyung-ssi.”“Taehyung-ssi?” The older boy repeated numbly, and Jeongguk smiled bitterly. “Aren’t we best friends, Gukkie?”“I thought I could be selfless for a day,” he said quietly. “I thought I could let go, move on, and be happy for my two best friends but it hurts too much, Taehyung-ssi. It hurts too much to see you look at him like you’re the moon and he’s the sun and you need him to shine. You’ve only ever had eyes for him, and I can’t be best friends with someone when I can’t even wish them a happy marriage and mean it! How could I?”“You should’ve just told me, Gukkie,” Taehyung repeated, and Jeongguk sighed, body slumping over the cold railing.“I couldn’t, Taehyung. You wouldn’t understand.”“You’re right,” the other boy acknowledged. “I don’t get it. Why would you like me? What is there to like about me?”Jeongguk chuckled disbelievingly. “Why would I like you? You look at Jimin like he’s the sun, but to me, you’re the stars. And you know what I love so much about stars? They shine brightest in the dark, Taehyung. They shine all day and all night, and even without looking you know they’re always there, twinkling happily away in the sky. You’re the stars, Taehyung, because you bring light. You brought light to me. You made me happy. I never needed anything more than your company, Taehyung. I never needed anything more from you than to see you smile. That’s the beauty of stars. You never need to ask them for much.“What did I like about you? You never failed to be kind, you never failed to be selfless, and you never failed to be generous. You were always there for me when I was down, always finding some way to cheer me up. You were thoughtful, and you dedicated your time to me when I needed it. You let me take care of you when you were down, even if it took me days to get through to you. You never wanted to show your weaker side, but you let me see your fragility, and you let me patch you up with shitty band-aids. You let me in, Taehyung.“You made me smile. You made me enjoy being the new kid. You remember that first day when you asked me if I wanted to sit next to you? Me, a high-school student who was adamantly straight, and the first thing I thought when I saw you was god damn. You were the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my entire life. You still are, Taehyung.“Why do I like you? I like you for you. All your ups and your downs, all your good days and your bad days…I wanted them all. You’re so incredibly you, Taehyung. That’s why I like…no, that’s why I love you.”A tension-filled silence unfolded between the two, and Jeongguk was the first to break it, stepping back and pushing the door open.“You don’t need to say anything,” he reassured desperately, heart clenching at the shuttered gaze Taehyung watched him with. “I don’t want, nor do I need, anything in return.”Jeongguk stepped over the threshold, holding his breath. A small part of him still hoped Taehyung would call out to him, hands knotting in the back of his wrinkled suit, but he didn’t.Of course he didn’t.“Goodbye, Taehyung-ssi,” Jeongguk said quietly, defeated. “I wish you the best in life, and nothing but the best, because like I said years ago, if there’s anyone who deserves happiness, it’s you.”
10814055	Flying	{ "Archive Warning": "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings", "Category": null, "Characters": "Sirius Black, Harry Potter, Remus Lupin", "Fandom": "Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Mature", "author": "by Rynne [archived by thequidditchpitch_archivist]", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2005-10-29T00:00:00", "words": "1,468", "Additional Tags": "Romance, Marauders' Era, The Quidditch Pitch: School Days", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": "The Quidditch Pitch, FictionAlley \| TheDarkArts", "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	Remus found few things as exhilarating as flying. Well, there was having sex. But flying and sex couldn't really be compared. The wind whipping your hair in all directions was nothing like sweat pasting it to your forehead. Yelling out in utter joy of flight was not like screaming out your orgasm. And riding a broom was nothing like riding your boyfriend. Well. Boyfriends. Assuming neither of them laughed themselves silly at the idea. Which they were all too likely to do, especially as James still tried to say that he was straight and that it was just a matter of time until Lily went out with him (whenever James said this, Remus and Sirius just snorted and asked him what he was doing in bed with them then? James never really could answer them satisfactorily, only saying that a bloke would do anything for sex and didn't they know that by now, being blokes themselves?). Anyway. Back to flying. And why Remus was standing outside on the Quidditch pitch in the middle of the night with his broomstick, tapping his toes and looking at his watch every few minutes. When the two figures appeared, he hissed, "You're late," and made to get on his broom and just take off, but Sirius grabbed the collar of his robes to make sure he didn't go anywhere, and James grinned and put down the box he was carrying. "Patience, Moony," James teased, kneeling down to open the box. "Stuff patience," Remus said succinctly, "I've been waiting for you for fifteen minutes. At least you brought it." James sniffed. "Course we did. You asked for it, didn't you? And we told you we'd bring it, didn't we?" Remus half-smiled, almost mollified. "Take you awhile to get it out of Hooch's office, did it?" he asked, and James nodded. "Took us awhile to find it, and then we saw Mrs Norris and had to double back out of the way so Filch wouldn't find us," James explained. "Well, all right then," Remus said grudgingly, then brightened. "Let's see it." James held up a finger. "You know that if we lose this, we'll all be crucified, don't you?" Remus nodded eagerly, and James sighed, then reached into the box and pulled out a golden ball with fluttering wings, straining to escape against James's hand. "You sure you can catch it?" James asked, raising an eyebrow. Remus nodded excitedly. "Yes James, I'm quite sure. Now let it loose…?" James smiled and opened his hand, and in an instant Remus shook Sirius's hand off his robes and pushed up off the ground, zipping into the air with a whoop. He flitted around the air above the field, chasing something that neither James nor Sirius could see, but that Remus apparently could. After a moment of watching him, James turned to Sirius and said, "You're awfully quiet tonight." Not quite a question, but apparent enough that James was asking him something. Sirius glanced at him, then looked up at the sky again, where Remus, in his black robes and hood, could barely be made out against the backdrop of stars. "He's beautiful, isn't he?" Sirius asked quietly. "And it's obvious that he loves this at least as much as we do. I know I wouldn't be able to see the Snitch in the dark, but he can." James shrugged. "His night vision's always been a good thing for us," James pointed out, and Sirius nodded. "I wish he'd try out for Seeker," Sirius said quietly. "He's made for it, and look how much fun he's having up there." Above them, Remus had just caught the Snitch, raising the fist with the fluttering golden ball above his head before letting it loose again and taking after it with an exuberant laugh. "You know why he won't," James replied just as quietly, and Sirius nodded. They both knew why Remus would never try out for Seeker, though Remus himself had never told them—he hadn't needed to. It wasn't necessarily that he was afraid the full moon could possibly come while he was flying. No, James as Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team as well as Head Boy could always make sure that Gryffindor's matches were scheduled well away from the full moon, and that if any ever did manage to last that long, reserves would be expected to be brought in eventually. No one would ever find out from Quidditch that Remus Lupin was a werewolf. But up there, up among the stars and the night breezes, Remus was free. He could chase something that wouldn't be hurt if he caught it, and he wouldn't hurt anyone else in the pursuit of it. With no one else in the air, Remus could dash to and fro wherever he wanted, and he didn't have to worry about anyone else. He could let go, completely and totally, and give himself up to the wind and the air and the golden Snitch, and no one would stop him. In the middle of the night on a nearly deserted Quidditch pitch, there were no opposing teams trying to stop him, no people to dodge around, no winning or losing anything except altitude and speed. Up in the air with no one else there, Remus could just be himself. He could go as fast as he wanted, indulge himself in a bloodless hunt, and still taste sweet victory when he caught his quarry. He had no one to call him to task for letting himself loose. Looking up at him, James felt an unidentifiable pang in his chest, one he didn't care to try and examine too closely. Remus was really alive up there. He didn't need anyone else. Glancing at his best friend, James saw that Sirius had closed his eyes, an expression of intense longing on his face. Sirius had come to this conclusion long ago, James suddenly realized. But what it was that Sirius was longing for, James didn't know. And he wasn't sure he wanted to. One major revelation about one of his best friends was enough for this night. Sirius opened his eyes again almost painfully. He wasn't sure what he was longing for either, but he couldn't look away from Remus, not anymore. Not when Remus's elation was so palpable, even as far away as he was. And Remus was still there, still chasing that golden ball, and Sirius couldn't stop watching, even though he felt sure that any moment his heart was going to burst free of his chest, it was beating so hard. But Remus's utter grace in the air and fierce joy when flying, hidden from everyone else and shown only to James and Sirius, was impossible to look away from. Nothing made him so happy as this, and Sirius knew it. Now James knew it too. Sirius wasn't sure how he felt about that. Eventually Remus caught the Snitch again and decided to land, drifting down almost sedately towards the ground, the winged ball in his fist struggling to get free. As he came closer and closer to where James and Sirius were standing, they could see the grin on his face, the shine in his eyes, the way the wind had left his hair tangled and he didn't seem to notice. His feet touched the ground and he swung his legs off the broom, and his hair obscured his face as he bent to put the Snitch back in the box, and when he straightened up again and looked at them both, Sirius was sure that this time his heart really would pound itself out of his chest, or at the least that Remus would hear it. He wished that he'd put that expression on Remus's face. But seeing Remus, with his windblown hair and his ecstatic grin and his flushed cheeks and the shine in his eyes, Sirius knew it was only flying that could do this to him. Only flying. But when Remus put his arms around Sirius's and James's waists, it was hard to be jealous. When he pulled them closer to him and leaned his forehead against theirs, when he smiled at them and laughed quietly, it was hard to remember that they weren't the center of his life. When he kissed them hungrily, and all three of them struggled out of their robes and sank to the ground on their makeshift blanket of black fabric, it was hard to think that he wasn't made for this, for lying with them and kissing them and fitting with them. But when they were up in their room again, and Remus was asleep in his arms and Sirius was awake in the dark, it wasn't so hard to remember that what Remus loved most in this world was flying.
10890789	Within You	{ "Archive Warning": "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings", "Category": "M/M", "Characters": "Karl Mordo, Stephen Strange", "Fandom": "Doctor Strange (2016)", "Language": "English", "Rating": "General Audiences", "author": "by Turnandfacethepaige", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-12T00:00:00", "words": "2,696", "Additional Tags": "So it turns out that this isn't the Labyrinth AU nobody wanted, and that quite a few people wanted a sequel!, so here it is!", "Relationship": "Karl Mordo/Stephen Strange", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": "Labyrinth Au", "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	He was running.He couldn’t think, couldn’t focus on anything else but Christine, Christine, Christine. She was here, hiding somewhere in this labyrinthine mess of staircases and doorways that would give Escher a migraine. He had to find her. He had to run again.Stephen had gotten to the castle, Wong, the Ancient One and Kaecilius running alongside him as they dodged goblin arrows and swords, flinging themselves through the front door. He had to go on alone, go and get Mordo alone. Stand up to him, tell him to back off. Show the Goblin King he wasn’t afraid anymore. He’d gotten up the first flight of steps, tore through the corridors until he reached the door, flung it open -And all remaining hell had broken loose.He couldn’t actually understand what it was he was looking at at first. It was a mess of sandy stone and sharp ledges and hollows broken into the walls doused in the soft light of torches, unbroken by any outside light, even though a lilac dusk had begun to fall outside the castle.A few seconds had passed, and then it hit him. Doorways. Stairs. Leading to nowhere, to no place. No sight of any way out, no sight of any other person standing there. Stephen had turned back, ready to go back into the corridor and search the castle for other rooms, but the door behind him had vanished without a sound and without him hearing. All that loomed behind him was the mirror of what lay before him; a twisting madness of stairs and doorways. And no way out.So he had to run again. He ran down the stairs, carefully rounding the doorways and corners, ears pricked for the soft tread of leather boots or the huff of breath echoing around the place. But there was none. Only the blood pounding in his ears, the slap of his shoes against the stone, the graze of his fingers against the stone.Rounding a corner, he saw only a long, straight ledge, with a gigantic drop to the side that promised only more stairs and more doorways. He went forward, hoping that something would be there, waiting for him at the end, and as he did so, ever curious, he glanced over the edge.Staring up at him from below the ledge was Mordo.Stephen leapt back, gasping in shock at the sight of Mordo’s glittering eyes, pulsating with something Stephen couldn’t recognise just inches away below his feet.And then, just when he thought things couldn’t get any weirder, couldn’t get any stranger, and couldn’t get any damn creepier; Mordo’s voice, rich and smooth began to float up from below him.‘How you turn my world, you precious thing….’He was singing. He was fucking singing.This day was just fan-fucking-tastic.But then Stephen realised that Mordo had stopped, the notes echoing around the high chamber. Cautiously, he peered over the side. Mordo had gone.A sharp click of heels against stone, and then the voice came again, to the right, from what sounded at least a metre above his head.‘You starve and near-exhaust me.’He whipped to look above him. Mordo stood, horizontal, silhouetted dark in the light doorway, cocked head, hips slightly jutted. He’d changed since the ballroom - wearing what appeared to be black leggings that slunk around his legs, a silky black waistcoat with large, golden buttons, and a black shirt, wide sleeved and high-necked, billowing with hidden promise around him. His hair still remained up, just as it had been when it had flowed around his coat in the ballroom, and fluttered in smooth waves around him, lit up like an ebony halo in the light that surrounded him. He wasn’t smiling. Stephen glared at him, although the tiniest sliver felt pleased with himself. Mordo had smiled at him his entire journey through the labyrinth, grinning like a leopard, purring like a cat; a smile had been his measurement for how far along he was getting in Mordo’s game. And now the cat was upset, because a teenage boy had managed to get far enough in his stupid little game for him to start getting worried. Damn right, Stephen thought proudly. He’d gotten to him now. There was nothing Mordo could do to make him turn back now. He was beating the Goblin King at his own game.But then the voice came again - behind him - ‘Everything I’ve done, I’ve done for you.’He whipped around to see Mordo step out from the dark, head turned slightly, boots clicking on the stone, stalking towards him - getting closer, getting closer, and Stephen took a step back, braced himself against the wall, steeling himself for the moment when Mordo would strike him, hit him, attack him -Mordo took another step, and then another, and then he was walking through him. It was so quick Stephen couldn’t register what was happening. A soft brush, like a liquid wind pouring across him, a smell of something sweet and creamy, a crackle of static, and then Mordo was gone, walking behind him. Stephen looked down at himself, expecting to see crimson staining his jeans, his white shirt, something left behind by Mordo, but saw nothing. Nothing at all.Mordo hadn’t done anything to him.Very slowly, he turned around.Mordo stood at the edge of the ledge, facing him, and the minute Stephen locked eyes with him, his face changed almost instantly, a heartbreaking kind of brokenness spreading across his features, devastating in how exhausted and trodden down he looked. He raised a hand and sang.‘I move the stars for no-one.’And then, as if he couldn’t make things anymore confusing, he stepped over the ledge, vanishing beneath the stone.Stephen’s mind blanked as he struggled to comprehend just what exactly was happening. Move the stars for no-one? Move the stars? What the hell was he on about? And why the hell would he look that sad, singing that to him? Why did Mordo look like he cared?Stephen hesitated, waiting a bit, almost wanting to see if Mordo would come up again to explain what was going on. But he didn’t.So Stephen started to run.He did a 180 and ran up the nearest set of stairs, dashing across a ledge, jumping over a staircase, hounding round the corner. He started up the nearest set of stairs, and as he did, below him, mimicking his own steps, the click of heeled boots against stone began to ring through, and that voice, that voice, began to sing once more.‘You’ve run so long, you’ve run so far.’He jumped to the nearest ledge, tore across the long pathway that lay before him, when he skidded to a halt as he realised that there was no other stairway or ledge at the end waiting for him. Stephen started to take a step back, when from the edge, floating upwards like a creature from a tomb who had been locked away for eternity, Mordo literally flipped himself up onto the pathway, blocking his path.He slunk towards him, each step ringing louder and louder in Stephen’s ears. He wasn’t smiling. He wasn’t smiling at all.He looked blank, tired, like he was staring defeat straight in the eye and had no way of stopping its devastation. Stephen stared back at him, mouth opening slightly. He couldn’t believe it. Mordo had only appeared to him an hour or so ago, waltzing him round the room with ease and fluid grace, a sharp smile tearing holes into Stephen’s anxious mind, twirling him around as though he would eat him up whole, purred and smirked and lazed, and glittered at him - Mordo had been in his element, the Goblin King who ruled the labyrinth with a silver fist.But now - now he was almost shrunken. Like someone had put him in the wash and forgotten to straighten him out and iron him properly. That glittering ferocity and pride still remained, Stephen could see it, anyone who couldn’t was a fool to not be able to see it. But it had somehow been diminished, white-washed away.He stopped a few steps away from Stephen.‘Your eyes can be so cruel.’He held up a crystal ball to Stephen’s eye level, blankly staring at him, chin titled down so that his eyes only just gazed over the top of the ball at him. Stephen straightened up, eyes darting between the ball and Mordo, squinting at his face, trying to see if any answer to Mordo’s behaviour lay in there, open as a page to him. But there was none. Only a tired looking fairy holding up a crystal ball.And then, so quickly and so sharply Stephen couldn’t realise it, a glaring smirk burst onto Mordo’s face, ripping the exhaustion into pieces, and eyes glittering, he drew the ball back, opened his mouth to sing, and sharp, pointed teeth exposed themselves to the vulnerable flesh of his lips.‘Just as I can be so cruel.’He turned and with one swift movement, threw the ball. It fell towards a set of stairs, and Stephen flinched away at the sound of smashing crystal against stone.‘Though I do believe in you.’ Only, there was none. To his amazement, the ball began to bounce neatly up the stairs, one step at a time, with a sweet, tinkling sound, like that of a rattle, bouncing up and up, until it reached the top of the stairs, and at the top was -‘Christine!’ Stephen’s voice echoed throughout the chamber in desperation and amazed hope for the first time since he’d set foot in the labyrinth. His whole journey lay, spanned out before him, the bog, the ballroom, the forest, the castle; all for Christine. All for the little baby that sat, happy and contented, playing with the crystal ball within her chubby hands.His voice, so much higher than Mordo’s, broke the spell that had enraptured him - who cared about some weird fairy who wore riding boots in some Esher painting and who cared about what he meant about the stars? He’d found his sister.They could go home.It was almost as though Mordo wasn’t there. He ran down the stairs, not knowing, not caring if the Goblin King chased behind him, tore across the paths, eyes never leaving the sight of Christine’s red and white striped pyjamas, never taking his gaze away from her.‘Yes, I do.’But he couldn’t reach her - he couldn’t get to her. The hope that had bubbled inside him had flared and faded as quickly as it had come. No matter how fast he ran, no matter how close the staircase he took to her, he couldn’t reach her. Stephen chased up one staircase only to discover that Christine had gone down a floor. He passed through a door only to see Christine toddling across a pathway. He ran through the paths, only to see her, slowly crawling to a doorway.He couldn’t reach her.And then Mordo began to sing again. But it didn’t sound like singing. It didn’t sound like singing at all.‘Live without your sunlight.’It sounded distant, too high-pitched, as though he was far, far away from Stephen, and had to sing higher to make him hear him. It sounded - it - It sounded almost human.Stephen tried to push it off, this unease, this shaky feeling of anxiety that pooled and gurgled deep inside his stomach with a hollowing dread, focused on Christine. Christine was why he was here. Christine was why he had come to the labyrinth. He only cared about her.Not some stupid fairy with glittering eyes and sea-like hair.But Mordo’s voice came again -‘Love without your heartbeat.’Christine was on a pathway just before him. He jumped up. She was gone.Mordo, standing before him, silhouetted in the window, the wind entwining glitter and rain through his hair, his cloak whirling behind him, curling around his legs.Mordo, unveiling himself from the shadows of the mine, rising up from the floor to his full, true form.Mordo, standing on the staircase, one step closer towards him, one step closer to reaching out and holding his hand.Mordo, standing at the edge of the world, eyes dark with exhaustion and heartbreak, flipping over into shadows, hair trailing behind him. Mordo, moving the stars.Mordo.MordoMordo.And the voice came again, and he stopped, listened to it, listened with every fibre of his being -‘I -‘The Goblin King, blowing crystal balls out of his window towards him and his friend. The Goblin King, regal and beautiful in his velvet coat.The Goblin King, come to give him a gift, any gift, anything he ever wanted.The Goblin King, who made him feel as though he was the only being who ever existed, who ever breathed, who ever mattered.The Goblin King, his eyes shining with unshed tears, looming above a stone ledge, moving the stars for nobody but a strange, lonely teenager.The Goblin King, silhouetted in a doorway, watching a teenager run around, as though he had never seen anything more beautiful than that boy.The Goblin King, his voice breaking as he sang.‘I can’t live within you.’Stephen slowly looked up. Mordo stood on a ledge, crouched down to the floor, almost kneeling, watching Stephen with soft, smudged eyes and a mouth down-turned with tears.The Goblin King, who had moved the stars, just for him.Nobody moved the stars for just anyone. Stephen didn’t know what to think. Stephen didn’t know what to believe. He had spent too long in this labyrinth.He wanted to go home.With a strength he didn’t know he had, Stephen tore his gaze away from Mordo and looked down, over the ledge he stood on.Below him was Christine, looking up at him with huge blue eyes. Stephen didn’t even have to look back to know Mordo was still looking at him.Had he planned this the whole time? Was this a game to him? Keep some kid trapped in your own personal maze, and now, when he finally had the ticket out, cry crocodile tears to make him stay? Stephen doubted Mordo wanted Christine that badly. People wouldn’t go this far just for a baby.The ballroom - the way Mordo had toyed with him, told him how much fun he was having, the way he looked at Stephen like he wanted to eat him whole - that Mordo was nothing like the Mordo that knelt above him, the one who had sung to him about the stars. Was he Mordo? Or was he the Goblin King?Or was he both? Who was he? What was he trying to do? What was he trying to be? What did this mean? What did this all mean?But he knew. Stephen knew exactly what this all meant. Or at least part of it.Just because he knew what Mordo was trying to do didn’t mean he wanted to acknowledge it or be part of it.Stephen wasn’t some sort of damsel that Mordo could seduce and bat his eyelids at, and swoop around a ballroom in the vain hope of seduction. Stephen was going home.And to do that there appeared to be only one way out.Stephen took a breath, took another, squeezed his eyes tight, let out a breath that sounded like a gasp, and with every ounce of brevity he had, he jumped - throwing himself off the top of the ledge.The stones raced past him, the doorways growing into whirlpools, the floor moving and flowing away from him as he fell towards him, breaking down into deep, dark purple, chunks of bricks floating past his head, stars beginning to emerge in the gaps of the darkness that began to grow before him.Stephen fell on and on, watching the world break apart around him, watching as the labyrinth tore away from him.In the silence that followed him as he fell down, Stephen could have sworn he heard the sound of a gasp, thick and heartbroken from above him.
10888344	En arriere	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": null, "Characters": "Mycroft Holmes, Douglas Richardson", "Fandom": null, "Language": "Français", "Rating": "General Audiences", "author": "by Daryl", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-12T00:00:00", "words": "795", "Additional Tags": "university days, Recruitment talk, Douglas' family, Mycroft is M", "Relationship": "Mycroft Holmes & Douglas Richardson", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": "Cabin Pressure, Sherlock (TV)", "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	"Tu vaux mieux que ça" Une voix masculine murmura à l'oreille de Douglas alors qu'il assistait à un cours sur les poussées de fièvre, et qu'il dessinait un portrait cubiste du maître de conférences en une tentative de rester éveillé. Il s'ennuyait terriblement.Douglas haussa les sourcils à ce commentaire. Il l'était probablement (malin), vu au combien de ses camarades de classe faisaient tout un fromage à propos des cours, et étudier la médecine à Oxbridge impliquait de base être futé.L'étranger avait 'lu' tout cela dans la posture de Douglas, il supposa, et le jeune étudiant en médecine ressenti un grand intérêt en la personne qui semblait être la plus intelligente qu'il eu rencontré jusqu'à présent. C'était pas souvent qu'il rencontrait quelqu'un de plus perspicace que lui.Après le cours Douglas suivit l'étranger le long de la sortie, à travers la ville et un étang dans un parc. Le plus jeune homme était un poil plus petit que lui, et avait des yeux gris froid qui parcoururent rapidement Douglas en le jugeant, cela en l'espace de quelques secondes.Il semblait vaguement familier, un visage vu quelque part, de loin mais Douglas ne le reconnu pas.L'étranger connaissait son emploi du temps, et en plus de ses honoraires il connaissait son nom, son age et probablement sa biographie. Les clichés ennuyaient Douglas, alors plutôt que d'admettre que cet étranger avait l'avantage sur lui, il attendit que la personne lui raconta d'elle-même le pourquoi du comment. Mycroft semait des miettes de pain à la surface de l'étang, remarquant l'immobilité délibérée de l'étudiant. C'était plutôt évident, mais la preuve de patience et le rapide regard évaluateur qu'il affichait était prometteur.Richardson n'était pas aussi indigne d’intérêt que tout les gens qu'il, à sa grande tristesse, croisait quotidiennement."Comment vous considéreriez-vous, si vous n'étiez pas écrasé sous l'influence et la volonté de votre père ?" Mycroft demanda, surtout dans le but de combler le silence avant que cela n'effraie sa cible. Il pensait toujours de cette manière, pour ne pas intimider les nouvelles rencontres.Douglas eu un rictus, à peine chatouillé par l'illogisme, et répondit "Je me considère toujours comme pragmatique, plus professionnel et pied-à-terre que du type intellectuel du haut de sa tour d'ivoire."Les bon esprits, ceux conscients et les inconscients sont en accord sur ce point.Mycroft acquiesça et rétorqua "Je recherche quelques personnes, capables et intéressées pour effectuer des tâches bien particulières. Vous feriez un bon pilote et j'ai besoin d'une personne maligne, compétente qui pourrait franchir les frontières sans se faire remarquer."Mycroft observa Richardson, alors qu'il étudiait soigneusement l'offre qu'il lui a été proposée. C'était étrangement stressant. Richardson était intuitif et capable de saboter et de détruire son propre travail juste pour voir ce que qu'il arriverait. Franchement, même si il n'était pas à son niveau intellectuellement, Mycroft admit que si Richardson se reconvertissait en criminel il se révélerait être un vrai défi. "Votre pays a besoin de vous ?" L'amusement se faisait sentir dans la voix de Douglas. Il se faisait charmer, recruter pour quelque activité raisonnablement secrète et cachée. C'était excitant cependant qu'il se fasse solliciter pour ce qu'il était, plutôt que pour les relations convoitées de son père ou sa capacité à pouvoir fournir des objets de contrebande. "Honnêtement, je pourrais me passer de vous, mais vous êtes la personne la plus idéale pour le travail que j'aimerais voir effectué, donc dans ce sens oui, votre pays à besoin de vous."Le ton légèrement exaspéré de l'étranger alors qu'il souffla sec l'idée que Douglas aie pu avoir un contrôle quelconque dans ces négociations titilla Douglas.L'étranger avait employé des moyens considérables pour le sélectionner, le contacter et lui faire l'offre ; ses services semblaient nécessaires. La réelle question était ; voulait-il ce qu'il lui été proposé ? Les yeux à demi-fermés, le jeune homme considérait l'offre de Mycroft. Douglas évaluait le futur que Père avait prévu pour lui – devenir un chirurgien, spécialisé au cerveau ou au cœur en dépit du fait que il était plus attiré par la psychiatrie, la science qui faisait tiquer les gens.Ses désirs importaient peu ; il était sensé passer les années difficiles à SHO, devenir registraire puis consultant, tout le long étant un exemple du barbant citoyen parfait qui ne contredisait jamais les opinions politiques de son père ou son frère.Douglas dévisagea une énième fois l'étranger en face de lui. Il échangerait bien le contrôle de son frère et son père sur lui, contre le contrôle de cet homme là, mais ça signifiait probablement travailler au service du bien, et pas avec des ambitions malhonnêtes. Mycroft su qu'il avait pris la bonne décision aussi tôt que Richardson tangua légèrement d'avant en arrière, sorti de sa réflexion "Excellent. Suivez-moi."Douglas obéit, tout le long des quinze années à venir.
10828767	Of Mice and Men	{ "Archive Warning": "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings", "Category": "Gen", "Characters": "Ohno Satoshi, Aiba Masaki, Ninomiya Kazunari, Matsumoto Jun, Sakurai Sho", "Fandom": "Arashi (Band)", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Teen And Up Audiences", "author": "by oviparous", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-05T00:00:00", "words": "4,666", "Additional Tags": "Crack, Humor", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	Nino heaved the sack of flour from the back of the van before rapping his knuckles on the back entrance of the little establishment that was Ohno’s bakery.“Oh-chan! I’m here!” Nino called, and soon someone came to answer the door.Nino scowled when he saw it was Jun. (It was customary.)“Oh, Nino-chan,” Ohno’s cousin simpered, opening the door wide on its hinges to let Nino enter. Nino rolled his eyes and moved past the doorsill.“‘Nino’ would do just fine,” the deliveryman answered, scoffing. Jun just laughed and returned to the table to put on his plastic gloves. He then busied himself by injecting the coronets with custard. Nino put the flour onto the stainless steel worktop before turning to Jun. “Why are you here on a weekday? Where’s Oh-chan?”“Satoshi-nii isn’t at home,” Jun paused what he was doing and looked at Nino. “Oba-chan got warded in hospital last night, she broke her ankle. Satoshi-nii has been with her since. I took a day off work to help out.”Nino blinked. “Isn’t today the day for health inspection?”“That’s why I’m here.” Jun shrugged. “He said he’ll be back by three. I reminded him that you’re coming today as well, and he said he has to go to the bank to deposit the cash or something, so you’ve got to hang around a bit, unless you want him to defer the payment.” Jun looked at the clock on the wall. “You’ve got an hour to spare?”Nino considered this for a moment. “Yeah. I’ll just tell my dad I’ll be back a little later.” Nino took out his phone and punched in his father’s number. It was kind of sad that the son of the largest baking goods supplier in Tsukuba was also the delivery person. It wasn’t as if they were hard-pressed to cut costs – they could perfectly afford to hire someone for the job, but no, Ninomiyas just do things themselves.The chimes on the front door clanged merrily, signalling for Jun to exit the backroom. Jun looked at Nino pointedly as he removed his gloves.“Uh, I won’t eat anything?” Nino promised, wondering if that was what Jun was asking.“The last time you tampered with the custard we couldn’t make coronets for a week,” Jun exhaled heavily, left his stool, and went to attend to the customer at the counter.“Aw, you guys just can’t take jokes!” Nino raised his volume a little so Jun could hear him, but Jun made no move to reply.“Oh-chan!” Aiba hollered from his place at the register, clutching the pre-packed bag of bread. His eyes flew to the fridge, locating the digital clock with the magnetised back, making sure he wasn’t late. Aiba had to catch the train back to Chiba in an hour and he wanted some cheese croissants for the ride.When Jun emerged, Aiba was more than surprised. “Jun-kun? Where is Oh-chan?”Jun could hear the puzzlement in Aiba’s voice. “His mother is in hospital for a broken ankle,” Jun explained, taking the croissants and ringing it up at the till. “But he’ll be back soon,” Jun assured, placing the bread into a paper bag for Aiba to carry.Aiba’s face fell. “I wanted to say goodbye to him before I head home for the week.”“Where’s your hometown?” Jun quizzed in surprise, not knowing that the university student wasn’t from the area.“Just Chiba,” Aiba confessed sheepishly, and Jun laughed.“It’s just next door!” Jun pointed out, teasing.“Two. Hours. Away,” Aiba maintained, dragging the carrier off the counter. “Plus a bus ride from the station.”“I’ll tell Satoshi-nii that his Greatest Fan said hi,” Jun answered dryly. Aiba made a face to retort. "I'm not his 'Greatest Fan'," he denied unconvincingly.The chimes sounded against the glass as another person pushed the wooden-framed door past its threshold and stumbled into the place. He was wearing a long-sleeved shirt and a loose tie, and Aiba raised a hand to greet him. Sho’s vision look a little unfocused, and he smelt really drunk.“Aiba-chan, I knew you were here!” Sho wagged an unsteady finger at his friend. He then examined the four walls. “There is a lot of bread,” Sho stated observantly, starting a round of unhurried applause.“Good afternoon, Sho-chan. Welcome to the bakery I have been telling you about!” Aiba grinned. “He’s my neighbour,” Aiba furnished Jun with information about the newcomer. “Just moved in a couple days ago. Gonna take care of my fish while I’m gone too. Good guy.”“Argh,” Sho uttered, shifting onto one of the barstools. “I need a beer.”Jun narrowed his eyes at Aiba in question of the person’s character. “I’m sorry, but we only have coffee. Colombian brew.”“That would do,” Sho said as he plunged his face into his palms. Jun stared at him for awhile before turning away to make the coffee.“You okay, Sho-chan?” Aiba asked, disconcerted. He moved to sit beside Sho at the counter. “Have you been drinking?”“I didn’t get the job,” Sho said flatly, and Aiba held out his arms to give Sho an embrace, which Sho gratefully fell into. “I worked so hard for it and yet…!” Sho near-wailed, nuzzling into the nook of Aiba’s neck before managing a sorry laugh.“Sorry to interrupt your apparent display of affection,” Jun motioned, “but I need to get the coffee beans. You’d be here for awhile, wouldn’t you Aiba-chan?” Jun glanced to Sho before showing Aiba markedly-raised eyebrows.“Yeah,” Aiba replied, arms full of inebriated Sho, and he threw yet another glance at the little clock on the fridge.“Jun, come look at this,” Nino beckoned from his squatting stance on the floor, his face looking grim.“What?” Jun put down the almost-empty coffee bean jar on the worktop and crouched to join Nino.“Isn’t this a mouse nest?” Nino pointed to the sac-like thing resting in the space formed by the wall and the supplies cabinet. It was no bigger than a grapefruit, and was made of some kind of discarded fabric, possibly mattress lining.Jun squinted at the thing, and Nino opened the back door wider so he was supplied with more light to view the object.“Yeah, it’s a mouse nest. It’s empty though,” Jun observed, poking it a little. He looked to the bottom of the door. “Gnaw marks,” he traced his finger over the edge.“Is that a mouse nest?” a third voice echoed, and standing at the doorway was Sho, grinning like a village idiot.“Sho-chan!” Aiba caught up to his neighbour. “Customers aren’t supposed to come here,” Aiba hissed, dragging Sho away.“You were the one who said… I should take a walk,” Sho argued with slurred speech.“Not to the back,” Aiba scolded, pulling on Sho’s hand.“They found a mouse nest!” Sho protested, ripping his hand away from Aiba’s and pointing to Jun and Nino, stamping his feet a little.Aiba gave the other two a horrified look. “On the day of the health inspection?”“Yeah,” Nino responded in a monotone.“Have you guys found the mouse?” Aiba whispered in fear.“Nope,” Jun sighed, dusting his hands. “It’s probably running around somewhere.”“Mice are nocturnal,” Sho mentioned knowledgeably, and Aiba was impressed because Sho was obviously still on Cloud Alcohol. “The nest is probably abandoned,” Sho giggled.“Better to be safe than sorry,” Aiba said with resolve, his expression hardening and his train forgotten. “We have two hours.”Aiba flipped the sign at the door to ‘Closed’, rattling off instructions as he returned to the barstool. “–and I will be in charge of Sector 5. Jun will have to search all the upper floors–”“There is only one upper floor,” Jun reminded Aiba in a strangled voice.The university student whinnied impatiently and glared at Jun. “I repeat, Jun will have to search all the upper floors. Please take note of Grid 9F, where there is a stockpile of paper bags–”“Sorry to interrupt you once more, but is this really necessary?” Nino voiced, propping his arm on the cash register and pointing to the blueprint of the stout two-storey building that Ohno owned.“I think the question is: why do you even have the floor plan?” Jun frowned, indicating the document sprawled on the front counter.“Did you draw the gridlines yourself?” Sho peered intently at the paper, chuckling to himself, his cheeks still ruddy from intoxication.“You guys, focus!” Aiba chided with annoyance. “This is important. The health people are coming at four, we haven’t got much time!”“Okay, okay,” grumbled Jun. “So I’m going to go upstairs, Nino will take care of the chocolate room, Aiba-chan will look around here and Sakurai-san will look in the garbage or something. Outside.”“Why do I get the dirty job?” Sho moaned as he removed his tie, fanning himself.“Because you’re drunk and you’d screw up indoors,” Nino answered in an offended tone, lowering his eyelids and pointing to the coffee bean jar, which lay in pieces on the floor.“Plus we don’t know you very well,” Jun sniffed. “Aiba-chan’s been a regular customer for a year and I’ve been helping out on weekends since this place opened. And Nino’s been servicing the bakery for about the same length of time so yeah, you don’t really get to choose. You’ve just been here for half an hour.”Sho slumped dejectedly against the front room sink, successfully rattling a couple of saucepans before springing up too fast in fright, his head hitting the shelves above. As a tin of cocoa powder fell, bouncing off his head and bursting open on the tiles beneath their feet, Sho just stared at the other three men and smiled widely. “It doesn’t hurt at all,” he declared, drawing in a breath of laughter with a rambunctious snort.“He’s worse than you,” Nino whispered to Aiba, and Aiba jabbed Nino viciously in the side.Drinking was never a habit of Sho’s. He just did it when he was depressed.Which was most of the time since he lost his previous job.Along with the job he’d lost the car, the fancy apartment and the girlfriend. But with the loss he’d gained an invasive neighbour who was obsessed with the bakery next door and somewhat taken with its owner.He wasn’t sure what he could make of that, but he enjoyed the conversation with the men, no matter how short their interaction had been in the past hour. It took him away from his sad, pathetic life.He liked them all already. Even the one called Ohno. (If it was anything to go by, his bakery exuded an aura that made Sho fall in love.)“Are you here?” Sho hollered into a garbage can. Blanching and retching at the smell, which almost sobered him, he quickly covered it again, and moved to the concrete wall that made up the side of the bakery. He duck-walked for half the length and started crawling when he spotted a weed, before deciding to follow its gradient, making whooshing sounds as he did so.“Look for them properly, Sakurai-san!” Jun shouted from an upstairs window, and Sho squinted at the man in disdain, shielding his eyes from the sunlight that was beaming from above.“I am looking for them properly,” Sho muttered, not loud enough for Jun to hear, and he trudged past two corners to the other side of the standalone establishment.“Here, micey micey mice,” Sho cooed as he walked, bending forwards to speak closer to the ground. “Hmm,” he mused as he maintained his awkward gait, “I should bait them with cheese!”Just as he said this he tripped severely over something and fell flat onto the ground, grazing his cheek on the gravel.“Ow,” he groaned. “Now this one hurts.”There was a shriek that was identifiably produced by Aiba mere seconds later, followed by the sound of a door being thrown open. There was another screech before Nino’s cursing.“WHAT THE HELL DID SAKURAI DO?!” Jun yelled as he thundered down the stairs, and just beside Sho, the PVC pipe that obstructed his journey finally exploded, sending a magnificent spurt of water ten feet into the air.“Crap,” Sho wheezed.Aiba had finished sweeping the glass and scattered coffee beans from the floor and disposed of them in the bin. He peered at the depths of the receptacle and decided it was too high for any mouse to climb.Grabbing a supermarket plastic bag, Aiba headed for the spot where the mouse nest was. It was concrete evidence capable of jeopardising the bakery’s hygiene rating, and Aiba didn’t want that, for his love for chocolate éclairs and for Ohno.The bakery was important to Aiba. For the past year that he’d been living in the neighbourhood, the bakery summed up everything he valued in life: food, friendship and family. Amidst the stresses of school, foul garbage trucks, part-time jobs and odd downstairs neighbours, Ohno and the bakery were his constants. There were croissants on Mondays and danishes on Tuesdays and no cakes on Sundays, because Sunday was Home Delivery Day, and the cakes would always sell out.The bakery had a charm that could only be in effect thanks to Ohno’s presence, a quiet, understated sort of charisma no one but Ohno could give, and nothing but the bakery could emanate.And that was important to Aiba.Readying his hand with the bag, he bent to scoop the nest into it and secured the mouth of the carrier with a dead knot. He then straightened, satisfied with the completed task.Aiba yelped in pain as something cold hit his back, and he spun to realise it was the tap. He blubbered as he ran forward to meet the gush of water, holding up his hands against the outflow. “Nino, help me!” he screamed, unable to handle the onslaught on his own.The chocolate room was always cold. Nino wasn’t a big fan of that, but he wasn’t always in the chocolate room anyway. He preferred to stick around in the backroom or the storeroom upstairs; assisting with the inventory he had helped to create. Jun wasn’t always around because he had a real job at the library, whereas Nino came as often as twice a week.Ohno appreciated Nino’s help, because he had to man the kitchen and the orders and the cash register. Jun had been trying to convince his eldest cousin that the three barstools by the display fridge would only make Ohno busier and he should remove them, but Ohno refused, saying that he liked people to stick around. When Nino heard that, he pretty much wanted to stick around for life.Odd, but true.Prior to his acquaintance with Ohno, Nino had always felt something was wrong with his life. He was too content. There must have been a mistake. Lives were supposed to be tumultuous adventures and here he was in sleepy, suburban Tsukuba, living a happy-go-lucky one, and that certainly was wrong.It was only when he met Ohno that he made the first big blunder of his existence.Ohno had requested for 100 kilograms of a grade of sugar not common in their area. Nino had placed the order with the overseas manufacturer, because their company did not carry that particular type.When Nino arrived with the sugar, Ohno pointed out that it was of a different grade, and he would not be able to use it. Nino, determined to set things right despite Ohno’s insistence that it was okay, headed out to all the sugar suppliers in Tsukuba, begging for trade for the 100 kilograms of the wrong type of sugar, or part thereof.He could only obtain about half the original weight that Ohno required, but it had also won him a relationship with Ohno that no amount of sugar could buy.Nino finished surveying the cupboard that stood at the side of the undersized area, which was actually just adjacent to the backroom of the bakery. He walked to the marble worktop and supported himself with his knees before sliding apart the doors of the shelf underneath which hid the ingredients for chocolate. He poked his head into the storage but couldn’t see anything without a flashlight, and gingerly levelled himself out of the space.Debating within himself on whether to get a flashlight or not, Nino had hardly begun to arrive at a conclusion when he heard Aiba’s yell from the other side of the door. He pushed down the lever and flung the door open only to see Aiba being attacked by water from the broken sink. It was raining indoors.“Nino, help me!” Aiba shouted, and Nino was snapped out of his mouth-gaping.“Shit, shit, shit!” Nino swore in reaction, and as water fell into his eyes, he dropped on all fours to search for the mains switch.The bakery was originally a decent-sized house. Ohno had the contractors remove all the walls on both floors, keep some foundational beams, and convert the abode into the establishment as it was known in the neighbourhood.There was something about his cousin’s bakery that made Jun fall in love. With what, he wasn’t too sure. He loved the way the bread baskets were arranged, he loved the novelty of Ohno’s creations, he loved the warm colours on the walls – he loved everything. That was why he decided to help out in the first place. Of course, it wasn’t as if it was a chore to help out, no, not at all – his mother was really supportive because Jun was going to help her brother’s son, and that was just the right thing to do, wasn’t it?There was something about Ohno that made everyone fall in love, and the bakery was just a medium. It was for people to fall in love with Ohno via an edible proxy, Jun decided.Jun switched on the light of the storeroom. It was dimly lit and kept cool for practical and functional purposes. Jun decided to open one of the windows for ventilation, because he foresaw that he’d be around for quite some time if he had to go through all the shelves of utensils and recipe books and whatnot.As he pushed the windowpanes away from him he spotted Sho at the side of the bakery, fooling around with something at the base of the wall. Sho was also making odd sounds, and Jun couldn’t resist chastising the older man from his vantage point.“Look for them properly, Sakurai-san!” he hollered, arranging his brows into a solemn frown immediately after to tell Sho he was being serious.Sho just ambled away from sight in his drunken state, and Jun wondered if Sho was an asset to this mission at all.Leaving the window, Jun headed for the boxes of paper bags that Aiba had mentioned during the mini military briefing. He removed the first two so he could shift the ones underneath. After doing so he scanned the area behind the boxes which were moved. There weren’t any more nests, and Jun breathed a little easier. He then turned the box at the bottom towards himself, hoping that he wouldn’t see any holes or gnaw marks.“Looks fine,” he murmured, and he was jolted out of his thoughts when he heard a yelp from downstairs that sounded like Aiba when he burnt his tongue on Saturday morning coffee.Jun rushed to the landing as he heard Aiba cry to Nino for help, and as he tramped down the stairs he heard Nino yelling as well.As he closed onto the first level he was met with the sight of water spurting almost everywhere and probably ruining the flour and it must have been Sakurai’s fault, so as he jumped off the last few steps, Jun bellowed, “WHAT THE HELL DID SAKURAI DO?!”Aiba wailed in despair, and suddenly the water stopped its merciless outpour.The spout lay dead on the floor, and all three men were silent from the sudden change of events.Nino blinked as he stood up, not needing to locate the mains switch anymore.“What happened?” Jun asked, his voice sounding suffocated. “Where is Sakurai?!”Sho was still lying at the side of the bakery as chaos was most certainly taking place within. He got up very slowly, dusting down the front of his soaked pants for no particular reason. Hearing what was going on was enough to give him a rough idea what the ruckus inside was about, plus the copious amount of water that was giving him a public shower was too big a clue to ignore. Drunk though he was, Sho was smart, and inebriation never got in the way of wisdom.No, it never did.“Excuse me,” a stuffy-sounding voice called out to Sho, and he spun on his heel to locate the source of the sound, his arms flapping lifelessly by his side.Two men in suits were looking at Sho bewilderedly, and they were also trying to make sense of the broken pipe and the water it was sending into the air. The façade of the bakery offered them no clue, and Sho burped beer-gas as he approached the staid duo.“Yeah?” Sho almost interrogated, not knowing who these people were.(So much for wisdom.)“We’re a little early, but… I’m Miyagi from the Environmental and Hygiene Board,” the man on the right showed Sho his pass, and so did the man on the left. Sho could barely keep up with the motion. “We are here to evaluate a certain…” the man paused to obtain a clipboard from his colleague, “… Ohno Satoshi?”They were interrupted by three rather angry men, two of whom were completely drenched (not unlike Sho himself), and another, who was mildly splashed on the sleeve of his shirt.“Look at that!” Jun did his best to stop screaming, and thrust a finger towards the upward blast of water a few feet away. “What did you frickin’ do?!” Jun accused, lunging towards Sho, and Aiba and Nino had to keep him from hitting the unemployed drunkard.Sho just held Jun’s gaze serenely and gestured courteously to the two officials, who were getting more and more suspicious by the minute. “Have you not witnessed the arrival of our guests?” Sho wondered aloud at Jun in a rather strange inflection. “Why have you allowed them to witness our pitiable domestic battle?”Jun finally noticed the presence of the suited men and it clicked.“Sorry you had to see that,” Jun managed to say, embarrassed at his lack of demeanour just moments before.“Welcome,” Sho put his hands together and bowed to the health inspectors. “What you have seen,” Sho fanned out his palm ceremoniously and swept it towards the burst pipe, “is the annual Cleansing Ritual of the Leavening Clan.”“Oh, shit,” Nino said in a hoarse whisper, exchanging looks of horror with Aiba.“He’s dru–” Aiba was about to say, but Jun stopped him.“Yes,” Jun smiled genially at Sho, and let his palms meet as well. “I am the Benevolent Matsumoto and this is the Esteemed Sakurai,” Jun gave a deep bow to the officials. “Along with the two individuals behind us, we are followers of the Eminent One, whose Sacred Yeasty Name we cannot speak of. He has yet to return to his chambers, so if you please, I recommend that you wait.”“They’re mad,” Aiba clutched Nino's soaked sleeve in fear, choking back a sob.“A-Are you guys a cult?” the inspector on the left, obviously a greenhorn, looked absolutely terrified as he cowered behind his supervisor, who looked disinterested, probably having seen stuff like that on the job too many times to worry.Nino cleared his throat. “Please, do not speak of us in this fashion,” he enunciated, and bowed in similar manner.Aiba’s jaw almost hit the ground, and he moaned softly in terror.“We’re just looking for Ohno Satoshi,” the more experienced inspector deadpanned.Jun, Sho and Nino grimaced at the mention of Ohno’s name.Aiba just stood there and searched his mind for something.There was nothing.“My head hurts to a great extent, Wise Ninomiya,” Jun confessed solemnly.“Yes, I am aware of that. It must be the mention of the Sacred Yeasty Name,” Nino cleverly deduced.“Shall we come back another day?” the trembling younger official proposed to his senior, who hesitated a little this time.“We have to remedy our pain with the Legendary Sodium Bicarbonate Positions,” Sho chanted. “Swan!” he raised his right arm, bending his elbow and snapping his wrist so the silhouette formed one similar to said bird.Jun spun once and posed, hooking his fingers inwards at the joints of his knuckles. “Snake,” he hissed, and Nino had to bend over in pretence of his headache to hide his laughter.“Aiba!” Nino whispered fiercely, swatting Aiba’s leg to get him to do something, unable to recover on time for his own stance.“Um… Kangaroo!” Aiba hopped once and positioned his limp wrists somewhere around his abdomen, thinking how bad the situation was.“…Armadillo,” Nino managed to choke, successfully disguising his laughter as he curled up in a ball as best as he could, balancing on his haunches.“Tell Ohno Satoshi we dropped by,” the brave official tried once more as his flung a piece of paper towards Jun, and this time, all four of them twitched before declaring their animals.*Ohno touched the tip of his nose a couple of times, not really getting Jun’s explanation as to why there were plumbers moving around the first floor of his business.“There was a mouse nest,” Ohno repeated, leaning against the counter and directing the clarification to his cousin. “And that’s why there are people repairing the sink?”“No,” Nino interfered from the other side of the register, perching on one of the barstools. “Okay, actually yes, but lots of things happened in the middle. We were looking for the mouse that inhabited the nest. It wasn’t there when we found it.”“I told you guys it was an abandoned nest,” Sho spoke up, sipping his long-awaited coffee. Sho was nothing but a picture of sobriety, and it was later revealed that he’d pretty much woken up when he realised the guys in suits were from the health board.“Yes, but it pays to be really sure about these things, you know?” Aiba disputed from his place between Nino and Sho.Jun leant against the cool metal wall of the oven. “We tried to check the place for mice so we could get rid of them before the health inspectors came. Before things got underway, Sakurai here tripped over the water mains pipe and bent it. The sink in the backroom couldn’t take the pressure, burst open and wet the whole kitchen. It only stopped when the mains pipe broke and the water line got disconnected from the sink.”Ohno pondered this for a moment. “And the mains pipe broke because?”“Pressure from the water source,” Aiba supplied. “You may want to consider using metal for the replacement pipe. Your PVC adventures are over, Oh-chan.”“And the health inspectors? Why did they decide to come on another day?” Ohno questioned, tapping the document from the Board, which was stuck onto the fridge with the clock.Sho bent his head, looking into his coffee. Jun blew a lock of hair away from his eyes. Nino shifted uncomfortably and averted his vision to the fruit-topped shortcake inside the display fridge.“They had to go eat, uh, meat,” Aiba offered lamely. “They were really hungry.”"Oh?" Ohno was curious. “What meat did they want to eat?”Nino turned to look at the others for a moment before facing Ohno. “Armadillo,” he said decidedly, a grin conquering his face, and it didn’t take long for Aiba, Jun and Sho to crack up.
10844181	the heart will mend	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": null, "Characters": "Moritz Stiefel, Ilse Neumann, Melchior Gabor, Wendla Bergmann", "Fandom": "Spring Awakening - Sheik/Sater", "Language": "English", "Rating": "General Audiences", "author": "by orphan_account", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-07T00:00:00", "words": "2,408", "Additional Tags": "theres pretty much all the characters, but its mainly moritz, with a side of others, children are playing pirates and its cute i swear, Child Abuse", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	“Listen, Captain Moritz,” First Mate Ilse leans over to Moritz, cupping a hand over her mouth so that no one else can hear their conversation. “Mean old Captain Melchi has Princess Wendla on his ship and it’s too dangerous to go after her!”Moritz waves his first mate away with his left hand. His right hand is clutching firmly at the sword at his side. “That’s cowards talk, Ilse! We must go after her because she is a lady and she won’t be any use to Captain Melchi and if he gets bored of her, he might make her walk the plank.”Walk the plank is the last thing any good pirate wants to hear, especially if it’s about a nice princess. Ilse’s eyes grow wide and scared and she cups her hands to her mouth. She’s about to answer when the bushes around them rustle and Moritz quickly jumps into action. He pulls his sword out of his belt, and Ilse quickly copies his movement. “Who’s there?” Moritz asks tentatively. He doesn’t get a response, so he jabs his sword into the nearest bush and waits for a response. When he is greeted with nothing but silence, he decides that whatever was there, it wasn’t Captain Melchi.Moritz waves his first mate closer and drops his voice to a whisper. “We should try and find where Captain Melchi’s hiding the princess.”Ilse gives him a nod in response, so she yanks down her eyepatch off her forehead and pokes Moritz in the back. “Ready when you are, Captain.”The forest casts cold, glaring shadows onto their path and a few times Ilse whimpers and grabs a fistful of her captain’s shirt. But she’s a fearless pirate, so after a while she calms down and takes out her sword to defend herself. She looks down and her eyes instantly light up. She pokes Moritz again to get him to stop and then points to the ground.“Look, footprints.”Moritz bends down and studies the markings for a while. A tiny imprint that says 12 brings a smile to his lips. Melchi is a size 12. “Yep, we’re on his trail, alright.”They walk for a little while longer until they notice that the dust on the ground had been scuffed. ‘Maybe Princess Wendla fought against Captain Melchi,” Ilse offers helpfully. Moritz nods slowly and then looks around. “Maybe they’re close by.”He takes a deep breath but is quickly stopped by his first mate, who knew exactly what he was doing. “Don’t. What if Captain Melchi hears?”“It’s fine, Ilse,” Moritz soothes, and then closes his eyes and musters up all his breath to yell. “Princess Wendla!! Where are you?”A small voice answers. “I’m here! Oh, quick, come before Captain Melchi gets to me again!”Ilse and Moritz share a look and then they hurry towards her voice. When they reach her, she is tied to a tree. Her big floral dress was dirty and the beaded necklaces that she had been wearing were nowhere to be found. “Quick! First mate Ilse, go untie her!” Moritz orders. Ilse nods and darts around the tree and quickly untie her. Princess Wendla runs into Captain Moritz’s arms.“Thank you very much for saving me. I’ll be sure to repay your kindness in cookies, good sir.”“Not so fast, Captain Moritz.”They all turn and watch fearfully as Captain Melchi appears through the trees. His golden-brown curls peek out from his large pirate’s hat. “Princess Wendla is my maiden, fair and square.”Captain Moritz gives a short laugh. He pulls his sword out and points it towards Captain Melchi. “We’ll see about that!”Captain Melchi grins wickedly – although not too wickedly; it was hard to take him seriously with his two front teeth missing – and pulls out his own sword. “If that’s how we’ll settle this, so be it!”There’s silence for a solid five minutes while Captain Melchi and Captain Moritz hit each other’s swords. Occasionally Princess Wendla or Ilse will cheer Moritz’s name, but other than that its quiet until Captain Moritz finally tires Captain Melchi out. The mean old pirate stops. “Fine, you can take the princess. I’ll find another one in the next village!”Moritz offers his hand to Princess Wendla, who giggles and takes it. Captain Moritz takes off his pirate’s hat and quickly ruffles up his short tufts of hair (he recently had lice and his mama had to cut it all off) to look tough. Princess Wendla stands on her tiptoes and presses a kiss to his cheek.“Thank you for saving me, Captain Moritz.”-“Moritz, how long are we going to walk for?” Melchior complains loudly, twigs snapping under his feet. Moritz rolls his eyes. God, Melchi could be so impatient sometimes.Moritz looks over his shoulder and laughs at his friend who is lagging behind. Melchior is panting and stops to take off his jacket, but instantly shudders and places it back on his shoulders. It certainly was troublesome to hike up the highest hill in the forest, and maybe it wasn’t worth it just to see a sunrise, but neither really cared that much (well, maybe Melchior did a little bit).Melchior had listened to Moritz ramble on about this sunset for weeks on end, and only yesterday had he finally ordered Moritz to take him. Moritz still wasn’t sure if Melchior really cared about the sunset that much, but hey, at least he wasn’t lonely anymore.“Jesus, you do this every morning?” Melchi huffs, pausing and leaning over to catch his breath. Moritz shrugs. He shoves his hands in the pockets and waits for Melchi to walk again. “What are you doing up at this hour, anyway? It’s too early for anyone to be awake. Why the hell are you so eager to haul your ass to this mountain?”God, Melchi was so obnoxious. Just because he turned ten last week he thinks he so much superior.“I don’t know. I woke up early one morning and decided to go for a walk,” Moritz answers after a second of thinking. Of course, he wasn’t going to tell his friend it was because his father had spent the entire night switching between screaming and long periods of ignoring the boy after he had accidentally smashed a coffee cup and just wanted to get out of that house so bad.Melchi finally catches up and frowns at the deeply troubled expression on his best friend’s face. He gently nudges Moritz’s shoulder and gives a small smile, to which Moritz relaxes and returns. Melchior rubs his arms in a bid to warm himself up.“Come on, lets hurry and get there so we don’t miss out,” He grins and charges up the hill in a burst of energy. Moritz lets out a soft sigh and runs after him.The two end up sitting at the top of the hill for a long while before any sun can be seen, but neither of them mind because it’s just so damn nice up there. “Y’know,” Melchi begins and leans back. “If this isn’t a really good sunrise you owe me big time.”Moritz laughs and wraps his arms around his knees. “Yeah, yeah, I know.”The sun begins to peer up from behind the distant, rolling hills. It’s a warm orange at first, with the silhouette of the clouds beginning to grow brighter. Moritz quickly looks to Melchior and watches as Melchior’s face grows livelier as the seconds roll by. The sun is now almost all the way over the hills. It’s chased the deep blue of night away and now its replaced with a soft baby pink.“It’s… beautiful,” Melchi seems to be at a loss for words and he’s just gaping like a moron. Moritz shuffles over so that he’s closer.“Was it worth the walk?” He asks smugly. Melchi looks over and pokes his tongue out at him.“Yes.”The two laugh and watch as the morning flows by.-“Whose idea was it to bring a frisbee instead of an actual ball like we had planned?” Hanschen bitches loudly, pulling his hands out of the bush he knelt next to. From somewhere to his left Otto lifts his head and glares at the blonde boy. “Shut up Hanschen, I got my ball taken off me last week, remember?”Georg stands up and brushes the dirt off his pants and then wipes the lens of his glasses on his shirt. “Both of you be quiet,” He answers with a frown. “It was Ernst’s idea to bring the frisbee, not Otto’s.”That stops Hanschen’s complaining.Moritz stands, as does Ernst. The smallest boy of them all winces, his eyes filling with tears. “I’m sorry, I thought that uses my sisters frisbee would be better than not having anything at all,” He starts to explain, but his voice is choked with tears. Ernst Robel is such a sweet, sensitive soul. Moritz pats his back comfortingly. “Don’t worry. We’ll find it,” Moritz smiles, and Ernst smiles back.Otto heaves a sigh and goes back to searching for the frisbee. “Seriously, how could we lose this? It’s bright yellow.”Georg snorts. “Only a bunch on geniuses like you could do something as stupid as that.”Hanschen, without lifting his head, throws a rock back and manages to hit Georg directly in the chest. “Don’t be a smartass. You were playing with it too.” Georg’s only response is a string of incoherent whines and finally bending back down to search again.Melchior shakes his head and groans. “We won’t ever find it. Ernst, if it’s any consolation I can buy you another one.”Moritz looks over to Hanschen as he mimics Melchior in a childish way before scoffing and reaching his hands into the bush again. After a moment, he pauses and then pulls out the yellow frisbee. “Uh, I think I found it.”Ernst looks over with a wide, hopeful smile and bounces over to Hanschen. “Thanks Hanschen!” He beams, holding the frisbee to his chest.-“Moritz, listen,” Martha begins gently, toying with the hem of her dress. “I really can’t talk. What if someone hears?”Moritz laughs softly and waves his arms about. He shoots her a stupid smile. “Yeah? Who’s going to hear us? We’re in the middle of the freaking forest.”Martha looks around as if making sure his words were true before she visibly relaxes. She’s now tugging on the end of her braid and flicking it behind her shoulder every so often. Her dark, unreadable eyes dart from side to side and don’t stop long enough to focus on anything. It makes Moritz dizzy just watching her. He holds out his hands, and the girl shyly puts hers in his. She opens her mouth to speak, but then stops.The boy steps closer and lowers his head. “It’s okay. I know what’s going on,” He whispers, and Martha quickly looks up in fright. She looks scared all of a sudden; scared like a cornered animal. “No, you don’t.”Moritz stares into her eyes and pulls up his sleeves, and Martha’s eyes widen at the bruises and cuts that trail up his pale skin. Okay. Maybe he does understand something. Her fingers brush against the marks and Moritz responds by wincing in pain. Martha instantly draws her hands back and flattens her dress.“Moritz, we really can’t. We have to go back to the church group- “The boy rolls down his sleeves again and breathes out the breath he didn’t know he was holding. Martha looks back to him with uncertainty. Then, without warning, she tugs down the collar of her dress and exposes the skin around her breasts. Much like his arms, her chest is covered in dark purple bruises and Moritz can’t breathe properly for a moment.“There’s, uhm, there’s some more on my thighs,” Martha adds quietly and Moritz has a hard time hearing it. Martha crosses her arms against her chest and watches him closely in that same, scared way. He notices that he’s shaking a little bit despite the summer heat. She opens and closes her mouth a few times as she tries to find her voice again.“You aren’t- you aren’t going to tell anyone, are you?” Her voice is now nothing more than a breath, but to Moritz, it’s like she’s screaming. He falters, before nodding hesitatingly.The two don’t speak for a while. The silence is awkward and cold, but neither make an attempt to leave. Moritz looks up to Martha, who is still standing rigid in the middle of the clearing holding herself and trying to keep her chin held high and nods his head.“Martha, I’m sorry,” He swallows the lump in his throat and pulls her in for a hug. Martha melts into his arms. It’s uncomfortable; his shoulders are ramming into her side and she’s standing on his foot, but it’s what they both needed.-Ilse’s eyes are brimming with tears and her shoulders shake with her silent crying. Wendla’s fist that clutches a bunch of flowers is turning white. Ernst and Martha are crying. Melchior barely as it together, and neither Otto nor Georg find it easy to breathe.Hanschen busies himself with shuffling the crudely made cross into the ground over and over. If he stops he fears he might cry.“I can’t believe his dad. Who can just disown their son like that?” Ilse chokes out.Melchior’s head is spinning and he wants to answer, but every time he tries his heart plummets into his stomach and his throat burns. Wendla’s lips are quivering, but she won’t let herself cry.“He probably hates it in that graveyard with all those dead people,” Ilse continues, now sobbing uncontrollably. “He can’t be in a graveyard with dead people.”Hanschen finally stands up and steps back into the crowd. Ernst leans into him for support. Martha’s hands fall uselessly to her side and she stares at the ground and just cries.“He’s…” Ilse finally breaks and she almost falls to the ground, but she holds herself up. Wendla follows her and soon the whole group is crying. No one stops and everyone clings to each other because their friend just died and no one cares.The cross at the base of the tree simply says MORITZ in big white letters, and perhaps that is the loneliest part of it all.
10818864	paralyzed paralyzed	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "M/M", "Characters": "Iwaizumi Hajime, Oikawa Tooru", "Fandom": "Haikyuu!!", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Teen And Up Audiences", "author": "by orphan_account", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-04T00:00:00", "words": "761", "Additional Tags": "Oneshot, IwaOi Week 2017, IwaOi Week, iwaoi - Freeform, Improv Writing, Improv, Holidays, Christmas, P-P-PARALYZED, I really love big time rush, Cold, Iwaizumi Hajime is a Good Boyfriend, Oikawa Tooru is a Dork, Cuddles, Memes, Fluff, Smitten Oikawa Tooru, Idiots in Love, Big Time Rush references", "Relationship": "Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": "IwaOi Week 2017", "Collections": "IwaOi Fic Recs", "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	Iwaizumi Hajime was just perfection in human form.Was he even human though? Was Oikawa seeing things? Did some alien probe his brain (or whatever) and change the way he looked at people? What if he was looking at some kind of plant and his eyes were all bugged and messed up that he was seeing such a magnificent, celestial being? No, none of that. He was seeing this right, Iwaizumi Hajime definitely was perfection in some kind of buff, strong meat-suit.Oikawa was so goddamn lucky to have him.Well, he himself couldn't believe that he was engaged to this - otherworldly human."Iwa-chan..." he called out. The ravenette fluttered his eyes open and stroked Oikawa's cheek. God, he was so beautiful. Iwaizumi Hajime should be illegal. Whenever he looked at him, he was just simply... tongue-tied... paralyzed. Yeah, paralyzed.Tooru melted. He loved it when he did that, he could feel Hajime's passion and (healthy) infatuation with him. The mousse-colored hair adult closed his eyes and nuzzled his head to his fiance's chest. Hajime snorted softly and pat his head, Tooru smirked and opened one eye."Dork," Oikawa opened his eyes at the remark. He couldn't help but feel happy and warm. Every fuzzy feeling tingling in his chest.Tooru rolled his eyes and chuckled nonchalantly. "Oh, shut up.""That's not the Christmas spirit, Tooru." he mocked, Hajime's thumb caressing his lips. Oikawa smiled at the feeling, his hands were soft, as always. Oikawa exhaled heavily, as if all the stress that he built up was gone. Stress? There was nothing left, no. Oikawa was with him, everything was perfect.The former Seijoh captain huffed. "What do you wanna do, then? We can't just cuddle all day," he mused some things that they could do, but there was nothing. All they had was this quite luxurious house with a huge Christmas tree and expensive decorations. Iwaizumi pondered as well, what could they do?"A movie marathon's not bad-" "Last year we had a movie marathon, they weren't even Christmas movies-" "I really love Star Trek, you know that, Iwa-chan."They sighed in unison. Oikawa pouted, damn, he really did want to watch Star Wars and Star Trek again. But it's his ninetieth time doing so. He must stop for a while.Then, it happened.Iwaizumi smiled. Then he laughed. I'm actually trying to speak, but he's got me tongue-tied. Trying to breathe, but I'm f-f-f-frozen inside. Oikawa had a million things to say, because his smile was God's greatest gift. He loved it so much, it was insane.It was just a smile, right? Here's the thing, Iwaizumi never smiled before Oikawa met him. He was a loner, played volleyball because he thought it was to take his mind off things. When Tooru jumped into his life, though, everything changed. He was still the same old Hajime, who shouted at people. Even so, he was no longer miserable. A slight twitch of his lips made Oikawa's heart burst into flames, like he achieved something or whatever.Oikawa was one of the reasons why he laughed and smiled. There was also one reason that he never revealed to anyone, even to himself. Iwaizumi constantly denied it.Holidays, especially Christmas.The glint of happiness in his eyes when he wakes up to that fresh, Christmassy air. He would be in such a good mood that he would kiss Oikawa several times, or not hit him, unlike what he does. That made Oikawa's heart flutter, so pure and adorable. Despite Iwaizumi's scary looking frame and gloomy eyes, he was such a softie. That, folks, is the definition of wholesome. Yeah, Iwaizumi Hajime isn't the literal meaning of wholesome. Does Oikawa care? No. No, he doesn't."Say, Iwa-chan, you're so... pure and wholesome." Iwaizumi looked at him incredulously. "Seriously? I scare chickens away."Oikawa snorted. "No, I mean... you love holidays-" "Not that bullshit again, Tooru-" "No, no, listen to me."The brunette explained to him why he was such a chaste person. Iwaizumi listened, by the end of it, he was a flustered mess. Tooru couldn't help but laugh. His heart ached, in the good way, of course."I'll make us some hot choco, yeah?" Oikawa offered, still giggling. Iwaizumi nodded and grunted. The brunette leaned over and placed a haste kiss on his nose, like a little boop."I love you,"Hajime was, once again, flaming red."...I love you, too." he replied and smiled warmly.This was going to be the best Christmas ever, Oikawa swore. Damn... he got me paralyzed.
10885143	Imagination Shadows	{ "Archive Warning": "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings", "Category": "F/M", "Characters": "Dorothy Gale, Lucas \| Roan", "Fandom": "Emerald City (TV 2016)", "Language": "English", "Rating": "General Audiences", "author": "by sneetchstar", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-12T00:00:00", "words": "368", "Additional Tags": "Drabble, One Shot", "Relationship": "Dorothy Gale/Lucas \| Roan", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	Dorothy startles again. They’ve been walking for hours, though it feels like millennia. It is starting to grow darker, and every shadow seems to have a figure lurking in it, every gust of wind a ghost.“Dorothy?” Lucas’ soft voice brings her a moment of solace, and she absentmindedly reaches out and takes his arm. “Are you all right?”“Just a little jumpy I guess,” she answers. “This forest is starting to get to me.”“We can stop soon,” he replies. “It’s getting dark. And cold.”“The cold generally doesn’t bother you,” she says.“It does you and Sylvie though,” he points out, indicating the girl currently curled around his other shoulder, nearly asleep.A bird squawks, and Dorothy jumps once more, squeezing his arm. Then she curses under breath, feeling stupid for being so scared.“Be glad this isn’t the Screaming Forest,” Lucas says.“The what?” Dorothy replies.“The Screaming Forest. The trees there—”“Scream. Right. God, this place is a freak show,” she grumbles. “Oh. Sorry,” she quickly apologizes, looking up at him.His expression is soft as he looks down at her. “It’s all right. I feel the same way sometimes,” he admits.The wind picks up again, and a large tree nearby groans as it bends.“Shut up already!” Dorothy snaps at it. “Ugh, I’m talking to trees now. I gotta get a grip on my imagination. It’s not like they’re going to talk back or anything.”“Not in this forest they won’t,” Lucas casually replies.“You’re not serious,” she says. Then, a moment later, “You are. Ugh.”He pauses a moment, then changes direction. “There’s a clearing over here. We can camp for the night.”“Camp? Here?” she asks, but follows anyway.He stops again and lifts his hand to her chin, raising her face to his. “I won’t let anything hurt you,” he says. “Or anyone.” He leans down and places a soft kiss on her lips, then turns to continue on to the clearing.“Come on, Toto,” Dorothy says, waving the dog along. The one small kiss helped significantly warm her insides, and as she walks up to see Lucas already gathering firewood, the forest doesn’t seem quite so spooky anymore.
10888860	En Espanol	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "F/M", "Characters": "Molly Hooper, Sherlock Holmes", "Fandom": "Sherlock (TV)", "Language": "English", "Rating": "General Audiences", "author": "by MizJoely", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-12T00:00:00", "words": "168", "Additional Tags": "Sherlolly - Freeform, Fluff, SO MUCH FLUFF, Also rudimentary Spanish", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": "Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper, Molly Hooper/Sherlock Holmes", "Series": null, "Collections": "SherlollyPrompts", "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	“Ñoñería,” Sherlock pronounced. Flawlessly, of course. The git.“It’s not silliness,” Molly insisted. “Or idiocy. It’s Art.” She made damn sure that he could hear the capital ‘A’ in her response as she kept her gaze firmly on the statue.“Then why did artist call it that?” Sherlock asked innocently as he thrust the museum brochure under her nose.Molly sighed. When would she learn not to try to one-up her boyfriend? “Fine,” she muttered disconsolately. “Ñoñería it is.” Her pronunciation was horrible as always.She was startled as she felt herself suddenly engulfed in a hug; Sherlock never indulged in public displays of affection, certainly not while on a case! “Sorry, Molly,” he murmured in her ear as he pressed a soft kiss to her cheek. “I wasn’t trying to show you up, honestly. I’m still new to this ‘teasing my girlfriend’ thing. Perdóname?”“Always,” she said with a smile, reaching up to caress his cheek.“Te amo,” he whispered, and any residual resentment melted clean away.
10863555	Short-Circuit	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "Gen", "Characters": "Victor Stone, Oliver Queen, Arthur Curry, Chloe Sullivan", "Fandom": "Smallville", "Language": "English", "Rating": "General Audiences", "author": "by quiet__tiger", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-09T00:00:00", "words": "560", "Additional Tags": "Humor", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	Victor enjoyed working with Oliver and the guys in the Justice League. He liked that he was fighting for the powers of good, and also bringing down the bad. And the guys were a lot of fun most of the time, even when Oliver was on his high horse and Bart didn’t stop zipping around.But what he truly found most satisfying was that even with his mechanical body, he wasn’t a freak. He was an asset. His cybernetic nervous system wasn’t a power per se, but it proved more useful than talking to fish, or whatever it was AC did when they weren’t saving the world. The team needed Victor’s skills and his robotic body.And he was happy to provide them.Except, of course, when he short-circuited while trying to hack into a security system. Fortunately the system frying itself unlocked the door, but it also froze him in place and resulted in Bart having to carry him away from the facility they were infiltrating.And now Victor sat in Oliver’s living room, chest and arm panels open while the archer picked at him with tools, trying to find the broken circuits. Oliver sort of knew what he was doing, and Chloe was there to help him, and provide some testosterone-free scenery, but Victor was still worried about getting fixed.He’d like to move on his own sometime soon.They’d fix him sooner or later. He just had to fret about sitting there totally exposed. He’d grown used to his body, with its circuits, wires, oil inside of his human skin, but that didn’t mean he liked to show this much of himself to other people. At least he had the panels for maintenance. Regular people could only wish for such easy access to their insides. And he didn’t have to be anesthetized against the screwdriver Oliver was currently using in his chest.Then AC came back from his third shower of the night, chest glistening as he continued to dry himself off. Did he ever wear a shirt? He came over to watch, until Chloe told him to get out of her light so she could see the brachial circuit she was trying to repair. AC turned his eyes back to Victor, and he could feel some snark coming his way. “And you have a problem when I just don’t have a shirt on.”“Ha ha. At least I got us into the place. And I kept my pants on.”“I swim faster without them! And it’s not my fault my costume snagged on a nail under the facility’s dock.”So the mission didn’t go exactly as planned. They had a naked Aquaman fighting for them, and a frozen Cyborg. But the group was successful anyway.If only Oliver and Chloe could fix him soon, everything would be okay. He could move again, work again, and pretend that everything about him was normal. Or at least as normal as it got when you were part machine and you hung out with crime fighters with superpowers. ...And Oliver.And if the fixing took awhile, he’d have time to plan a tear-resistant fabric for their costumes so they wouldn’t have more naked accidents.People would start talking. He didn’t need to be a cyborg and suspected of gay orgies with his comrades.They needed more women working with them.
10894032	August	{ "Archive Warning": "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings", "Category": "M/M", "Characters": "Magnus Bane, Alec Lightwood, Original Male Character(s)", "Fandom": "Shadowhunters (TV)", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Teen And Up Audiences", "author": "by Aristal", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-13T00:00:00", "words": "1,678", "Additional Tags": "Angst, Magnus's past, Minor Character Death (Mentioned), Sad Magnus Bane, comforting alec lightwood, Boys In Love, Mentions of homophobia, Magnus has a lot of stories to tell, the oc is only mentioned in said story, alec just really loves his boyfriend okay, Breif mentions of suicidal themes, but it isn't graphic, Internalized Homophobia, Internalized Biphobia, Author is bisexual", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": "Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Magnus Bane/Original Male Character(s)", "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	"What was your first time like?"It was a slow night on their balcony. Valentine was contained, Clary wasn't off causing chaos somewhere, though Alec swears her or Jace would interrupt them soon enough. He was sitting on the edge of the railing, Magnus's wards acting as a safety wall behind him as he finished wiping down and putting his arrows back in their quiver. Magnus was sitting on the sofa with his knees curled up to the side of him, reading an old book in a language Alec didn't know. He was in a black sweater the hung long around his wrists, but stretched across his biceps in a way that wasn't uncomfortable, but just tight enough to make Alec stare. His hair was messy and undone around his face, makeup long since gone and glamour dropped. Alec loved moments like this. Loved that Magnus felt that he could be so... Bare in front of Alec. It was an honour to even be in his presence, but to be trusted like this... It was incredible. They had been sitting in comfortable silence for the question left Alec's lips. He didn't mean to say it, but it was out there before he could stop himself, and all he wanted to do was to sink into the floor and disappear. Magnus looked up at him slowly, one eyebrow arched curiously. "Why?"Alec shrugged as if he weren't mortified. "Just wondering. You don't have to answer."Magnus just hummed and bookmarked his page, setting the book down. "It wasn't nearly as good as yours, if that's what you mean."Alec laughed slightly, cheeks a bit red. "No- that's not- I mean, what was it like. Usually, I'd probably be able to guess certain details, but you aren't exactly limited to mundane lifestyles. I was just curious, I guess. I don't know much about you when you were younger." Magnus looked thoughtful, and for a moment, Alec thought he wouldn't answer before he spoke. "His name was August." Alec looked up sharply, suddenly refocused. "Your first time was with a man?" Magnus laughed, but it didn't hold much humour. "Uncommon in the time I grew up in, I know. I was seventeen and it was when I lived in Spain, and he was an eighteen year old mundane boy working on his father's farm. Most boys that weren't rich in that time already had started working around age twelve. I, of course, had a very different path lined up for me." Magnus gained this faraway look in his eyes that he always had when he reminisced about his past. One of Alec's favourite things to do was to listen to Magnus's stories. They were always enthralling, whether they were extraordinary, or mundane. He could listen to Magnus speak for a lifetime. "I had left the Silent Brothers' so called care by then, and I was living in a small room at a haven built by warlocks. It was small, but it was mine." He smiled then, eyes fond and proud. "August's home wasn't far, and often, I'd walk past the farm on my way to the woods nearby where I would practice my magic- learn to harness it. I was the most powerful by miles." Alec felt a swell of pride in his chest, because yeah. His boyfriend was the most powerful. It wasn't surprising in the least, but it made him beam with affection. "I'd noticed August before, of course. I was always aware that a boy worked there, but one day, I saw him watching me, and I was curious. I spoke to him one day, offered my help, and he just shook his head, said he could take care of it. He was built- not the same way you are- but made of sheer, untrained muscle. To me, he was beautiful, and that made everything confusing." Magnus's voice was somber then, and a sinking feeling uncoiled in Alec's stomach, knowing what was coming. He'd been through it. That terrifying moment when you just know. It had almost killed him, and to think Magnus had to go through it too broke his heart. Magnus was staring at his hands, blue wisps of glittering smoke floating through his fingers. "It wasn't something you talked about, those feelings. No one even acknowledged that it could be possible, and I'd certainly never heard of it before. I tried to convince myself that it wasn't like that- that I wasn't like that. After all, I like girls, right?" He laughed again, breathless, and Alec's heart broke for him. "But the more time I spent with August- the more conversations we had- I knew. He knew too, but we never mentioned it. It was all smiles too big and looks that lasted too long. We were kids. We had no idea where it could even go. Love was rare, and sex was only to have kids and a family. That was never going to be a possibility for me anyways." Alec winced. "Magnus-" Magnus just shook his head, and Alec fell silent again, listening. "One day, months after I started visiting, I had been keeping him company while he worked for hours, and he stopped and just... Looked at me." Magnus smiled softly. "Then he kissed me." "What did you do?" Alec asked quietly, and Magnus laughed, for real this time, head tipped back and shoulders shaking with mirth. "Oh, I was terrified." He chuckled. "I just sat there, frozen, before I finally kissed him back. He was so scared too, and I can still remember how he shook. August was gay, you see. I assume he knew before I did, and I could see him fighting it from the beginning, scared and trying so hard to be what society wanted him to be. But when he gave in... He was beautiful. Neither of us knew what we were doing, but he did it with everything he had." Magnus shook his head, as if trying to distance himself from the memory. "Im sorry if I'm making you uncomfortable." "No." Alec breathed. "No, not at all. Do you- can you keep going? If you want to, that is. It's just- I like hearing your stories, especially with people... With people like me." Magnus gave him a sad smile, eyes still fond through it. "You remind me of him, you know? You two are so alike. He would've been so proud to see how the world changed. He would've loved you." Alec ducked his head, an odd combination of flattery and sadness in his chest. Sadness for how people like August and Magnus had to live. Sadness that so many of them will have never gotten to be free. Sadness that he almost didn't get that either. Not if it weren't for Magnus. It was another thing he and August had in common; Magnus Bane gave them that taste of freedom, and Alec is sure that August must have loved him just as much for it. "Do you ever think about him? Nowadays, I mean?" He asked, and Magnus sighed, looking down again. "He was my first love." He said simply. "People's faces and their memories can fade over centuries, but I don't think I'll ever forget him. He died so young." Magnus's voice was devastated, eyes becoming glassy. "The black death... August worked on a farm. It was inevitable. His father passed before him, and his mother shortly after. I can't catch mundane diseases, and so I stayed with him every day until he died. He told me he loved me then, and I told him the same. I didn't heal for years after." "Magnus," Alec whispered, not knowing what else to say. "Im so sorry." Magnus wiped a tear away quickly, giving Alec a soft look. "It's not your fault, love." "But still." Alec shook his head, furious at the world. Furious that Magnus- gorgeous, kind, amazing Magnus had to lose someone like that. That he had to lose so many people in his life. "It's not fair." "No," Magnus admitted. "It's not. But he was mortal, Alexander. He was going to leave me eventually." The sentence hung in the air, lingering, and the words couldn't be taken back. They were both thinking the same thing, but Alec was the one to voice it. "Like me." Magnus winced. "Alexander..." "It's true, though." Alec said, not unkindly. "I'm going to be like August, aren't I?" Magnus shuddered as if the thought caused him actual, physical pain. "I don't want to think about that. Not yet." Alec watched his face crumple, and he was struck with the thought of «holy shit, this man really loves me» and his chest ached seeing the way the entire conversation ate at Magnus. He stood from his spot on the railing, crossed the balcony floor, and settled on the couch next to Magnus, entire body facing him while Magnus still stared at the ground, breathing shaky. "Im sorry I pushed." He said softly. "I didn't mean to make you hurt. And I-" he struggled with the words, pausing to collect his thoughts, because it was important that Magnus knew this. "I want you to know that I understand that you still love him, and I don't mind. I don't know how it feels, because I've only ever loved you, and I hope that I don't ever have to be without you, but if I every had to be with someone else, I don't think- no, I know- that I could never move on from that. So I need you to know that I'm not mad if you still love him." Magnus looked up at him, eyes wide and slightly shocked. "Alexander," he breathed. "I miss August, and I loved him dearly," he grabbed Alec's hands, making him look him in the eye. "But I love you now, and so I need you to know that." Alec blinked a few times, mouth moving wordlessly before he managed to speak, a small, genuine smile on his lips. "Yeah." He said. "I know."
10816833	We Got This	{ "Archive Warning": "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings", "Category": "M/M", "Characters": "Daryl Dixon, Rick Grimes", "Fandom": "The Walking Dead (TV)", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Explicit", "author": "by Blue_Five", "chapters": "1/?", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-04T00:00:00", "words": "3,254", "Additional Tags": "Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Omega Daryl Dixon, Alpha Rick Grimes, Mates, Scenting, Kneeling, Possible Spoilers", "Relationship": "Daryl Dixon/Rick Grimes", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": "Survival Instinct", "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	REUNION Maggie knew the instant Rick saw Daryl. One moment he was hugging her, his joy at seeing her alive and well fully apparent in his expression but then the blue-eyed gaze shifted away to something over her left shoulder. His hands fell away from Maggie and she smiled gently as the older man moved around her like a sleepwalker. Daryl walked slowly around the corner of one of the storage buildings. He paused, his body language uncertain and almost shy. Maggie hugged Michonne and together the two turned to watch a reunion that had been too long in coming.It only took a few brisk strides for Rick to cross the distance between himself and Daryl but then he stopped just before he reached the man. A sudden undeniable truth flashed through Rick’s brain – this was illusion. Daryl is dead. Daryl is dead. The words rattled out of a ruined throat, spoken by a shambling corpse with the face and body of the man he loved. C’mere alpha … give us a kiss … A rotting face sneered and laughed while death-pale arms reached out with hooked hands that sought to pull him into a fatal embrace. Rick stumbled back, instinctively going for his gun. “Alpha …?” Rick blinked and choked on his startled inhale. Daryl took an uneasy step back. Tremors shook the too-thin frame. Hair that was so much longer than when they’d met hung in damp strands over a face pinched with anguish. Rick gaped at the omega … his omega.His omega. “Daryl …" Rick wouldn’t be sure later if he’d simply thought the name or spoken it but in the end it didn’t matter at all. His boots raised dust with how swiftly he removed all space between himself and his mate. Wavering control broke the minute Rick’s hand closed on the back of Daryl’s neck. A pained growl escaped him – the sound of an alpha in distress. Daryl responded with a soft whine and tucked himself against Rick’s solid body, heedless of anyone who saw. Instinct drove the mates to seek shelter against one another as they shared the agony each had carried in their souls through too many long nights of separation. The bond, silent between them, flared into brilliant emotion like fireworks. Daryl bumped Rick’s chin and instantly melted into the kiss that followed. Fingers buried themselves in his hair and tightened. Daryl’s head was tilted forcefully to allow Rick easier access to his mouth.Mine. The possessive heat that moved between them made Daryl press even closer to Rick. He wanted to wrap himself around his alpha but for now he held himself in check.Rick’s hand settled on Daryl’s hip and his thumb rubbed over the denim that covered the mark left by an alpha mating bite so long ago. Daryl shivered and pulled out of the kiss to stare directly at the other man. He ran his fingertips over the beard filled with too much gray before he leaned his head back and to the side. Windpipe ridges dimpled the pale skin and Daryl made sure every submissive emotion he possessed flowed into their link. He gave himself to the only man he would ever love or desire.Yours. DAY ONE “Harder … harder … fuck, please Rick … more … need more …” Rick looked down at his omega, tossing his head to pull sweat-drenched locks out of his face. “Harder, huh? Be careful what you ask for …”Rick eased himself out of Daryl’s body and grinned at the whine of protest. At least until Daryl’s dismay washed over him. Rick leaned down and pressed a soft kiss against his mate’s lips.“Hey, easy … easy … I’ve got you … I’m not –“Rick could only just make out Daryl’s face in the small bit of moonlight coming in through the window. Since their reunion, Daryl had been unusually desperate to communicate almost solely through the bond. Rick understood why – all the emotion that was lost behind mere words came through loud and clear. There wasn’t any mistaking the meaning in anything said – no misunderstandings.“I’m here, Daryl. I’m not leaving.”Daryl surged up to take a kiss and Rick let him. There was little he would deny Daryl right now because, if he was totally honest with himself, he needed just as much as the omega did. Daryl had broken the bond out of desperation to spare Rick what he assumed was going to be his lingering death. When they’d seen one another at the Hilltop, Rick had felt their link literally knit itself back together in his head. When he’d felt all the pain of their separation buoyed on a single word it had been incredible. In an instant, Rick and Daryl had shared the misery of their time apart. They’d cemented the one belief that had carried them from a misbegotten heat in a lonely wood to this moment – they needed each other more than the very air in their lungs.That need fueled Rick now as he manhandled Daryl onto his hands and knees, spreading his legs apart and sliding two fingers deep inside the omega. Daryl whined and his back dipped, pushing him up against the intrusion as he gripped the sheets beneath him. Rick brushed against the nerve bundle that made Daryl throw his head back; eyes clenched shut and mouth working soundlessly. Faint whispers began to break through. “Yes yes yes more … gods feels so good … please please … cock … need your cock in me now alpha … now now now …” Rick removed his hand and slid himself into Daryl with one thrust, the way smoothed by Daryl’s copious slick. His mate growled then and looked over his shoulder. Rick gripped Daryl’s hips so hard he knew there would be bruises but the look Daryl was giving him now coupled with the desperate pleading in Rick’s head shrank his control to a very thin line. He snarled before he drove himself hilt-deep into Daryl.Daryl took Rick’s penetration with a long drawn-out moan. It was too much and not enough all at the same time but there was no way in hell he was going to ask Rick to stop. Instead, he clenched down. The resulting growl was lower and less controlled than the last – and then Rick pulled Daryl upright so that he was seated in Rick’s lap. Hot breath blew against his ear as Rick ordered, “You want it hard, omega? Ride it.”Daryl’s hands flew out to grip the edge of the headboard and he began to piston on Rick’s cock with abandon. Sweat poured off his scalp and his hair hung down over his face as Daryl found the angle that let him slam down onto Rick for that all-consuming flare of pleasure. “… gorgeous … my gorgeous omega … mine … yes … take it … take it …” Daryl couldn’t return much more than sensation. He was so far past communicating with actual words he wondered if he’d ever find his way back. “Come for me, babe …” Daryl obeyed without pause, too far gone to care about the sappy endearment, his shout hoarse but loud nonetheless. Rick listened to the sweet music as he rode his own climax, the colors in his mind bright with physical release. The world went white and then both men sagged against the mattress. Rick barely managed to turn them so they landed on their sides. His erection faded and he slipped easily from Daryl. If the thoughts he was receiving were any indication, Rick knew Daryl was deep into his omega headspace. He wouldn’t surface for a while. Rick smiled and made a mental note to get up before Daryl did and clean them both up. He didn’t succeed; instead he drifted into a deeper sleep than he’d had in a while, lulled by his mate’s drowsy emotional and audible babbling. DAY TWO “Thanks for taking watch,” Rick murmured as he stepped into the home’s dooryard with a long yawn.Daryl grunted and handed his mate a cup of coffee. Rick sipped it hesitantly. The camp kettle from Alexandria had gone with Negan’s group and Rick loathed the instant powder they’d been forced to use since. He registered that the drink was thicker than usual only seconds before the taste struck him. Rick let out a surprised sound at the rich, smooth brew that filled his mouth and he swallowed slowly before he turned raised eyebrows at Daryl. The omega smirked.“Yeah, yeah … what, you think I never learned how to make a decent cup o’ coffee?”Rick took another drink from his mug. “No, I’m just wondering why I had no idea about it until now?”Daryl shrugged. “I look like Donna Reed to you? Don’t go makin’ coffee for just anyone.”“Oh so I’m special, is that it?” Rick teased.Daryl sighed and looked up as if beseeching the heavens. “Lord give me strength but you stuck me with a slow one.”Rick laughed and after a brief detour of making out, the two broke camp and loaded back into the van.“You’ve got watch tonight,” Rick said as he slid into the driver’s seat.“What, you not plannin’ on fuckin’ my brains out again?”Rick snorted. “Of course I am,” he retorted cheerfully. “And then I intend on stickin’ you on watch while I rest up.”Daryl rolled his eyes. “Alphas, man.” He looked down at the map and then at the road signs to find his bearings. “We got this?”“Oh yeah,” Rick nodded. “Don’t let me forget – we need batteries for that walkie. Get it workin’ again.”The sporting goods store was lean on anything useful, much to Daryl’s irritation. After he helped Rick dispatch the few walkers, they combed over lockers and cash register drawers hoping to find a stashed gun or even a box of ammo. So many places like this had become temporary shelters as people scrambled for cover only to discover that others wanted what they had and took it leaving behind the stumbling walkers they dealt with that morning. A few cans of green beans, some bottled water and a few truly awful polo shirts were all they had to show after a day of scouting. Daryl found a few arrows for his crossbow.It wasn’t until they’d hidden the van and put down a worn mattress to crash on for the night that Rick got a surprise. He walked into the small office they’d chosen to sleep in and the heady scent of omega arousal struck him. Daryl was naked and kneeling beside the door.“Don’t worry alpha,” the omega drawled as he reached for Rick's belt. “I got this.”Rick had to admit, his mate was not wrong about that. DAY THREE “What’s that smile for?” Rick asked when he glanced over at Daryl.They were walking through yet another overgrown area just off yet another main road. Mother Nature was taking back the world from the foolish humans, no doubt about that. Daryl’s mouth was quirked into a rare soft grin. It was endearing but Rick was curious about the source. It couldn’t be their abysmal efforts at scavenging.“Well?” Rick asked again. “We’ve been at this two days and all we got to show is two guns, a few dented cans of beans and a lotta football jerseys, pretty much.”Daryl agreed. “Pretty much.” When Rick’s eyebrow went up, he sighed. “We’re doin’ somethin’ – what did Michonne call it? ‘Fightin’ the fight’.” He peered up through his fringe with a slight shrug. “S’better this way. You’re –“ Daryl cut himself off.Rick stopped and cupped Daryl’s cheek, enjoying the way the man leaned into it. “I’m better this way, you’re right. With you.”The omega grinned. For a moment, Rick debated paying his mate back for the previous night’s blow job that had left him jelly-kneed and sound asleep. Then they heard a sound from the before time – a golf club coming into contact with a golf ball. Instantly on alert, the pair ducked down and crept forward under cover. Daryl shivered when they saw two men from Negan’s group. Rick laid a gentle hand on his mate’s shoulder and sent reassurance through the link. I’m here. They aren’t taking you again. Ever. Daryl nodded, then gestured at the back of the truck. Rick ran his eyes over the supplies there and grinned. Daryl raised his crossbow and carefully took aim.“They got good taste in snacks,” Daryl muttered as drove and munched on pretzels.“And batteries,” Rick replied, fitting the walkie with a fresh one. It crackled to life.Daryl sighed. “Been at this two days. Prob’ly should get back.” Rick grunted but then silence fell over the cab. Daryl’s eyes narrowed as he watched the road. “Rick …”“Day and a half more – today and tomorrow.”“We can come out again, alpha,” Daryl reasoned. “We should get back.”“Just a little more,” Rick countered.“We’re ok,” Daryl returned. “We don’t gotta find them today.”Rick shifted in his seat and ate another pretzel. “Yeah, I know.” He slipped one into Daryl’s mouth. “Just a little more, ok?”Daryl regarded his mate closely for a moment and then nodded, crunching on the pretzel. “Yeah, ok.”“Don’t talk with your mouth full.”Daryl snorted and tried to ignore the growing unease in his gut.Rick dozed off not long after their conversation and Daryl watched him sleep as he drove. He could feel small flarings of emotion as the alpha dreamt. No nightmares at least. In sleep, Rick’s face lost all the harsh lines that the past few years had given him. He looked more like the hopeful deputy Daryl had met just outside Atlanta. He looked peaceful. It was a condition Daryl would have given anything to make permanent.Over the years, Daryl had come to terms with his love for the man beside him. It hadn’t been a straight line path that was for damn sure. They’d disappointed each other plenty over their time together but they always seemed to find their way back to one another. While trapped with Negan, all Daryl had wanted was to bury his nose against Rick’s neck and breathe in the scent of his alpha. He still wanted to do that. He still needed to do that. He’d watched his friends die. Glenn. Abraham. He’d been helpless to do shit about it. All his tough-guy acting and when it had counted … he’d just been another omega kneeling in the dirt. Daryl wiped at his eyes and tamped down hard on the emotions before they made their way into the link. Rick stirred briefly but then just relaxed into a deeper sleep with a faint snore. Daryl sighed. He leaned forward to study the light for a moment before deciding they were done driving for today. It was time to make camp before nightfall.Rick slept through Daryl parking off the road and even through the omega’s set up of camp. Daryl shook his head as he poured himself a cup of coffee. Apparently, Rick had been lying that he was getting any sleep at all. It didn’t take a doctor to tell the alpha was exhausted so Daryl just left him snoozing after making sure the sun was off him. He sipped his coffee contentedly when he heard a twig snap. The omega looked out into the brush and his eyes narrowed. A deer munched lightly on a few blades of grass coming up through the after-growth. Daryl felt his mouth water.He moved back to the van, putting down his cup and reaching in for his crossbow. The slight noise that caused brought Rick awake. He grunted confusedly. Daryl swiftly shushed him, pushing a sense of everything being alright through the link. He moved back out and around the van only to discover that his hoped for dinner was gone, lost to the woods.“Ah fuck.”“What – what was it?”“Deer,” Daryl explained. “Damn it. I was looking forward to some real meat.”Rick ran a hand through his hair and stretched. “You didn’t have any luck with that deer the first time we met in camp either.”Daryl sent him a peeved look. “Yeah? You try trackin’ these days, alpha. Ain’t enough I gotta stay quiet and avoid walkers, I also gotta deal with ‘em messin’ up trails and shit.”Rick huffed a laugh as he tugged Daryl close and pressed a kiss to the man’s temple. “No one better than you, babe.”“Damn skippy there ain’t,” Daryl muttered. His attention was suddenly drawn farther beyond where the deer went. “Hey … wait. You see that?”“What the hell?” Rick muttered.It was a fence. A long chain-link fence enclosing what looked to be a carnival set-up. Rick banged on the metal post with his hatchet and together they waited for the familiar growls. A walker dressed in Army camo staggered up, snarling and snapping at the intruders beyond his reach. His rifle and sidearm were still on him. Rick nodded.“Guns like that … why we’re out here.”Daryl agreed and aimed his crossbow. After dispatching the walker, Daryl shouldered the rifle and stuck the handgun in his belt. Rick was examining some of the spent casings on the ground and stood when Daryl walked up. The omega scanned the seemingly empty field. His eyes picked out more casings glinting in the fading sun. And a handgun. And a rifle. Daryl whistled softly.“Somethin’ major happened here,” he commented.Rick nodded. “Yeah but it’s been a while.” He held up a few of the larger casings. “These rounds are heavy-duty military. Might be heavy-duty guns to go with ‘em.”Daryl rolled his eyes. He looked around again and noticed a schoolbus parked next to what looked like a storage building for the carnival. He gestured to it.“Let’s get to higher ground and take a look, alpha.”Rick followed his omega up onto the roof. After years with no proper drainage, the rain-soaked roof held sizeable puddles. Daryl grunted as they made their way across the gravel. The entire roof groaned with each step.“Best not stay up here too long, alpha,” he muttered.Rick agreed easily. “Let’s go see what we can see, alright?”They walked to the edge of the roof. Rick looked across another field into the midway area of the carnival. Rides rusted silently as walkers growled and wandered aimlessly around them. It was eerie seeing the aftermath of something big without knowing what exactly had gone down.“Soldiers, civilians … there was a fight,” Rick commented.“Yeah … maybe walkers. Maybe just other folks.”Rick squinted and then his eyes widened. “Daryl, they’re still wearing their guns! I think this is it!”He turned excitedly to his mate and felt practically giddy when the man nodded, a grin toying at his lips. “I think it is too.”Rick frowned back at the herd. “You think we can?”Daryl carefully unslung the rifle and checked the sight. He fired one shot, grunted and took aim again after he adjusted his grip. This time he knocked over a set of bottles in one of the midway games. He grinned back at Rick.“Oh hell yeah we can!”Rick laughed with his mate, pulling him close for a shared kiss. A low rumble sounded beneath them and suddenly Rick and Daryl were plummeting downward. They landed easily, their fall cushioned by boxes and the roof itself. Daryl looked over at Rick after a shocked moment. Then they both started laughing again.“Fucking alphas!”
10829130	Modern Failure	{ "Archive Warning": null, "Category": "M/M", "Characters": "Sam Winchester, Gabriel (Supernatural), Dean Winchester, Castiel, Bones (dog)", "Fandom": "Supernatural", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Not Rated", "author": "by orphan_account", "chapters": "1/?", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-05T00:00:00", "words": "580", "Additional Tags": "End of the World, technology failure, Sam and Gabriel are roommates, New York, Buildings Collapsing, Other tags to be added", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": "Gabriel/Sam Winchester, Castiel/Dean Winchester", "Series": "Modern Failure", "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": "Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con", "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	Sam threw his things on the couch and stretched, his back popping. He sighs and shakes his hands, getting a feel into them again, before walking back out of the hotel room. "Anything else?" He asks, looking at his brother–Dean–who was coming down the hallway. "Uh, just the dog," Dean answers, looking at Sam. "Sammy, your lucky this hotel allows dogs, or Bones would be at the vet, miserable. Why did you have to bring him?" Dean panted. Sam shrugs. "Just did," he responds. "Um, right. Which number again?" Dean asks. Sam rolls his eyes. "Well, if you weren't to busy looking at the receptionists ass, you would know," Sam snarked before sighing. "Room 407, I'm pretty sure you know which side it's on.""Yah yah," Dean grumbles rolling his eyes before walking away. Sam chuckled and continued walking down the hall and towards the elevator. He groaned annoyed when he saw the "Out of Order" sign on the elevator. He turned around and walked toward the stairs, sticking his hands into his pockets. At least Bones would go up the stairs easily. It was a hassle getting him into the elevator. He used his back to open the door to the fire escape, and he quickly walked down the stairs. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he quickly walked out of the building and towards the car. He opened the back door of the impala and peered in, frowning when he didn't see his dog. "Bones?" He asks, worriedly. There was a small bark from the front of the car, and Sam chuckled, looking over the front seat, finding his German Sheppard puppy sitting in the drivers seat. He closed the back door and walked around to the front door, smiling. He opened the door and gathered his puppy in his arms. "Dean'll have a fit if he sees you up there," he murmurs kissing the dogs furry head. Bones panted and licked Sam's chin before nuzzling into him. Sam smiled and closed the door, walking back into the hotel. Bones whimpered seeing the elevator and Sam chuckled walking towards the stairs. He used his back to open the door and started walking up the stairs, but a voice stopped him. "Hey Moose! That puppy is cute and all, but can you help me with these bags?" That voice had Sam turning around his eyes wide. "Gabriel? What are you doing here?" He asks, looking at his roommate. Gabriel grinned. "I may or may have not hacked into your computer and figured out where you were going while you were taking a year off," Gabriel grinned, his whiskey eyes sparkling. Sam chuckles. "Well, I am kinda pissed that you hacked into my computer, but I'm glad to see you," he says. "And as for the puppy, I can't really put him down, but if you stay there I'll be down in a moment." "But Sammy, these bags are really heavy and Cas refuses to help me bring them up," Gabriel whined. "I can hold the puppy, and you can take the bags. Please?!" He pleaded. Sam groaned, but nodded. "Fine," he says, sighing. Gabriel grinned and dropped his bags. "Thanks Moosie!" He grins. "Now give me the puppy." Sam grumbled and handed Gabriel the puppy before reaching down and picking up Gabriel's bags. He hauled them over his shoulder, and turned around. "Okay Gabe, c'mon," he says, walking up the stairs. Gabriel grinned and followed.
10813434	The Pitfalls of Hero	{ "Archive Warning": "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings", "Category": "M/M", "Characters": "Ron Weasley, Harry Potter", "Fandom": "Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Explicit", "author": "by mapleandmahogany", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2007-10-08T00:00:00", "words": "9,323", "Additional Tags": "Romance, Fluff, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, Slash, The Quidditch Pitch: The Changing Room, Harry Potter Next Generation, Drama, Erotica, Post-War, Rimming, Masturbation", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": "The Quidditch Pitch, Fables & Folklore: a Favorites Florilegium", "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	Author's notes: Written for the hprwfqf, My thanks to mrstater who pondered Teddy-isms with me. My dear mrsquizzical for the many read throughs and corrections AND to gwen1170 and shocolate for the beta and Brit Picking! ~^~The Platform hummed with anticipation as the Scarlet train from Hogwarts approached. The air was heavy with humidity from the rainy summer afternoon and the heat of bodies additionally burdened with umbrellas and macs.Harry and Ron were at the rear of the bustling crowd, leaning under a brick archway where they went relatively unnoticed, camouflaged behind the bulk of their robes thrown over their forearms.Taking advantage of this, Ron had one hand firmly cupping Harry’s buttock, massaging in circles.“Ron?” Harry continued to look ahead at the train.“Yeah?”“What’re you doing back there?”“Nuhthing,” Ron answered, a hint of a suppressed chuckle in his voice.“Then why,” Harry turned his head to whisper, “have you got your – ooh!” Harry squeaked a particular firm squeeze.“I’ve been wanting to do this all day, but you haven’t slowed down long enough.” Ron adjusted his hand up the back of Harry’s t-shirt, seeking Harry’s skin.“I’ve been cleaning all day.”“I know.”“And doing the washing.”“I know.”“Roon …” Harry’s voice hitched higher and he lost his train of thought as Ron’s fingertips began inching downward. “… I do cool, macho Auror stuff at work with you all the time, but me cleaning on our day off, is erotic?”“Does it really matter?” Ron asked, slowly removing his hand from Harry’s trousers as students were now exiting the train. “Anytime I have unfettered access to your arse is erotic.”“Will you stop about my arse. He’ll be here soon.” Harry looked Ron with a stern face but it melted into an affectionate smile.They were both excited about having Teddy to visit. The end of term excitement in the air was infectious as they pressed forward to find their charge.“It’s been so long since I’ve seen him, if not for that hair I might not recognize him.”Ron had been ill with Scrofungulus during Teddy’s holiday visit last winter. And when an overseas Auror dispatch was necessary the previous summer, Ron took the assignment so that Harry could stay home to visit his godson between terms. The result being, that he hadn’t seen Teddy Lupin for nearly a year and half.Ron had continued writing notes to Teddy, enclosing them in Harry’s letters to Hogwarts, but noticed that Teddy’s post was always addressed to Harry alone. It seemed like a silly thing to mention, but it had bothered Ron on more than one occasion.“Wonder if he still likes me …” Ron muttered.Harry heard this and stopped; clasping a hand on Ron’s forearm he gave it a meaningful squeeze. “Of course he does! He’s just fifteen, that’s all.”They’d been on the lookout for bright turquoise hair, so were taken by surprise when Teddy, now coiffed a conservative golden brown, stood before them.“Hi Harry!” the boy said, his voice now as deep as their own, and dropped the end of his trunk.“Teddy!” Harry pulled him into a hug, before pushing him away by the shoulders again. “Look at you! You’re grown!”Teddy was now eye to eye with Harry, if not taller and was beaming with a blush at the acknowledgement of it.“He’s not joking, mate. I wouldn’t have recognized you.” Ron moved to give Teddy into a brief hug.“’lo,” Teddy said simply, shuffling out of Ron’s arms, grabbing his trunk at one end. “Thanks for coming to get me, Harry.” He seemed to be anxious to leave the station.With the jostling crowd of raucous animals, fussing mothers and tetchy fathers, it was reasonable that their little reunion was somewhat awkward.Ron took the other end of Teddy’s trunk and they began working their way through the crowd; Teddy by Harry’s side and Ron trailing behind.“Well we are happy to have you,” Harry said. “Of course I was sorry to hear about your grandmother’s friend taking ill, but we’re still glad to have you stay while she’s off visiting.”“Did you bring the car?” Teddy asked hopefully, as they passed through the gate into the Muggle train station.Harry failed to stifle his grin as he looked back at Ron. “Actually, the car’s been a bit damaged. Ron flew into the tower of Dartmouth Castle.” He smirked at Ron again, who shook his head and glared.He didn’t mention the fact that his head had been in Ron’s lap at the time, which contributed to Ron’s flying mishap. They were lucky that none of Ron’s bits ended up ‘a bit damaged’ as well.Teddy however saw no humor in the situation and his face fell. “What did you that for?” he griped at Ron. “That was stupid …”“Oi!” Harry reached out and cuffed him fatherly on the back of the head. “Mind your manners.”“Sorry,” Teddy replied quickly, though it was said more to Harry than to Ron.Harry looked back at Ron once more and they exchanged the same curious expression. He wondered if perhaps Ron’s trepidation about Teddy’s displeasure about them was accurate after all.~After their train journey home, they threw together a quick meal of steak and onions with jacket potatoes. Harry and Ron continued to smirk as they listened to Teddy’s telling of the great injustices he suffered, getting detentions for cheeking the Care of Magical Creatures Professor – he didn’t think the Jabberknolls were housed properly – and for protesting the lack of house points awarded to Slytherin House.“I know Slytherins were all bad back in your day-”“Not all,” Harry interjected.“- but things have changed now! It’s just not right that their points should be so far behind the other houses!”It seemed wherever there was a cause to point out inequity, Teddy was the loudest voice against the wrong; something that ironically managed to lose him Hufflepuff house points on a regular basis.Hearing a teenager’s melodramatic take on life, compared to the magnitude of their daily job pursing dark wizards for a living was entertaining. Still, it was intriguing to imagine an existence of such relative ease, however seriously Teddy took the matters“And add to that, I helped Abigail Aubrey in Transfiguration all year, only to get twenty-five house points taken away by Professor Longbottom! It’s utterly unfair!”They knew when a story didn’t add up. Harry and Ron looked at each other before looking back at Teddy.“Why did the Head of Gryffindor house take points away from you? Surely it wasn’t for tutoring?”Teddy’s cheeks pinked and he squirmed, defying the manly posture he’d carried all afternoon. “Well …”“Come on, man, let’s have it,” Ron said.“I … He … might have caught us kissing in the Gryffindor common room.”Ron laughed. “Ok, now hang on, kissing in another common room can’t be a twenty five point infraction. Neville’s a fairer bloke than that.”“Yeah, if that was the case, we’d have owed house points by the end of sixth year,” Harry added. “What with all the snogging Ron did.”“Oi!”“Really?” Teddy’s head perked up, looking at Ron as if he’d only just appeared in the room. “Who were you snogging?”Ron gave a wide, smug smile, stabbed a slice of steak and took a bite. Under the table he stretched out his leg, nudging Harry’s ankle with his long toes.“Never you mind that.” Harry poked Teddy back onto subject. “I want to know about that twenty five points.”“Oh, that. Well, it might have … ok, it was after curfew – but ”“Aha!” both Ron and Harry exclaimed. “I knew Neville was reasonable,” Ron continued. “You deserved it then. And only a fourth year, at that. Better slow it down, kid, or you’ll be on your honeymoon before you take N.E.W.T.S.”“But we didn’t break curfew so we could snog! Professor Longbottom gave us permission to stay late to study. -- She’s really rubbish at transfiguration.”“And snogging was going to improve the girl’s marks, yeah?”Teddy blushed further but didn’t back down from his argument. “That’s not the issue. We had permission to stay late to revise for her O.W.L.s the next day. The – the kissing happened after we’d finished studying. And since kissing is not against Hogwarts’ rules, and since we had permission to break curfew, losing points was completely unfair!”“Don’t see the difference,” Ron argued.“There is a difference!” Teddy said, looking so hot about the whole thing that neither Ron nor Harry could really take him seriously any longer.“Mushrooms?” Harry offered Ron.“Thank you.”Teddy took a bite with a very audible ‘humph’.The silence that hung over the table contained both Harry and Ron’s amusement and Teddy indignance.“Hrg-hmm,” Ron cleared his throat, giving Harry a warning glance that he was attempting to regain the peace. “Her name was Lavender Brown.”Teddy perked up with interest. Harry’s eyebrows shot upwards and he snorted.“You just hush.” Ron told him with a pointed finger.“I didn’t say a word,” he answered, pouring himself more pumpkin juice.“She was this really fit girl, you know? Loads of blokes wanted to be with her.”“Or already had been,” Harry murmured under his breath.“Shut it,” Ron warned, equally under his breath.“She was really all that?” Teddy asked, the unmistakable look of approval in his eyes.“Oh yeah. She was beautiful! And you’ve got to understand, I was nothing at special at school. No one had taken notice of me before.”“That’s not true,” Harry added quietly.“Shh! And here was this gorgeous girl, wanting me. Wasn’t much in the way of personality, mind, but not a bad snog.”Ron glared at Harry when he made a derisive sound into his drinking glass.“I didn’t say a word!”“Good! Cos you’ve got no room to comment anyway! You weren’t exactly subtle with Ginny, were you?”“That’s right!” Teddy exclaimed. “You went together with Ginny a long time ago, didn’t you?”“Not fond of the ‘long time ago’ part, but the rest is true.” He looked at Ron, adding “… I was young and didn’t know any better.”Ron’s long toes found Harry’s leg under the table again and then pinched at his leg hair.“That’s really cool! I thought,” Teddy said, looking back and forth between them. “I didn’t know you – I want to hear more about your time at school. Oh, and tell me about Professor Longbottom, too!”So they spent another hour regaling Teddy with their tales while tidying the kitchen. They avoided mention of Voldemort and murders, all of which Teddy had heard before, but instead told him of the frivolous things that had made their teen years somewhat normal; Quidditch games, detentions, and bungled romances.“Well, I’m off, fellas.” Ron stood behind Harry, giving him a playful shake of the shoulders. “Some of us have to work in the morning.” Harry had taken the week off to be with Teddy.Then, with some uncertainty, he turned to Teddy and held out his hand. “Good to have you with us, Ted.”Harry knew that Ron’s heart was in the hand he offered Teddy, and for a moment that twisted in Harry’s gut, it looked as if Teddy would rebuff Ron’s offer of kinship as he had at the train station. Instead, he shook Ron’s hand. They leaned into one another, bumping chests in a brief familial embrace.It wasn’t really very late, so Harry suspected he knew exactly why Ron had gone to bed ‘tired’.After making sure Teddy was sorted and comfortable for the night, Harry turned in himself.“I was afraid I’d fall asleep before you came,” Ron said, smirking as he rolled over to face Harry. “He’s kind of a righteous little prig, isn’t he?”Harry clucked his tongue but it was impossible to disagree. “Yes. But his heart’s in the right place. We had something to fight for at that age. Teddy’s kind of floundering, isn’t he?”“Spoilt, more like.”“Oh, shush. I was going to stay up with him, but he’s listening to a music concert on the wireless. The Antarctic Mokes – pfft,” Harry scoffed. “They’re no Weird Sisters.”Harry dropped his trousers and sat on the edge of the bed with a sigh to pull them off.“I know he’s been shirty with you, I’m sorry.” He dropped his chin to his chest while Ron rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s only because he hasn’t seen you much the past few years.” He pushed himself back up onto the bed.“I’m ok if he’s not keen on me. As long as he keeps on hero-worshipping you, he’ll be alright.”Ron Noxed the light and shifted so that he was lying between Harry’s legs on his stomach. They continued talking, having a laugh at Teddy’s combustible youth and scoffing the notion that either of them had ever been so tempestuous, knowing full well that they had been.That’s the thing, Harry noticed, about living all of your life with someone who knew you when you were young; no denying your history.All the while they talked, they were pressed against each other. Harry’s ankle wrapped about the back of Ron’s thigh, both sets of hands running a slow, steady path over the bodies that they knew so well.Eventually, conversation dissipated and they were consumed with each other’s touch. Taking their time, they kissed, enjoying the touch of each other’s mouth for the sheer pleasure of it. Letting a kiss fuel desire for each other, rather than letting it be diminished into a cursory exercise before getting to the sex.‘The sex’ wasn’t wanting for attention. It was only last week that Ron had been bent over the arm of the couch shortly after they Floo’d home at nearly midnight, both foregoing food for fucking. And the week before, Harry found himself on his back, among the breakfast things, his knees hoisted high, talking filthy to Ron, as both of them worked up a sweat before going to work that morning.It was easy to project the aggravations in their lives; Harry would scowl, Ron would joke, and they both had to put on various ‘fronts’ while at work.But all of that fell aside leaving nothing but Harry and Ron. Here in their bed, with no reason to hurry, they took their time loving each other. Removing clothes; t-shirts and underwear, piece by piece, kissing a nipple a tummy, a thigh, along the way.The focus here was to resist the habitual instinct to get hard and slick skipping right to the pleasure of thrusting cock and arse.Harry brushed the fringe out of Ron’s eyes as he looked up at him. “When’s the last time I told you I love you?”Ron chewed his lip to minimize a wide smile. “I think it was only yesterday, actually.”Maybe that was true. The words tumbled out all the time. The frailty of life they saw on a daily basis made them certain to tell each other often enough.“But this is different,” Harry said. To say the words while letting the worries of the world fall away, holding each other, looking in each other’s eyes and really, truly meaning it. “I do love you.”Ron kissed him, lingering as if to absorb the feeling in Harry’s words as they clung on his lips. Ron nuzzled along his jaw; gravelling his own heartfelt, “love you, too,” all the while shifting up and straddling Harry’s lap.Harry silently praised the conveniences of magic as Ron eased down onto Harry’s cock. Pausing together, they enjoyed the initial breathtaking pressure of their joining. Ron’s thighs flexed on either side of Harry as he began to raise and lower his body, taking Harry deep, and then deeper, inside.“Dunno why we ever leave the house,” Ron gasped, placing his hands near Harry’s shoulders so he could leverage himself up, letting Harry create a more forceful pace from below. “… Should just stay home and do this all the time.”“Think we could find a way to earn wages for fucking each other?” Harry chuckled. Their effusive affection from earlier was beginning to bubble over into giddiness.“Yeah. Why not? … The birds in the office would pay to watch, I’m certain of it.” Ron nipped at Harry’s earlobe. “A few of the blokes too, I expect.”Harry snorted and his rhythm broke. Ron lowered his weight onto Harry’s chest with a smile. Ron always looked pleased with himself when he made Harry laugh.“Hey,” Harry patted the side of Ron’s arse and jerked his head. “Let’s shift, do this properly.”Ron swore, sounding eager, and moved as Harry suggested, who wasted no time in getting onto his knees behind Ron.They took their time positioned in this way. Moving together, getting their blood up, getting short of breath, and getting just to the edge of blissful climax, though not in a rush to have it end too soon.“Lay flat out,” Harry whispered. Ron stretched his legs out behind him and Harry followed him down, not breaking their connection.He thrust a few more times, both letting out a groan at the enhancement the change brought, but they felt the need now. Harry rolled them onto their sides. Holding onto Ron’s hip, they moved until finding a rhythm familiar to them.“Yes! That’s it, Harry … nearly…” Ron began to gibber.Harry reached around, careful to avoid Ron’s hand now rapidly stroking his cock. He cupped his palm over Ron’s sacs, which were constricted and tight against his body. So close. He closed his eyes, concentrating on his thrusting, the in, the out.Sensation began welling up in him.He felt Ron tense and something about the movement made Harry stop, fearing Ron was hurting. When he opened his eyes he realized there was light emanating into the room and he heard a thump and scuffling sounds behind him.“Fucking shit,” Ron whispered.“Sorry! I just – and I didn’t – god!” Teddy stammered as he stood up after apparently tripping over shoes inside the doorway.“It’s all ri –Teddy, did you need?-” Harry struggled to say something at the same time, but was at a loss. He’d completely forgotten that the boy was even in the house, though half of his brain was lucid enough to reach for the sheet to shield his clammy arse from his godson’s view.“No! Nothing,” Teddy said forcefully, backing out the door, pulling it shut with a loud slam that shook the wall.It opened again. “Sorry!” came Teddy’s voice through the crack and he shut the door once more, gently this time.Harry was literally frozen and slack jawed with mortification, until his brain finally communicated reality to his flagging cock. He and Ron uncoupled, both groaning this time with dis-satisfaction.“I can’t believe that just happened,” Harry gasped. “I should go talk to him.”Ron’s body shook with silent laughter, lying on his stomach with his face buried in his pillow.“No, you can’t do that,” he said, lifting his head to take a breath. “The last thing he wants is to have to look you in the face right now.”“I can’t just leave him. He’s going to be …” Harry wasn’t exactly sure what Teddy would ‘be’, but he was already stepping pantless into his jeans.“Harry, honestly, you should just leave the kid alone. He’ll come out when he’s hungry and then he can just pretend nothing happened.”Harry paused, turning his t-shirt right side out while he considered Ron’s suggestion. “I don’t know. I feel badly for him.” Then, grabbing his glasses off the nightstand, he turned towards the door. “Wish me luck.”“When are you going to learn to leave things alone?” Ron complained.~He found Teddy in the kitchen, grinding both palms over his closed eyelids, a bottle of Butterbeer gripped in one hand. His hair appeared to have a glint of pale grey in it.“Ted? You ok?” Harry spoke softly, but Teddy still jumped. “I’m so sorry, mate.”“No! I’m fine. It’s fine. I’m sorry.” Teddy spoke fast, looking at Harry with round eyes before looking everywhere else but at Harry.“It didn’t even occur to me to lock the door,” Harry tried to rationalize, but Teddy scrunched his face and shoulders and put out his hand.“My fault!” Teddy edged around the table away from Harry. “I found more Butterbeer in the larder and wanted to know if was ok to drink, so I went up to ask.”Harry pursed his lips, assuming this wasn’t the appropriate time to state that it should be obvious that anything in the larder was meant for consumption, or to wonder how Teddy could have already drank the half dozen bottles that were in the refrigerator. “That’s fine. You can have as much as you like,” he finally said.The only sound was the blaring music from the wireless in the living room.“I’ll leave you alone then,” Harry said. “If you want to talk about … anything, I won’t mind.” Harry made it nearly to the stairs before Teddy spoke.“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked, the emotion in Teddy’s voice made Harry flinch. “About you and Ron?’”Harry deflated. This had been coming for years.“I truly thought you’d figured it out by now.” Harry answered.But no, that wasn’t fair. They’d been elusive, hadn’t they? When was he going to learn to be honest at the start?“How could I know that?” Teddy asked, full of sudden anger. “You never told me! I’ve heard things at school. People’ve said stuff but I didn’t believe them.’“I’m sorry.”“I defended you! I thought you two were like, like, brothers! Everyone always says you’re just one of the Weasleys. I thought maybe you were just too messed up from the war to get married or something!” Harry scratched on his arm, finding himself on the unfunny side of Teddy’s temper. “But you lied to me! My whole life!”“We never lied to you,” Harry insisted.“You sat there,” he pointed at the table, “telling me about your girlfriends! You must think I’m so stupid.” Teddy looked like a wounded owl stuck in cage, all ruffled and wide-eyed, ready to peck if you came near.“But that was all true, I swear. No lies.”“It’s him, isn’t it?” Teddy accused. “It’s his fault.”“… Yes, it is. But Ron didn’t make me who I am. He just made me happy about it.”Teddy made a dismissive noise in his throat.“And I’m afraid I’m a selfish bastard, because I won’t even let you take that away from me.”“But you don’t have to be,” Teddy waved at the ceiling upstairs, “like that, Harry. You’re famous, and you’re not that old. You could pull any woman you want.”Harry tried very hard to smirk, but was fairly certain he failed. “I appreciate the vote of confidence, but I really wouldn’t be interested.” He paused, feeling guilty about what he was about to say. “We made a promise a long time ago to be …” Harry took a breath and rolled his eyes. “To be discreet with you.”“Discreet? Ha!” Teddy scoffed.“You weren’t meant to see that upstairs.”“Well I did see! I know what he is now. Plays up the war hero bit, all the while he’s really – he’s the ‘wife’!”“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”“He using you!”“He’s never!” Harry’s voice lost all trace of humor. “He’s one of the few that’s never cared about that, Ted. – And do not show disrespect to Ron. Understand me?”Teddy took a step back, bumping into the refrigerator. The look on his face said that he understood well enough. “Who’d you promise to be ‘discreet’ to?” he asked.Harry sighed. “… To your grandmother.”“What? I don’t believe it. Why?”“It’s true. Ron and I were a lot younger when we got together, and plenty of people didn’t like it. Your grandmother is a fine woman in many ways, but she still has her prejudices.”“No way! She’s a huge supporter of Muggle-born rights!”“Well of course she is. That’s easy to get behind! But she wouldn’t accept us. She didn’t want us to ‘expose you’ to our private life. She had ‘concerns’ that it might do you harm.”Harry ran his hands through his hair. He was so thrown off by the discomfort of interrupted sex, hurt by Teddy’s reaction, and annoyed at the resurfacing feeling of shame that he’d long ago got rid of.“We would never agree to something like that now. But back then I was willing to accept her terms just so I wouldn’t lose you.”“Can’t you just … just please try to be normal, Harry?”Harry recoiled and glared at his godson. The words offended him deeply, but Teddy’s saving grace was that he looked so genuinely shocked and hurt, and Harry owned a part of that.Ron descended the stairs amid the silence fully dressed, and, Harry noted, with his wand in his back pocket. Clearly he’d heard them shouting as he looked between them.“All right?” he asked Harry softly.Harry shrugged and shook his head, rubbing his eyes under his glasses.“I think enough has been said tonight,” Ron said. “We’ve all had a long day. What do you say we turn in?”“I want to go home,” Teddy said, crossing his arms, fixing his eyes across the room.“’Fraid you’re with us until Andromeda returns next week,” Ron said.“I’m not a baby. I can take care of myself.”“I’m sorry, Teddy-” Harry began to apologize, but Ron interrupted.“- Then don’t act like a baby. Your godfather is responsible for you until your grandmother gets home. There’s no discussion about it.”Teddy fumed, an echo of his father’s fierceness in his features as he glared at Harry.“I don’t want to be here. With a, a liar!” Teddy seemed to struggle with some way to be hurtful. “And a, a pervert!”“You had better watch your mouth, Lupin,” Ron warned.“It’s ok, Ron,” Harry sighed.“Right. It’s ok because he knows it’s the truth. His whole life is lie!” Teddy was losing himself in a rant. “Letting people think he’s a great hero. He’s the savior who always does the right thing. The truth is, you’re a fraud!”“That’s enough out of you,” Ron said in quiet voice.“You let everyone think you’re the great defender of the world, while you carry on your sordid, secret affair!”“I’m warning you right now…” Ron’s words rumbled barely loud enough to be heard between Teddy’s taunts.“Did my parents know what you were before they died for you?”Harry knew it was coming, but Teddy certainly didn’t.Ron reached out – people always under estimated his reach – and grabbed a handful of Teddy’s shirt. He yanked Teddy sideways and heaved him against the wall none too gently.“Your mum and dad would be ashamed of you right now, that’s what!” Ron snapped at him.“Fuck well off, why don’t you?” Teddy shouted, trying to kick out.Ron snorted, and for all that Ron towered above him, Teddy was still struggling, puffed up and ready for a fight.“I’m not scared of you!” Teddy yelled, though the pitch of his voice suggested otherwise.“You ought to be,” Ron snarled.Teddy pushed against him, his hair turning deep shade of cherry in his anger. He stopped struggling for a moment and appeared to swell, growing taller and broader.“Nuh-uh! Nullus Abeo!” Ron snapped with a flick of his wand.Teddy gave a strangled cry as if he’d been kicked in the shin and immediately shrunk back to normal size. He looked up at Ron with round eyes.“Auror, remember?” Ron thumped himself in the chest with the fist that gripped his wand. “I know how to keep Metamorphs from out sizing me.”“Ron,” Harry pleaded, not wanting to break unity with him, but not at all comfortable with his two most treasured people at each other like this.“It’s about time, Ted,” Ron menaced, leaning his face into Teddy’s. “That you decide whether you’re a kid or a man. A kid who talks to Harry like that is going to get acquainted with the broad side of my belt. A man is going to meet the wrong end of my fist.”Harry held his breath and clenched his jaw.The threat hung heavily in the air for a moment before Teddy wilted, his face fixed in a determined pout and he dropped his eyes to the floor.Ron paused and then stood back, though Teddy remained against the wall of his own volition.“You can finish your music program and then go upstairs,” Ron instructed in an even voice. “And you’ll have to apologize to your godfather if you want to eat again.”Teddy looked up at Harry, as if expecting - hoping- that Harry would say something to contradict this order. Harry returned a resolved look, trying to use his ‘Auror face’, but it pained him to do so.He felt like he was betraying Teddy, or worse … Remus.Letting out a deflated exhale Teddy skulked into the living room and sat with a huff on the couch.“I’m going to bed,” Ron grumbled, giving Harry a beckoning look.Harry followed Ron upstairs, waiting until they were out of earshot before speaking.“Was that really necessary?” Harry hissed.“I’ve been through far too much with you, to let anyone get away with talking to you like that now, Harry.”Ron unbuttoned his jeans.“You didn’t mean that belt thing, did you?”“What? Oh, that. ‘Course not. Teddy knows that.”“How could he possibly know that, Ron? I didn’t know if you were serious!”“Come on. That was just like when kids say ‘My dad is gonna kill me’. It doesn’t mean anything.”“Well I meant it when I said it! And Teddy never had anyone to threaten to kill him.”Ron, now in his t-shirt and underwear, wasn’t going to bite into Harry’s attempts to argue about this. Instead he slid his hands around the back of Harry’s neck, looking down at him under long ginger eyelashes.“Don’t turn this into an orphan ‘thing’. There’s no comparison between his childhood and yours. Your uncle was a foul prick who mistreated you. Teddy’s a pampered brat.” And with that, he kissed Harry’s temple, mischievously knocking his glasses askew, ending any possibility of further argument.And Harry had been diffused.Ron climbed into bed and threw his t-shirt on the floor. Then he rolled onto his side curling his pillow between his shoulder and head. “Come to bed, Harry. He’ll be fine in the morning.”Harry hesitated.“Look, Teddy just needed to see that I’m not a great poofter, who lured his precious godfather into a life of buggery. This way, he can give himself permission to show me some respect.”Harry snorted. “Said the baby brother.”“That’s right,” Ron yawned. “I got put in my place more than once by my brothers, didn’t I?”“And you hated it.”Ron ignored the comment and continued. “And besides, the little bastard ruined my chances to finish what we started earlier, didn’t he?”“Yes,” Harry answered, shucking his jeans.“Figured as much,” Ron muttered.Harry climbed into bed with a lot of huffing and spooned himself against Ron’s chest, lying still for a while before speaking again. “I don’t want him to hate us, Ron.”“He won’t,” Ron said. With one last reassuring squeeze around the shoulder, Ron’s arm became heavy and he drifted asleep.Harry wasn’t so fortunate. He stayed in place until Ron’s breathing became deep and rhythmic, before inching out from under his long arm.He watched the minutes tick by, sitting against the headboard with his arms wrapped around his knees. Over an hour passed before he heard Teddy go to his room. He sat there listening to Ron snore, wondering, as always, how he could sleep after an altercation.Ron murmured in his sleep. Harry looked at him, his fringe hung in his eyes and his lips forming a slightly parted bow from his cheek being squished on the pillow.“Defender of my honor, aren’t ya, love?” Harry whispered.He and Ron had been mocked on many occasions in the past, but it had been so long since they’d experienced it within their circle of loved ones. And never in their own home.Ron hummed again, this time ever so slightly humping the mattress.Harry sniggered and stretched out to lay close, facing Ron. “I know what you need.”He slipped his hand into Ron’s underwear, careful not to catch any ginger hair in the elastic and found the warm, stiff erection he expected to find.“Something for my hero,” Harry whispered. He squeezed, adjusting his grip so that the tender skin settled comfortably under his fingers. He began to pump and Ron got harder in his hand.Harry closed his eyes, focusing on the quick short strokes that Ron liked. He knew he could toss Ron off in a less than a minute if he did it just right. He strictly wanted this for Ron alone, as he wasn’t even hard himself.He knew Ron had to be awake when his breath caught and he moaned, arching his body and then another moment later, he came. The spurts were so warm Harry barely felt the release as it made a mess over his hand.Ron groaned and then peeked his eyes open, looking a question at Harry with furrowed brows.“Looked like you needed it,” Harry said, reaching for his wand to cast a cleaning over them.Ron stretched and rubbed his face. “You w-want?” he asked through a yawn, rather unseductively placing a hand on Harry’s hip.“No. I’ll keep. You sleep.”“You sleep, too,” Ron mumbled, grabbing Harry’s hand and rolling over with it, so that Harry was forced to spoon up to Ron’s back. “No more thinking,” he grumbled again. “Sleep.”~^~Harry woke later in the morning than he had wanted, and felt an achy flood of emotions rush back to his brain. He felt slightly – and pathetically – cheerless that Ron was already gone to work and he wanted his ginger teddy back in bed with him. He flopped over onto Ron’s side and shoved his head under Ron’s pillow, burrowing under the blankets.The sun through the eastern window was already warm and it was simply too hot to remain under the blankets. His effort to absorb Ron-ness was also stymied as his full bladder and empty stomach conspired against him.He didn’t know what to expect from the day ahead. The silence in the house was foreboding, with Teddy, now an unknown variable, lurking upstairs. Harry wondered if his Boggart would now take on the image of that angry look in Teddy’s eyes.Harry found his hunger was quelled easily enough with a little porridge and juice. His heart wrestled with his head over resurfacing feelings of ‘wrongness’ that he’d long since dealt with. He varied between anger at Teddy, anger at Andromeda and mostly anger at himself for ever agreeing to Andromeda’s unmerited request.Ron had never liked the idea of being anything other than honest, but as it was a matter that concerned Teddy, he’d left the decision up to Harry.Teddy shuffled into the kitchen, and Harry could see from the boy’s body language that he was reluctant as well. He stood near the table fidgeting and Harry looked up at him, hoping he wouldn’t see hate and disgust in Teddy’s eyes.He didn’t. Instead, he looked as worse for wear as Harry felt, and must not have slept very well either.An obtrusive rumble from Teddy’s stomach broke the silence prompting him into speech.“I’m … I’m, I didn’t mean …” Teddy fumbled for words. Harry then remembered Ron’s final word the night before.“Wait. You don’t have to apologize in order to eat,” Harry said, going to the stove. “I’ll still feed you.” He quite remembered being starved for punishment and he’d never do that to another human being.Teddy slumped into a chair with a little sigh of relief. “I am though. …Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that stuff.”Putting a plate of toast and jam on the table, Harry wondered what the proper response was; ‘good’ seemed antagonistic, but ‘that’s alright’ would be letting him off easy.“Would you mind -er, lifting the spell that Ron put on me?” he asked in a small voice, patting down his slept in and still cherry colored hair.Harry bit his lip. For a moment he identified with Mrs Weasley and thought maybe he ought to make him wait until Ron got home, but he decided against that.“Finite Abeo,” Harry said.Teddy shuddered and his hair ebbed into the golden brown he had yesterday. “Thanks.”“So, what happened to the turquoise?” Harry asked, cracking eggs into a frying pan, assuming it would take more than toast to satisfy Teddy’s appetite.Teddy shrugged. “Dunno. It’s kind of flash, isn’t it?” he said while crunching toast.“Not necessarily. It’s who you are. You certainly weren’t being ‘flash’ when you were a baby.”“But that’s it though, isn’t it? I’m not a baby anymore. I have to grow up now.”“Who told you that?”Teddy didn’t answer but observing Harry’s lingering stare, he relented. “Victoire.”“Ah. Reckoned as much. Are you spending any time at Shell Cottage this summer?”“Don’t know. She hasn’t invited me. I don’t think Bill likes me, anyway. … Don’t think she likes me anymore either.”Harry knew this wasn’t true. They all loved the boy, but this fifteen year old version of Teddy wasn’t easy to talk to. “What makes you say that?”“She quit talking to me after Christmas. She told me she thought I was just “trying to get attention by being ‘colorful’ as she put it,” Teddy said, affecting the girl’s trill perfectly. “But then when I changed to brown, she still wouldn’t talk to me.”“Maybe it wasn’t really about your hair?” Harry suggested.“Maybe,” Teddy said, sounding relieved that someone was taking interest. “I didn’t do anything different. … Abigail Aubrey always said she liked my hair.”“Oh, did she? … I think I see what Victoire’s problem was then.”“Huh?” Teddy looked puzzled.Harry huffed, trying to remember being baffled by the world at that age. He wouldn’t trade his adulthood for his school years for anything. “It’s not very nice to be disliked for something you can’t help, is it, Ted?”Teddy shook his head. He drooped, looking duly shamed, and Harry hoped he understood they were talking about more than just ‘hair’.“Well, girls are weird, mate,” Harry said. “I’m afraid I never figured them out.” Teddy smirked. When Harry realized the implication of what he’d said, he sniggered as well. “Guess that much is obvious though.”“But you … you figured out Ron?” Teddy asked in a quiet voice.“Yes, I did. Ron is something I understand.”After Teddy finished eating enough breakfast for three Weasleys, Harry told him they were working in the garden. He’d been prepared for another pout, but Teddy didn’t put up any argument.It was another humid day, which had them red in the face and dripping with sweat within half an hour. Aside from de-gnoming by hand, they weren’t actually doing much physical labor. Teddy watched and learned from Harry, and soon was casting the spell to enchant the hedge trimmers, the cleaning charm to remove mold from the pavement, and banishing the leaves out of the gutter.Harry ignored the moral obligation of being an Auror, to discourage breaking the use of Underage Magic law, but he was happy to seize the opportunity to connect with his godson again.When Harry used Aquamenti to wash the mud off the siding of the shed, Teddy tried and tried with out success to do the same. He ended up drenching himself when a mushroom cloud of water exploded out of his wand.Harry nearly pissed himself laughing. For a moment, Teddy looked he might sulk about it, but his dignified shell cracked and he laughed with Harry.“I’ll have to practice that again,” Teddy warned, raising his wand and taking aim.“Oh, no,” Harry said, backing up. “ … No you don’t!”But he did.Teddy could only produce an embarrassing burst of water from his wand, but it was still enough to soak Harry to the skin.After that, it was war.“You do realize,” Harry shouted over his shoulder, Teddy in pursuit. “That I know about – argh- twenty six spells that would end you right now!”“So? I’m not even a qualified wizard yet - gotcha again - you owe me a handicap!”Just as Harry rounded the corner of the house, Ron exited the kitchen door. Harry dived behind him for defense.“Look out! Teddy’s gonna-”The blast of water meant for Harry hit Ron full in the face, before Teddy, looking mildly horrified, realized it was him.Harry strained with bouts of silent, breathless laughter behind him, while Ron blinked the water from his eyes.“Sorry! I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it was you!” Teddy spluttered, trying his level best to be sincere, but once he realized that Ron wasn’t going to kill him, he turned purple with repressed laughter.“I came home for lunch,” Ron said, wiping his face. “Thought I’d wet my whistle.”Harry let out an undignified snort as he lost himself to laughter again.Ron smiled at Harry and shook his head, appreciating the laugh but clearly thinking Harry was off his knut.“You’re enjoying your holiday, I see,” Ron said.“Very much,” Harry answered, wiping his eyes. “But look at all the work we’ve done!”“Wow,” Ron said, looking around the newly trimmed, mold and pest free yard. “Magic makes the job easier, doesn’t it?” he added with an accusing eyebrow, betrayed by a slight twitch in the corner of his mouth.Teddy none too subtly hid his wand behind his back, and Harry, not looking the least bit like an Auror who could hex your face off, blinked, trying his best to look shame-faced.Harry and Teddy exchanged looks and tried not to laugh.Ron snorted, ruffled Harry’s soggy head and went inside. “Is there food?” he asked.“I think I should change,” Teddy said, ducking passed them and running upstairs.“So you two are getting on?” Ron said, casting a drying spell on Harry.“Yeah,” Harry said, foregoing the drying spell and taking a tea towel to Ron’s face and hair.“Did he apologize to you? Is he behaving himself? Do I need to-?”“No!” Harry shushed him with a kiss. “Yes, he apologized. And he’s trying. He’s a kid, Ron. It’s takes awhile for them to absorb something new.”“Well he better ‘absorb’ quickly,” Ron said, opening the larder. Harry put his arms around Ron’s waist and hugged against his back but Ron flinched and gasped.“What’s wrong?” Harry asked.Just then, a delivery owl flew into the still open door and squawked as it landed on the table.“That’ll be Hermione’s owl,” Ron said. “I told her I’d make it home before it got here.”Harry scowled at Ron as he took the bird’s letter and sent it on its way. Ron looked sheepish, opening a cider as Harry unrolled the small parchment. Harry,I’m so sorry. Ron is fine. He’ll be home soon.Hermione “What happened?” Harry shouted. All fun from the water fight and reconciliation with Teddy was forgotten.“Somebody tried to hex her as she went into her office. She’s fine.”“Because they got you instead?”Ron shrug-nodded.“Let me see,” Harry demanded.“No, it’s –”“Show me. Now.”Ron huffed and rolled his eyes and made a dramatic show of putting his cider down, tossed his robe on a chair and began to unbutton. He turned around as he pulled his shirt off his shoulders. Harry gasped when he saw the irritated pink skin that marked a disjointed pattern like broken slate over Ron back.“Oh, Ron!”“I’m fine.”“Sit – don’t talk – sit.”Doing as he was told, Ron sat while Harry retrieved a jar of salve from the windowsill.“Parvati’s my partner while you’re gone. She knew the counter-curse. Just needs a few more hours for it to go away.”“What happened?” Teddy asked, entering the room with a weary expression.“Somebody decided to give their opinion of Hermione’s legislation today,” Ron explained.“This is not a joke,” Harry told him, rubbing a dollop of salve over Ron’s shoulder blade. He hissed and arched away from Harry’s hand. “I’m sorry,” Harry said, patting Ron’s arm with his clean hand.Ron reached up to squeeze it. “S’ok.”Harry could feel Teddy’s eyes on them, but he didn’t look up. He continued to rub the ointment over the fading hex marks while they talked.“I don’t understand. What’s Hermione to do with anything?” Teddy asked.“Well …” Ron looked up at Harry for approval before continuing. “Hermione’s proposing new werewolf rights measures in the Wizengamot next week. She’s been receiving threats, so she’s getting Auror protection until then.”Teddy looked at the marks over Ron’s back with a sort of horrified awe. “So you jumped in front of a hex for her?”Harry couldn’t resist the proud smile that crept over his face. Ron just couldn’t help doing things like that.“Yeah. It’s not something I like to do. I‘m just doing my job.” Ron shrugged. “Ouch!”“Sorry,” Harry whispered again.Teddy squinted as Harry rubbed the glistening cream along the last irritated mark of the hex. “Did it hurt?” he asked.“Didn’t tickle.” Ron tried looking over his shoulder to see the marks for himself and then gave Harry a wistful smile. “But I’ve had worse.”“That you have,” Harry said.Teddy looked at Ron for another minute. “You’ll just go back to work, now? Go on protecting Hermione, knowing it might happen again?”“Well, no. Next time I’ll try to jump out of the way.” Ron tried to joke, but Teddy didn’t seem to have any more of a sense of humor than Harry at the moment. “It’s my job. I’d do it even if it weren’t Hermione, but I believe in what she’s doing. There’s a whole new generation of lycans that were bitten during the war, and they need more legal protection.”Harry lifted Ron’s shirt back onto his shoulders. “But you’re home for the rest of the day?”“Of course.”“Why is that?” Teddy asked.“Department mandate. Any time you get injured on the job, you have to take a day off. Just in case there are some kind of horrible after effects.”“Really?”“Yes. But he’s fine,” Harry said, washing his hands at the sink.Teddy sat still and quiet, looking very thoughtful while Ron told of the apprehension of the attacker and how they’d altered Hermione’s security details.“You all right, Ted?” Harry asked. “Hungry, again, no doubt.”“Famished, yeah.” He glanced up at them, before frowning at his hands again. “Just thinking. … I’m such a tool. You must hate me.”“I don’t hate ya, kid.” Ron sipped his cider, wiping his lips while he considered the boy in front of him. “I think maybe you got the impression I didn’t care what people thought about Harry, eh? … But I’ve been looking after him for a long time. I get pretty punchy if anyone has a go at him.”Teddy nodded solemnly. “I’m … sorry. I let you down.”“Well, I know a little something about letting your friends down.” Ron looked at Harry, who shook his head. You never let me down. “Maybe now we can look after Harry together.”Harry snorted. Teddy smiled.“Grandmum was wrong about you. She shouldn’t have done that, and I’m going to tell her, too!” His cheeks tinged pink as he looked up at them.Ron nodded and chewed his lip to hide a grin. “You look a lot like your dad with your hair brown, did you know that?” he asked, changing the subject.“I’ve seen pictures. People say I’m more like my mum though.”“You wear your heart on your sleeve and say what you think,” Harry said. “In that respect, you’re like your mum. I’ll bet you’re going to be a prefect though, just like your dad … And Ron.”“That’d be cool,” Teddy said, sitting up taller. “Do you think it’d be respectable for a prefect to have colored hair?”“Don’t see why not,” Ron said, running a hand over his own brilliant ginger.Teddy shook his head and his hair erupted into a violent shade of blue-green. “That’s better,” he said with a smile.“There you go!” Ron said. “Never be afraid to be who are, Ted. Now, who’s gonna cook?”Teddy shook his head.“Me either,” Ron agreed and they both looked at Harry like hungry Quintapeds.“Why should I have to cook?” Harry asked.“I dunno. … New rule!” Ron announced. “The shortest person in the room cooks.”“No way!” Harry protested.Ron stood up, and Teddy quickly followed him, making their height over Harry obvious.“Oh fine, now they conspire against me,” Harry grumbled.~Harry felt like the Crup who ate the Chizpurfle now that his two favorite boys were getting on again.Long after eating and listening to the end of a Quidditch match, Harry followed Ron upstairs, shutting the bedroom door behind him and locking it for good measure.Harry was struggling to pull off his jeans, and since he’d tried to pull down his underwear at the same time, they’d tangled.“What?” Harry asked, looking up at Ron who had stopped talking.“Just watching the show.” Ron smirked.His jeans finally pulled free of his heel, and Harry stood and admired Ron. He was topless, still wearing tactical trousers and boots, and hair curving around his face in soft waves.Harry was equally half naked, but felt ridiculous in a baggy t-shirt with only his bits exposed below the hem.“You can’t be looking at me like that now,” Harry whined.“Yes, I can,” Ron said, advancing a step, while Harry retreated one. “I can smell you.”“Sorry, I must be rank,” Harry said, turning towards the shower.Ron took the long steps quickly and caught Harry, pressing him against the dresser. “No … I can smell you,” he said into Harry’s ear with a rumble. He dipped his head and licked at Harry’s neck. “You’re salty, I like you salty.”“I thought you liked me chocolatey,” Harry whimpered, arching his back.“I like you naked.” Ron took Harry’s shirt and pulled it off.“We can’t! Not with Teddy downstairs.”“I don’t care, he owes us. You know what it’s like after a fight. I got so hard this morning, and you weren’t there and then I came home to find you dripping wet. … fuck.”Ron kissed Harry’s shoulders, while placing his hands over Harry’s and planting them flat on the dresser in front of him. Ron opened his trousers and pushing them off while he leaned over Harry, keeping him in place.“Oh,” Harry said. “Oh,” he repeated in a moan, surprised when Ron dropped to his knees behind him.Ron wasted no time in parting his cheeks. Harry felt the tingle of magic wash over him just before Ron pressed his tongue forward. Not for the first time did Harry appreciate that Ron’s unknown talent wasn’t wasted on something like double-jointed elbows but was bestowed on his long tongue’s merciless aptitude.Harry gasped, and pushed back against the intrusive intimacy. “Oh, fuck … we can’t.”But in spite of his verbal protest, he parted his legs further, lowering onto his elbows. He tried not to be loud, but every third swipe of Ron’s tongue over his tender flesh caused him to moan out loud.When he couldn’t stand it any longer, he turned and straddled Ron’s lap, where he sat back on his heels on the floor.“Need you now,” Harry whispered. He raised his chin for Ron to kiss his neck, grinding his arse over Ron’s cock, pressing his own into Ron’s belly, trying to feel everything at once. “Now … more.”“Yes,” Ron agreed. He held himself steady with one hand while Harry raised and then lowered himself in slow, pulsing movements until he was filled.They’d been holding their breath and sighed, clinging to each other’s already damp bodies.Harry began to rock and grind.“Fuck, yes, s’perfect,” Ron groaned, his hands roving Harry’s back, hips and thighs, eventually setting on Harry’s waist to pull him harder.“Uh – more,” Harry gasped, trying to gain even more friction as he rocked and tightened his muscles.Ron slid his hands up Harry’s back and curled them over Harry’s shoulders, then pulled down while he thrust up.For all the time and tender lovemaking they’d shared the night before, now they were after something different.“More,” Harry demanded.Ron growled and the depth of the rumble told Harry he was about to get exactly what he asked for.Harry felt the strong, lean thighs underneath him flex. Ron kneeled up, still holding him, and leaned forward so that Harry landed on his back with a thump, and Ron slammed into him with an ‘umph’.“Yes!” Harry raised his legs high, wriggling and adjusting to the new position. “More.”“Merlin, man. Give me a second and I’ll give you more than you can handle,” Ron muttered.Harry almost chuckled at being called out for his own, pitiful begging, but then Ron pushed up, hooking Harry’s legs over his upper arms so that he could no longer control or resist any movement.He was panting for breath when Ron, now having Harry fully at his mercy, stared him in the eye, communicating confirmation.“More,” Ron said. The word was a warning, not a question.He pulled back and slammed into Harry, deep and hard. His body jarred, his teeth clacked as there was no soft bed underneath them to cradle their bodies. Only the hard carpeted floor that held Harry firmly in place to bear the intensity of each thrust, which he cursed and worshipped at once.His hands slipped over Ron’s sweaty back, leaving Harry nothing to hang onto as he continued to be assailed with each violent plunge into his body.Embarrassing whiny grunts were forced from his mouth. ‘Ron’ was the only English word that Harry could formulate and he called it out over and over again.“I want you to come while I fuck you,” Ron ordered, in a constricted, deep voice.The breathless, frantic pace continued while Harry was unable to do anything but absorb it. Stroking himself with a hard, determined grip, the coil of need sprung free and he came. Barely audible grunts punctuated the strands of come that covered his chest.He recovered just in time and opened his eyes to watch Ron. With his eyes squeezed shut, he licked his lips and bit his upper lip. The pace of his hips slowed. A few long, slow motions, and his body quivered. Silently and beautifully he came, his hair sticking to his wet forehead.There was nothing that didn’t ache as control of his legs was returned to him while Ron slipped free of his body and collapsed on top of him. The ache was delicious though and left a smile on his face, feeling as though he’d just perpetrated the perfect crime.“You asked for it,” Ron whimpered, sounding more kitten than lion now.“I did,” Harry admitted. “And I got so much more.” ~^~ Thank you for reading this ridiculously long story!
10896189	Cosmic Plaything	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "Gen", "Characters": "James T. Kirk, Spock (Star Trek), Nyota Uhura, Pavel Chekov, Hikaru Sulu", "Fandom": "Star Trek: The Original Series", "Language": "English", "Rating": "General Audiences", "author": "by snowynight", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-13T00:00:00", "words": "572", "Additional Tags": "Humor, Alien Culture, Action/Adventure, Bets & Wagers", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": "fan_flashworks, Gen Prompt Bingo Round 12", "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	“Aw!” Sulu groaned, shaking off an alien at his arm. “Get off me!”Pulsating headache hit Jim as these uninvited guests caused havoc on the bridge. Not again, he thought. Trelane, Charles... Why do so many aliens want to mess with the Enterprise?"You have intruded the Starfleet Enterprise. State your intention," Jim said, staring at the one ahead.The alien stomped its feet and ignored Jim’s question.Today had started so well, Jim sighed inside. It was peaceful and calm, until the alien appeared on the bridge from nowhere and multiplied in number. One of them blocked his way, its small and pointy eyes focused entirely on him, but the other stout aliens ignored him and continued to wave their six long waxy arms. More and more aliens roamed the bridge. One pounced on Chekov to catch him with its arms, causing him to scream and jump. Another rushed to the science station, only to be subdued by Spock’s neck pinch. Several of them crowded around Jim’s chair, stomping the ground with their feet.Meanwhile, the bridge floor vibrated, as if experiencing a minor earthquake.Have they damaged the ship? "Red alert. Security to the bridge," Jim ordered, pushing the aliens away when they grabbed his legs. “Mr. Spock, status."Spock flung an alien to his side as he reported with a slight frown. “No detected damage. I am analyzing the unusual energy signature the aliens emit, but I have not been able to cross-referencing with our ship's database,"Is the vibration the alien's way of talking? “The ship’s vibrating. Have you found the cause?”Uhura looked up from her panel. “Captain, I find that the aliens are transmitting seismic signals. I’m calibrating the universal communicator to translate them.”"Keep me informed of your progress,” Jim said, suppressing a curse as an alien using his distraction to claw his leg. “Find out how they get here and why.”“Yes, Captain.”The aliens tore Jim’s shirt halfway when Uhura rigged up a device to convert audio signal to seismic signal. It took some trial and error, but finally the aliens agreed to leave when Jim returned them to their home planet. He sighed in relief when the last alien was transmitted off the ship.“Continue our course, Warp four, Mr. Sulu,” Jim said, calling up his replacement so that he could change his uniform. It was the fifth time in a month his uniform was irreversibly damaged.Sighing, Jim went to the gym afterwards to burn off some of his remaining frustration. With luck, he could have peace until his next shift.“I won the bet. They got rid of your toy in 3.567 quantum as predicted.” Chadav astrally projected her sense of triumph, which exploded into colourful lightning and distorted the surrounding space. “Pay up.”Chechook’s frustration fumed, throwing the tenth sub-dimension they betted on at Chadav, who devoured it and shivered at the feel of the energy within.“Another bet?” Chadav asked.Chechook phased out of their shared space without a word, but Chadav knew she would return for another bet. She could never stayed away for long.Thanks the universe for bring this tiny ship the bipedal beings called the Enterprise for their amusement. The ship would disappear soon, like other things in the universe, but Chadav knew that it didn’t matter, because as long as Chechook was around to make a bet with, life would be tolerable.
10876539	the Main Point of this	{ "Archive Warning": "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings", "Category": null, "Characters": "Shiota Nagisa, Fujioka Haruhi, Suoh Tamaki, Hitachiin Kaoru, Hitachiin Hikaru, Haninozuka Mitsukuni", "Fandom": null, "Language": "English", "Rating": "Teen And Up Audiences", "author": "by castingpearls", "chapters": "4/?", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-11T00:00:00", "words": "1,437", "Additional Tags": "Mash Up, clubs, High School, host club, Kiss Kiss Fall in Love", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": "Ouran High School Host Club - All Media Types, Assassination Classroom", "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	Nagisa made his way past the school gates. Nervous for his first day of school. He got accepted into the school later then the rest of the students. Due to a mishap with papers. He hoped he could get along with the rest of the students fine or they didn't make fun of him due to his appearance.The sun seemed sunnier today. not a cloud in the sky. Which Nagisa took as a sign of it probably going to be a good day.He made it his class on time... despite getting lost more then a few times."hello, I am Nagisa Shiota," He said, Introducing himself to the class. Before his teacher directed him to a seat. he felt the eyes of a few students giving him funny looks. He ignored it and pressed on with class. Till it was lunch... He ate by himself in the classroom as the rest of his piers went to the cafeteria.He missed his old school... To more exact he didn't miss his old school at all. He missed his Class. Class 3-E...The building, his friends... His teacher. He gave himself a mental slap. He was going to have a fun first day of school! and that was final!The rest of the day went by in a blur of school work...Soon the school bell rang. Nagisa let out a sigh. He made his way out of the classroom with the rest of his piers. A feeling of dread overcame him. He had the sense that something bad was going to happen.and just as he had shook that feeling off. A pair of twins hooked his arms and dragged him away. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Nagisa looked puzzled at the two twins that had started to drag him off. they were in his class? weren't they?"I'm Hikaru," one of them said."and I'm Kaoru," The other one said."and your knew here so we're showing you around!" They both said at the same time with a grin that made them seem like devils."ah....?" Nagisa said.They defiantly weren't really showing him around. cause they passed by the usual spots you would show to new students.Finally they stopped at what seemed to be a music room?"um... why here?" Nagisa asked as the two opened the doors.A gust of breeze flew some flower petals out and a bright light shown from inside."welcome to the host club~" a sing song voice rang from inside.Once Nagisa's eyes got adjusted he saw what lay await inside. Five boys dramatically posed."it's us boss" the twins said. "and we brought the new girl!"New girl? Nagisa thought confusedly until he realized they were talking about him. He knew he should have worn something more manly sense he didn't have the school uniform."oh bring her over!" the one who welcomed them in said. The twins shoved Nagisa over to him. "I am Tamaki Souh." He said introducing himself. "come take a seat with me.""um no!" Nagisa said finally getting a chance to speak. He didn't even bother trying to tell him he was a dude as he tried to make a break for it. Of Course the twins blocked his path and soon he was dragged back.The Tamaki dude seemed to have melted at the rejection Nagisa gave him. He would have felt bad....But right now he had no Idea what was going on and was also irritated at being called a girl."looks like boss can't get tomboys to like him! we win the bet~" the twins sang as they danced around their fallen boss."wha....?" Nagisa said confused.A boy also in his class came up to him. He had brown hair and brown eyes and a gentle smile."sorry about them, they had a stupid bet. I am Haruhi by the way." He said to Nagisa. Nagisa could hear bickering of the three in the background."Um I am Nagisa...and could you tell them I am actaully a boy?" Nagisa said. Then the room went silent. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Nagisa sighed."yeah that's right I am actaully a boy," He said.The blond Tamaki burst out laughing."I didn't lose the bet!" Tamaki said confidently."um...boss is that all your concerned about?" the twins asked of him. "the chick is a dude or so he says?"Tamaki paused mid laughter and gave a weird look at Nagisa."a...boy?" Tamaki said finally catching on."well sense I am not really needed anymore for this bet thing...um I am going to leave..." Nagisa said.He just wanted to get out of this weird situation. But of course fate denied what he wanted and Renge the host clubs manager arose from the floor boards."wait!" she called to the heavens it seemed. "thou shall stay new comer!"She laughed evilly as Nagisa stood half way out the door."you know what this club needs! a trap! they have been risen to popularity recently and who doesn't dig a guy who looks like a girl!" She said like she was advertising for a commercial.Nagisa looked very down with everything right."sorry... But I have to delcine this offer..." Nagisa said."no one gave you a choice! your joining or we are going to make sure everyone is going to think your a girl!!" She proclaimed again."What no!" Nagisa said."yes," Tamaki chimed in.then another host with glasses closed the book he was reading."Nagisa. If you don't join the host club I would be please to share to everyone everything I know about you and help spread the rumors of you being a girl," The host with the glasses said very intimidating. "and trust me I know a lot about you."Nagisa gulped. He could tell he didn't want to get this guy on his bad side. ."fine...I'll stay..." He said quietly."Yay! thank you mommy for the help!" Tamaki said as he hugged him."well lets all introduce ourselves! you already know the twins, haruhi, and myself~" Tamaki said. "over there is Kyoya, Mori Senpai and Honey Senpai,"The host with the glasses nodded and went back to his book. the Mori host grunted. Which Nagisa didn't know if it meant if it was a good thing or not."nice to meet you Nagisa!" Honey Senpai said. "want some cake?""um no thank... Nice to meet you as well." Nagisa said. Oh great, now he stuck with a bunch of weirdos for the rest of his high school lifetime. Well at least it's tad bit more normal then being in a classroom for assassination."Well then, let me teach you how to be a host!" Tamaki said with a flourish. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Nagisa gulped as Tamaki the leader of the host club led him around the club room. He soon showed him how to be a proper host. It wasn't long before he figured being a host was much like being an assassin. You have to key into the guest behaviors and manorisms. So you can act the way that would please them. Although instead of killing them in the end. You make sure they leave with a smile. "Okay~ my new son~ your turn to try being a host!" Tamaki said. There was many things Nagisa didn't understand and one of them was the whole 'daddy mommy family thing' that was going on. He served two girls who were gigglly and full of energy and hype. Soon it was over and Nagisa was absolutely exsauted. Being poked fun of and being called a girl by almost everyone gets to you. Although the pair did leave quite happy. "good job Nagisa! Don't worry you will get used to it adventally. Trust me." Said Haruhi. "Um, thanks. Did you want to do this or...?" Nagisa said out of curiosty. "well not at first. But I love it here actaul. Just don't tell anyone I said that," Haruhi said. Nagisa frowned. So the black mailed or by some other means forced someone else to be a part of the club. Odd Indeed. Haruhi was dragged off somewhere by the twins and Nagisa out of habit pulled out a notebook and wrote all that he learned today down in it. Mentioning what Haruhi said as well. Knowing there wasn't actaul to assassinate here or anything. But he had a feeling he would need this infomation in the future. The club came to a close and they were dismised. He walked back home. Pondering all that had occured that day. Or if it actaul did happen.
10899474	Crown of Reeds	{ "Archive Warning": "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings", "Category": "M/M", "Characters": "Twelve (Character), Nine (Zankyou no Terror)", "Fandom": "残響のテロル \| Zankyou no Terror \| Terror in Resonance", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Not Rated", "author": "by doublejoint", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-14T00:00:00", "words": "1,020", "Additional Tags": null, "Relationship": "Nine/Twelve (Zankyou no Terror)", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	Tokyo is beautiful. There’s no other word for it, even though this one is overused and obsolete to the point where it doesn’t convey what Twelve wants it to the way he wants it to, but he’s going to stick by it. It’s the bumpy skyline, the rise of modern buildings surrounded by older remnants of a time before Twelve existed, streets crossing and rising with the hills, elevated railways, manmade riverbanks leading up to the roads with approximately-perfect grass-lined slopes, weeds growing through the cracks of their concrete edges, the rustle of the reeds at the edge of the water sounding a harmonious shade of green.It’s like something straight out of the shitty manga he used to read while Nine was at work and he was bored back in Aomori, where a wide-eyed heroine would shout at her crush to turn around, or a brooding young man would mourn the death of a mentor or a friend, or some character would stare into the sunset and swear because he’d thought his dreams were lost. So much of those plots depend on people giving up too easily, grasping weakly at a singular focus, but that’s a luxury Twelve can’t look down on. It’s odd to think that these people are supposed to be his and Nine’s age; it makes him clench his jaw when he thinks that this—standing on a riverbank, watching the rustling trees, is something they should have had all along.(But still, if none of this had happened, would they have ever met? Would they pass each other as strangers on a train? Would they attend the same class at the same university and almost make contact when one of them dropped a pencil? As appealing as a world like that is on most levels, Twelve’s not sure he would take it if it meant never having Nine, or if it meant someone else would have taken their places here.)The real reason they’d stopped is to patch the tire on Twelve’s motorcycle; he’s almost done but it can’t hurt to wait a little longer. Everything’s set up for school next week (and how bizarre is that going to be?) and they’ve checked all the warehouses, all the safehouses and backup storage facilities already. For once, for one small segment of their lives, they have time. It’s an illusion; they don’t have time, really—but it feels like it, and Twelve feels rich wasting it like that, crumbling a bar of gold in his hands.Twelve pauses to take a look at Nine. He’s leaning back on his hands, looking up at the sky. There’s probably a glare off his glasses, or maybe his eyes are closed; he looks like an idyllic teenager and for a second Twelve lets himself imagine that’s what they are, just two kids goofing off after school, concerned with petty things like grades and minor tiffs over misunderstandings. Maybe Nine’s his crush and Twelve had made him a bento for lunch and Nine had told him it was good, smile playing on his lips as he’d eaten (and Twelve had leaned over to eat a clump of rice off his chopsticks and Nine had rolled his eyes). Or maybe Twelve’s the bad boy with his motorcycle, whisking off the unsuspecting music nerd that Nine would no doubt be.Maybe they’d be on the student council, skiving off their studies to mess around in the club room until Nine had forced him to be serious. Maybe they’d be popular; maybe they’d just be background characters in someone else’s developing drama. They’ll find out in a few days, but not really; they won’t be there; they won’t have time to integrate fully, just to look at it from a closer vantage point. It’ll probably hurt more that way, but Twelve’s long since had his heart scraped clean from the inside out.Twelve finishes patching the tire, spinning it on the axel. He drags the bike further down the bank and then walks over to where Nine is and plops down next to him.“Hey.”“Hey,” says Nine (his voice is a softer, cooler color than usual and Twelve wants to lock it up and keep it forever). “You ready?”“Let’s wait a while,” says Twelve, bumping his shoulder against Nine’s.Nine exhales softly and closes his eyes again.“Napping on the job?”He snorts, but doesn’t open his eyes. Twelve stands up and stretches; the reeds rustle at the riverbank again. Nine’s eyes are still closed. He’d look cute with a crown of them, like a shoujo heroine on a color page, standing in the foreground with his face to the sun.The problem is that Twelve has no idea how to make a crown of reeds; he pulls a few up and begins to twist them together but they don’t work like string or wire and they don’t come with an instruction manual. Is there a way to tie them? To braid them? He frowns. Soft footsteps sound behind him; it’s probably Nine.It is; he crouches beside Twelve and looks from the reeds to himself.“What are you trying to do?”“Make you a crown of reeds.”“What am I the king of?”“I don’t know. You decide,” says Twelve.“Does that make you my loyal subject?” says Nine.The teasing lilt in his voice is too much, the desire too thick at the end, like he can’t contain it. Twelve drops the reeds when Nine kisses him, rather what he supposes a normal fictional high-schooler would do in this situation. But he doesn’t scream or fall to the ground or ask Nine what this means; he knows already. There’s too little time to waste on teasing the same things out of each other again and again; there’s too little time to dance around it. There’s only what little remains of now to enjoy it as they can, to stop thinking about the world and the project and their plans and think of this, of the two of them, as only each other, two boys on a riverbank in Tokyo.
10880142	A Space Mothers Work is	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "Gen", "Characters": "Coran (Voltron), Lance (Voltron), Hunk (Voltron), Pidge (Voltron), Allura (Voltron), Keith (Voltron), Shiro (Voltron)", "Fandom": "Voltron: Legendary Defender", "Language": "English", "Rating": "General Audiences", "author": "by BajillionKittens", "chapters": "7/7", "completed": "2017-08-04", "published": "2017-05-12T00:00:00", "words": "8,040", "Additional Tags": "Coran (Voltron)-centric", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	All the other paladins had a "thing." Both on and off the battlefield. Or so Coran had been told quintant after quintant. While Coran was well aware of all his paladins' various talents and hobbies, it seemed that not all his paladins—one very verbal, very self-conscious paladin in particular—were aware of the same.When the rare opportunity for free time presented itself, Coran watched as one by one his paladins sought out their "thing." Hunk made his way to the food preparation area to do more of his "stress baking"—whatever that was, Coran enjoyed the end results. Pidge wandered off to the latest of her workshops—she was up to eleven of them by now—for a programming and tinkering session. Keith, just as predictable as the others if not more so, headed for the training deck where Coran would find him hours later looking thoroughly exhausted but for some reason quite happy about it—paladins were so strange sometimes. Shiro disappeared into the quiet and solitude of the Black Lion's hangar—unbeknownst to his fellow paladins—emerging only when called to action once more. Even Allura had her own activities she pursued in private, away from the rest of the castle crew. This would of course leave Lance, his beloved blue paladin, to look about, shifting his weight from foot to foot, in search of guidance—in search of his "thing.""You know," Coran began, breaking the silence of the recently emptied common area as he again bore witness to Lance's dilemma, "according to my calculations, today is bathroom day on the castle cleaning rotation. We've two hundred and forty seven of them on board, all in need of a thorough scrubbing." Lance stared at him, blue eyes an odd mix of both glee and dread. "If you're not otherwise occupied…" Coran offered.With a long, overwrought, much put-upon, very dramatic sigh that Coran had heard multiple times before, Lance turned toward him with his hands thrust deep into his pockets and head flung back. A small grin tugged are Coran's face, partially camouflaged under his mustache, while he watched Lance nearly drag himself down the hall to the supply chamber. "Why do I always get stuck with cleaning duty…" Lance muttered. Always stuck with cleaning duty, indeed. Rather than simply following along after him, Lance knew the routine so well by now that he was taking the lead. Within ten tics, they had grabbed their supplies, laid out their plan of attack, and conquered the first bathroom on their current level. Coran liked to think they made a good team—like a pair of Yelmors with their ears interlocked. He also liked to tell himself that the constant physical activity paired with his stories of days long ago would help distract Lance from his recent obsessive line of thinking, but in this regard, quintant after quintant, Coran was proven wrong. They had only made it to bathroom number five before Lance's thoughts began to again lead him down a familiar path. "But like, Keith's always training. And I guess I could stand to spend some more time with my bayard, but it's just not something I think about doing—not until he's doing it, at least." The final task on any cleaning detail was the floor. By now, it was Lance's specialty, his finishing touch. Lance's grip on the Altean equivalent of a sponge mop was white knuckled, his motions quick, forceful, and erratic. "I guess it's not really my 'thing' if I have to be reminded to do it, right? But who'd want to have the same 'thing' as that mullet-head anyway—""Lance," Coran interrupted, "do you believe I enjoy scrubbing the cryopods?"It was as though Lance's brain had encountered an error and needed to reboot itself. He paused in his scrubbing mid-stroke, his face going blank. After a tic, he blinked himself back to thought, tilting his head in consideration, brows turning up as his mouth turned down. When Lance looked back up at Coran, it was with a strained, hopeful smile. "Yyyeee…?" The word simply wouldn't form in his mouth."Of course I don't," Coran said. He collected the last of their supplies, casually tossing them into their container, ready to move on to their next task. "Do you enjoy scrubbing the cryopods?""Well… no." Lance added quietly, "Especially not since that one tried to eat me.""Precisely!"Drumming his fingers on the mop handle, Lance eyed his gleaming floor. "I guess toilets are better…""Yes—what? No." Coran shook his head. "No, no, no. I perform my cleaning duties because they need to be done. You assist me in my cleaning duties because that is your 'thing,' as you call it."One of Lance's thin eyebrows hitched. "My 'thing' is cleaning?" he deadpanned."Your 'thing' is being around others," Coran explained. "Sharing your time with them. You have activities you prefer, yes, but the enjoyment you get from them is nothing compared to the enjoyment you get from being in the company of those you care about. Admit it, paladin, you enjoy my company so much you're willing to scrub cryopods with me." Realization grew across Lance's face, parting his lips and widening his eyes. He straightened his posture and loosened his grip on the space-mop. He looked more at ease—more like himself."Between you and me," Coran continued, "the others might also enjoy your company from time to time if you wished to join them. Even 'that mullet-head' might appreciate having a live body to trade blows with once in a while."With realization also came a certain amount of fear and therefore hesitation. Lance's weight shifted from one foot to the other. He wrung his hands lightly against the smooth handle in his grip. "I don't want to butt in though…"Coran wasn't sure what Lance's butt had to do with any of this or what he intended to put it in—paladins were so strange sometimes—but he could see the very beginnings of understanding and acceptance start to blossom in his paladin and he would not lose them to doubt. "It wouldn't hurt to ask," Coran offered warmly, putting a gloved hand on Lance's shoulder to give it firm squeeze. "And no matter what happens, you are always welcome on my cleaning crew."Lance smiled at him, half from amusement and half from appreciation. "Thanks, Coran." Coran gave his shoulder a firm pat. "For right now, though, two hundred forty two to go?""Bring 'em on!" Lance crowed, hefting his mop against his shoulder to lead the way down the corridor to bathroom number six. A few tics later, he asked quietly, "Do you think Hunk could use a taste-tester?" ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- "It's nothing!"If there were a particle barrier marking the transition point from castle corridor to food preparation area, the first few hairs of Coran's mustache would have just made contact with it. With his attention focused on the data pad in his hands, Coran hadn't even gotten a true visual on the room yet. When he did make a quick glance around, he didn't identify anything immediately wrong—no fires, no smoke, no run away "food goo" dispensers... He hadn't heard any strange sounds as he'd made his way down the corridor, at least none that he could remember. And while there were some unfamiliar smells lingering in the air, they weren't unpleasant smells. Indeed, they smelled quite delectable. In short, Coran had no idea what Hunk was talking about. But given the amount of panic packed into his few syllables, Coran suspected it most definitely was not "nothing." He narrowed his eyes as he made a show of taking one long stride to bring himself completely into the room. Hunk took a small step backward at the motion. He stood by the heating unit, back to the wall, both hands drawn close to his chest, one wrapping the other tightly in fabric. There was an unusual amount of white showing in his eyes, Coran noted as Hunk met his gaze. His wide smile looked stretched and forced. Coran wasn't sure whether they knew it or not, but not one of his paladins was a not good liar. "Just a momentary lapse in proper knife etiquette is all. I know better. I really do. It won't happen again!"Ah. So knives were involved. The clues were beginning to come together, and Coran's suspicion that it was not "nothing" seemed to be confirmed. Coran ventured another step forward, sending Hunk one small step backward in turn. "It was—it was just a little accident. No big deal. I can handle it. No problem.""Hunk…" Another step, another step.Hunk could no longer look Coran in the eye, sending his gaze toward the ceiling. Coran thought he could see a light sheen of sweat on his face. "I mean, it's not like there was a lot of blood or anything." Taking one final step forward, Coran tucked his data pad under one arm and slowly extended his hand. "May I have a look?"Hunk was backed into a corner now, his eyes gone impossibly wide, his strained expression threatening to break. He clenched the fabric in his grip, holding his injured hand tighter to his chest. Behind the tension though, Coran could see the tiny gears turning in his little brain cage. Slowly, hesitantly, Hunk stretched his hands out, offering himself up for inspection. He turned his head to the side, closing his eyes as a grimace began to contort his features. Coran questioned that gesture at first, but then memory caught up with him and a smile quirked under his mustache. Oh his yellow paladin and his sensitive stomach.As gently as he could manage, Coran slowly peeled back the crimson-stained layers of the light cloth Hunk had wrapped himself in, earning him a small whine. The cut was shallow but long, slicing across the whole of Hunk's right thumb tip. A thin line of red pooled in the cut, content to stay within its confines."I wasn't paying attention," Hunk said quietly, his head still turned to the side, eyes still squeezed shut.. "I know I messed up. I'm so sorry, Coran, really. I promise I'll be more careful." His tone was nearly sorrowful, like he might succumb to tears at any moment"No reason to apologize, Hunk." Coran gently turned Hunk's hand from side to side in his grip to get a better look, not getting too close or prodding too much until he had a med kit available. "A little bandage and you should be good as new. In fact, I believe we may have what we need to patch you up right here."Hunk turned his head toward him, brows lifting over closed eyes until they touched his bandana. "I can finish dinner. Really, it's no big deal. If we have a glove or something I can wear over it, it'll be fine.""Nonsense. I can finish for you," Coran offered. Hunk opened his eyes at that. He looked pained—physically, mentally, emotionally pained. Coran tried not to take it personally, but felt his expression twitch with agitation all the same. He cleared his throat. "You can walk me through it. Even a universally renowned chef such as myself can still learn a thing or two. In fact, I'm quite intrigued by some of your Earth techniques.""You're sure?""I think I can manage to save your dish so long as you are there to assist. Let me be your hands—or your thumb, as it were. A little hard to work your utensils when your thumb looks like this." Coran lifted Hunk's hand for emphasis.Hunk looked. His face paled. His expression soured. He made a little "ulp" sound."Oh dear," Coran said. "Deep breaths, paladin. Deep breaths!" ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Over the years—as few as there were, after all he was still young, or at least young-ish—Coran had become very familiar with the myriad sounds an armor refresher could make. The clangs and whirs, clicks and thuds he heard echoing down the lower corridors of the ship from the refresher room were not unknown to him. In fact they were quite normal. It was the rounds of aggravated huffs and sighs, near growls, and chants of "stupid, stupid, stupid" he questioned. He wasn't aware the refresher had learned to speak. It must have been one of the upgrades his green paladin had been threatening.Or his green paladin herself, it would seem. As Coran rounded the doorway into the refresher room, he spied Pidge ripping out excess wires extending from the armor refresher's control panel. She tossed them to the floor, a few of them bouncing off of her precious "lap-top", then slammed her empty hands against the unit—once, twice, three times more—which continued on with its work unabated. She leaned in closer, body tense but beginning to sag. Her hair pressed against the white metal as she rested her head against the hulking machine. At times like this, Coran was reminded of his youngest paladin's true size. He thought he could see her shaking. "Is there a problem, number five?"She whipped her head around to him. Heavy tears clung to fierce eyes behind her frames. "I can't do it!" she exclaimed. "I can't do anything! I can't reprogram this stupid machine! I can't find my family! I'm useless!"For a moment, Coran was taken aback, both by the sentiment and the intensity. His eyebrows brushed his hairline, his mouth shrunk to near nothingness. It was a bit of a jump in logic, but Coran thought he could see the trajectory of her line of thinking—unfounded as it was—and he intended to alter that trajectory. His expression softened. "Useless indeed," he agreed blandly, words slow and deliberate. Pidge's mouth parted in shock. The tears brimming her eyes threatened to tumble down. "So useless that you managed to commandeer the technological systems of a culture you never knew existed, reprogramming a device in a matter of tics to work for you rather than against you, thereby avoiding certain doom."Pidge's brows knit in confusion. "Well, yeah, but Rover was—""So useless," Coran continued, dialing up his intensity, "that you nearly single-handedly defeated a Galra commander and his subordinates, kept the castle and the lions from being turned over to Zarkon, and kept two of your teammates from becoming his slaves!""Coran—""So useless—" He was nearly screaming at this point "—that you built a communications rig from cast off scrap in order to amplify your lion's signal which not only allowed us to find you but in the process saved both Allura and myself from an unknown fate caught in a time loop and in the end saved your entire team!""I get it!" Pidge shouted. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, visibly relaxing herself as she did so. "I get it, Coran. I get it… But sometimes…" She eyed her laptop uncertainly. "Sometimes I get so frustrated. Every time I get close to the Galra systems, I download as many prisoner files as I can, but it's never enough. Deciphering code, reprogramming systems, finding information—that's what I'm good at. That's what should be helping me find dad and Matt. But no matter how hard I try, it's never enough. And if I can't even do something simple like this, what chance do I really have of finding them?" She picked up the device, brushing off a lose wire. "There are times it feels like I'm no closer to finding them now than I was back on Earth. It's been over a year since they disappeared. That's a long time to not know. To keep looking… without finding anything." The tears welling on Pidge's lashes rolled down her cheeks, one after the other. She wiped at them with a sleeve, her other hand clutching his laptop tightly to her chest. When she spoke again, it was quieter but higher pitched, strained. "Maybe I haven't found them yet because they're not there anymore to be found. What if I'm just chasing after ghosts at this point? What if I never find them…""Don't give up hope," Coran said. "You paladins come from a surprisingly adaptable species from what I've seen. And I have no doubt that your father and brother are just as clever and just as determined to survive as you." He rested a hand lightly on her shoulder, giving her as warm and reassuring a smile as he could muster when she looked up at him. "The day you stop looking is the day you'll have truly lost them. Don't let one small failure cause you to give up on your goals. One battle doesn't determine a war. Besides, these refresher units are notoriously difficult to work with. It took me over five hundred years to figure out where to put the soap."Pidge sniffled around a subtle curling of her lips, wiped at her eyes, and wordlessly pressed herself against him. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Staying out of Zarkon's reach was proving to be exhausting. Wormhole after wormhole after wormhole, battle after battle, being on constant alert—it was beginning to wear on all of them. With no relief in sight until they could figure out how exactly they were being tracked, Coran and Shiro had turned their thoughts to ways they might lessen the impact of their current situation. Was there any possible way they could stay one step ahead? Any way they could plan their next move, not knowing when they'd need to make it?Shiro had been the one to suggest the list. "If we have a list of places already in mind—places that are remote, uninhabited, scattered across the universe—then when Zarkon does attack, we can already have a destination selected. If he catches up to us there, then it's on to the next. It'll at least save us the time of figuring out where we're wormholing to. We can answer distress signals along the way, but at the first sign of Zarkon, we're on to our next destination. We can't help anyone if he takes us out now."It wasn't a perfect plan, but it was the only one they'd come up with so far. Coran was willing to give it a shot. When none of the other paladins objected, all eyes turned to Allura for final approval. "I can begin identifying possible destinations for us," she said by way of agreement. "I'm the one responsible for generating the wormholes, I should know where they're leading us."Shiro stepped toward her. "Let me help you, princess. With two of us working on it, we should be able to identify—" Allura raised her hand, cutting him off mid-sentence and casting him a bittersweet smile. "While I appreciate your offer, perhaps it would be best if there was at least one activity from which you could 'step away.'"Coran watched as his other paladins traded questioning, uneasy glances behind Shiro's back. For a long moment, hesitation contorted Shiro's brow and clenched his teeth. Finally, his expression softened by degrees once more. "Okay," he relented, no small amount of resignation coloring his tone. "Let us know if you need anything."Thus, whenever they found themselves not in the thrall of battle, while the paladins sought out their "thing," Allura busied herself with maps. Alone but for her mice. Seeking out their next port of refuge. The weight of their survival hanging heavy on her shoulders. Coran made sure to check in from time to time, bring snacks, suggestions, or sometimes simply a distraction—just in case. He was especially mindful that his dear princess take adequate time to see to her own needs. They all needed their rest when they could find it.It was nearing the beginning of the castle's unofficial sleep cycle when Coran decided it was time to start ushering Allura off to bed—if he didn't start now, his blue paladin would have rolled out of bed the next morning by the time Coran finally convinced her to rest. The bridge was quiet, illuminated by both the passing stars shining in on the screens and the unmoving simulated celestial bodies suspended in the air. Allura sat at the foot of her controls, her knees drawn to her chest with her chin resting on them lightly, her hair nearly glowing in the cool light. When last he'd left her, Allura had been flowing through their charts, swiping past inhabited worlds, pausing to note possible destinations, then pulling and stretching the universe past her fingertips as she continued searching. Now, she was still. At first Coran thought his work may have already been done for him: perhaps Allura had already fallen asleep or was beginning to nod off, and he could get her to bed with little prodding. If he was particularly stealthy, he might even be able to carry her to bed as he had when she was younger. He hadn't been able to do that since she'd hit that rebellious stage, and not that he would ever admit it out loud, but he did secretly miss those little moment between them.Coran drew closer on soft, silent steps only to find her still awake, staring fixedly at a point on the map with tired eyes, her mice at her feet. She cast him a quick glance before returning to her spot. Coran followed her gaze. It took a moment for the stars and planets to align in his mind, to realize that what Allura was staring at couldn't actually be seen. That was when it felt like the gravity generator had suddenly malfunctioned, leaving him with no frim surface supporting his weight. It was no longer there. By their memories, it had only been a handful of movements since the small solar system that had once inhabited that little corner of the universe had been teeming with life, but in the true order of time, it had been thousands of years. What was once the bright center of their lives was now an achingly dim emptiness."Everyone we knew," Allura began, breaking the careful silence with quiet, fragile words, "our friends, our loved ones—they're gone. All of Altea is simply… gone." The blankness on the map seemed to grow, devouring the space around it as Allura gave words to their reality. Coran rested a hand on the controls for balance. "As much as I want to grieve," she continued after a moment's silence, "I cannot bring myself to do it. No matter how I try, the tears simply won't come. There are times I feel more upset by my lack of grief than by the death of our people." Allura turned her head, the movement breaking Coran from his reverie and solidifying the ground beneath him once more. She looked to him, face weary and worried. "Is there something wrong with me?""No, princess," Coran assured her solemnly. He steeled his features, hoping she could not see how his heart broke for the two of them.Allura studied his expression for a moment before averting her eyes to the floor. "I understand that I've been preoccupied with the paladins and Zarkon, but I still feel I've let Altea down somehow. I feel as though I've not done enough to mourn our loss—as though I've not paid my respects properly.""There's no correct way to grieve," Coran said, for her as much as for himself. He took a step forward to plant a firm hand on her thin shoulder. "Nor any timeline for when to do it."Allura attempted a wan smile, but the moment it faltered, she turned her face to bury it against her drawn knees. Her shoulders trembled under his grip. Maybe, Coran thought—no, hoped—she was finally able to cry, to do what she felt she must. "I do miss them," she said, voice muffled but dry."I know you do." Coran knelt beside her, turning his hand from her shoulder to her back, rubbing small circles and feeling her shake beneath him. She sagged under his touch but continued to tremble. He took the moment as an opportunity to close out the maps for the night. They'd both seen enough of them for the evening. "Would you sit with me?" Allura asked hesitantly, voice small and shaking, face hidden in her knees. "For a little while?"Though he knew Allura couldn't see it, Coran still smiled down at her. "Of course."Not two tics after he had seated himself beside her, Coran could feel Allura's full weight begin to press against him. There was a welcome sense of nostalgia in the contact. And maybe for a moment, Altea existed once more.Perhaps he would carry her to bed tonight after all. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- "Shiro, is Keith around? I've been looking for him." Until this morning, Coran had always considered his red paladin the most predictable. If Keith was not with his lion, he could be found in one of four other locations: the bridge, the training deck, his quarters, or somewhere in the vicinity of his black paladin. Shortly after the morning meal, Coran had sought him out. Not having found Keith on the bridge, and discovering the training deck and his red paladin's quarters were similarly vacant, Coran was admittedly surprised to not find Keith following along after Shiro like his little red shadow. "I haven't seen him since breakfast," Shiro said with the usual flicker of worry he held when discussing his red paladin. His grip on the datapad he'd retrieved from the records room tightened. "Do you need me to help find him?""No, no." Coran waved him off before tugging on his mustache in thought. Very curious. On the one hand, this all but confirmed Coran's suspicions about what may have happened to Keith, but on the other hand, it also introduced a new unknown to the equation. If Coran was correct, why hadn't his red paladin enlist Shiro's aid in the matter? Was Keith embarrassed? Had he not had the opportunity to seek him out? Was he dead? "No, I'm sure he'll survive," Coran said off-handedly.This of course earned him a blank stare from Shiro. "… Coran?""It's nothing. Nothing to worry about," Coran called as he again waved Shiro off and began to make his way down the corridor from whence he'd come. "I'll find him!" He could feel Shiro's worried stare follow after him until he was well out of sight. Given Coran's suspicions, there were now 247 locations wherein to find his red paladin, although something told him he would not need to look far. Keith was a creature of habit—predictable. The various paths from the dining hall to the bridge to the training room to the paladin's quarters to Shiro's current position in the records room passed by only 37 of those locations—37 bathrooms wherein Coran might find his hiding paladin.Coran found Keith—or rather heard Keith—in bathroom number 176 on his and Lance's regular cleaning rotation, midway between the dining hall and the training room. If Keith was indeed attempting to hide, he was doing a rather poor job of it. Coran could hear him half way down the corridor, and the sound was not pleasant. Somewhere between a gag and a sob, a retch and cough fell the pained sounds coming from the other side of the door panel. Coran's suspicions were well and truly confirmed, and in this instance, he hated being right. Coran steadied his own stomach, then knocked lightly. "Are you in need of assistance, paladin?"A long series of rough, wet, dragging breaths echoed down the corridor before Keith choked out, "No." None of his paladins were good liars. "I can—" The words were cut off by another round of violent heaves, punctuated by pained moans.Coran waited for the noise to taper off to deep breaths once more, giving Keith the opportunity to continue his thought, but it was apparently lost in the stifled coughs and sniffles that followed. "May I come in?" Coran asked.There were a few tics of quiet, then: "S' open."The moment the door panel wooshed open, Coran felt a wave of sick wash over him. Not sick to his stomach, mind—although the smell was rather off-putting—but sick in his heart. Keith had backed himself into the rear of the small room, wedging himself between the waste unit and the wall. His skin was pale to the point he nearly blended in with the castle walls, but a bright flush the color of his lion clung to the tops of his cheeks. Sweat trickled down his face, bringing his hair together in sticky clumps across his brow, soaking his clothing until it clung to his skin. He trembled. Even as he tried to lean against the wall, his body going limp, he still shook—his head, his legs, his arms, his lips. The whole of him quivered. His expression was pained, his eyes glassy, nearly unseeing. The fire Coran had grown accustomed to seeing burning in Keith's eyes had been doused with exhaustion bordering on resignation. He would soon be forced to admit defeat.In short, his poor red paladin looked like a newborn yupper: wet, shaking, and helpless. And Coran had to resist the urge to treat him as such. He wanted to wrap the poor boy in a blanket and spend the rest of the day seeing to his every need as though Keith's very survival depended solely on Coran. While some of his other paladins might not have minded such a gesture (Lance would have enjoyed it whether he was sick or not), something told Coran that it would not be a particularly welcome move in Keith's purview. Coran closed the door behind him, returning Keith just a bit of his well-guarded privacy. "The Galra digestive system cannot properly process winath nectar," he explained, keeping his tone light and conversational. He took a step forward to kneel near Keith's feet. "When Hunk mentioned using it in his—what were they called—pan-cakes? I wondered if you would have any trouble.""This is…" Keith had to swallow before continuing. "…because I'm Galra?""Yes. Well, that and because your Kaltenecker has not born any offspring. Or so I'm told." Coran began digging in his pocket. "You know, Alfor once served a dessert at a formal dinner that contained winath nectar. The entire Galra delegation was—" Keith's stomach made an uncertain noise, sending his hand to his mouth in immediate, trembling response. Coran stilled himself, waiting for the aftermath. When nothing came of it, he continued, "Maybe the less said about that incident, the better. But it is thanks to that culinary catastrophe that we developed this." From his pocket, he retrieved a small crystalline vial, a thin, orange-colored liquid swirling inside. He held it up for display before extending it toward Keith. "Just a few drops and you should be back to besting the Gladiator in no time." Keith's expression brightened by degrees. He pulled his hand from his mouth to reach for the offered relief, arms and fingers shaking. Keith narrowed his brows in concentration but still overshot his trajectory, causing his bare fingers to drag against Coran's gloved hand as he clumsily clasped the vial for himself. Watching Keith draw the vial into his lap and begin working to open it, Coran felt a new wave of worry. Trembling aside, Keith's hands didn't seem to be responding properly. No matter how Keith tried, no matter how he furrowed his brows or grit his teeth, no matter how he whimpered, he simply couldn't get his fingers to do what he needed them to do. He couldn't pull the stopper from the vial. "May I?" Coran offered, reaching forward. Keith made no response either way, but didn't protest as Coran stilled his hands and removed the stopper for him. "There we are. Now remember, just a few drops…"Fumbling with the vial gripped in both hands, Keith brought it to his lips. He gently tipped it back—just as his stomach heaved. Keith lurched forward, both hands—vial and all—covering his mouth, eyes pressed shut with such force tears threatened in the corners. He willed himself to breathe through his nose, his breaths coming in short, panicked bursts around the strangled, gagging noises threatening to escape him. With no support to hold him, he shook and swayed, threatening to fall forward. Coran put out a hand to help hold him, but Keith flinched away from the contact. He fought against the rising sickness—fought it alone even though he needn't.Coran waited. Keith's breaths slowed and evened, and finally he swallowed. Coran released the breath he wasn't aware he'd been holding. Eyes still squeezed shut, Keith leaned against the wall once more, allowing himself to go limp against it, his hands dropping carefully to his lap, his head lulling to one side. He took deep, gulping breaths through his mouth and let them out unsteadily. "Is there anything else I can do for you?" Coran asked, voice quiet and low. "Fetch you something to drink? Perhaps a towel? I could help you to your room."Keith regarded him with wet, tired, red-rimmed eyes. Twice he moved his trembling lips as thought to speak, but bit down on them before any words could form. When his voice finally came, it was thin and thready, threatening to break. "Don't tell the others."Coran's eyebrows lifted with momentary surprise. It wasn't an answer he was expecting. In fact, it sounded like more of a question than an answer. Like Keith was pleading with him. As thought he was afraid Coran might say no. A fresh wave of heart-sick passed over him. His red paladin was predictable. Predictable in his need for privacy, his need for independence, his need for self-reliance... If Keith was not yet ready to share this moment of vulnerability with Shiro—Shiro, whom he would follow like a shadow to the ends of the universe—then it was far too personal to share with the rest of their little family. Coran touched lightly on Keith's trembling hands and assured him, "You have my word." ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Finding Shiro pacing the corridors in the middle of the castle's night cycle was by no means a new occurrence for Coran. In fact, it had become quite routine. The first few times Coran had run across his black paladin during his nightly rounds, Shiro had offered half-hearted excuses: he'd had a leg cramp, he'd gotten lost on the way to the bathroom, he'd wanted something to drink... Eventually, the excuses grew fewer and farther between until they finally disappeared altogether. Anymore, Shiro and Coran quietly exchanged pleasantries, made small talk about the day's activities, then continued on with their individual rounds. They didn't talk about it—didn't talk about the reasons behind Shiro's sleepless nights. Coran had his theories, of course. And as more and more pieces of Shiro's past began to surface and make themselves known, Coran found far too many of those theories being confirmed. During the day cycle, Coran would occasionally remind Shiro in a roundabout way that he was available to him if ever Shiro needed his assistance. Shiro would thank him for the offer, force his expression into something deceptively reassuring as he promised Coran he'd let him know if he needed anything, and then greet Coran with an embarrassed little smile when he discovered Shiro wandering the halls that night. They didn't talk about it. This was their routine. In fact, it had come to the point Coran found an odd sort of comfort in the steady, regular cadence of Shiro's steps echoing through the otherwise quiet of the castle corridors.Which was probably why Coran felt such an unease as his rounds drew him nearer the paladin's quarters. Tonight, Shiro's steps sounded quicker, more forceful, more erratic. Coran made sure his own footfalls were a bit louder, made sure his shoes were a hair squeakier—made sure to announce his presence for fear of catching his black paladin unawares. Still, Coran was nearly within striking distance before Shiro noticed he was there. Shiro froze in his tracks, turning abruptly toward him. His eyes were blown wide, dark-ringed, near wild in appearance, and they stared past Coran in a rather worrying manner. After a tense moment, Coran's heart hammering in his chest, recognition shown in Shiro's expression. "They could have killed themselves today." His voice was high and strained, teetering on the razor-thin edge of frantic. He motioned down the hall toward the paladin's quarters, his arm flailing about. "Do you think they know how reckless they were being? One slip up—one! That's all it takes!" Earlier that evening, his paladins had rescued a vessel caught in the pull of a chronal anomaly. As the largest of their lions, the Black Lion was most affected by the anomaly's draw, leaving Shiro to play only a supporting role in their attempts. The plan his younger paladins had put together held zero margin for error, and when things didn't go as designed—time distortions were notorious for making situations unpredictable—it was only thanks to a series of fortunate failures, blind impulses, and pure luck that they managed to not only rescue the vessel but also live to fight another day. It was a near thing, but they had survived. At the time, that had felt like victory. In the aftermath, however…"They were this close. They could have—do you think they know?!" Shiro motioned wildly. His voice was beginning to echo down the halls. It was the most Coran had heard him speak at this hour since he'd given up on his excuses. It was the most gesticulation he'd seen out of his black paladin in the entire time he'd known him. Coran wasn't accustomed to seeing Shiro like this, and if he was being honest with himself, it scared him. His breath began to catch on unease."Would you like me to talk with them?" Coran asked, fighting to keep his tone even and low, neutral and hushed. He held his open palms before him, both a defensive and a defusing gesture."Yes!" Shiro all but shouted, thrusting his hands into the air, before letting them fall loosely to his sides. He added more quietly, "Please… I can't—" Shiro's lips were beginning to tremble, his composure threatening to crumble. "I can't lose another crew, Coran. I can't! They could have—""I'll talk to them," Coran interrupted, words coming quicker and with more force than intended. "Tomorrow," he added more gently. "For now…" He took a few short steps backward, his hands still visible, and eased himself down the wall to sit on the floor. "I wonder if you would like to sit with me a moment?""I can't lose another crew," Shiro echoed, his voice turning to a whisper. The trembling worked its way into his arms, leaving them shaking at his sides. "I can't." Coran extended a hand to him, forcing himself to steel his own tremble. Shiro's gaze showed no indication that he'd seen the movement, his eyes again looked past Coran toward some unknown, but some part of him automatically stepped forward to accept the offer. His hand fumbled blindly to grasp Coran's own. "They could have…""But they didn't," Coran said, stating it as fact more than counterpoint. With his grip loose, his touch gentle, he guided Shiro to sit beside him, positioning him just so: back against the wall, knees drawn close."I can't lose them.""It's all right." Coran moved his hand to Shiro's back, slowly, gently, methodically, always maintaining physical contact to let Shiro know where he was. Then he pressed, moving by degrees, maneuvering Shiro's head between his knees.Shiro offered no resistance, but as he lowered himself, his breath sped up. He was panting. "I can't…" Shiro drew his hands through his hair, gripping at the closely shorn locks to keep his fingers from shaking. His entire body trembled, the pressure building. "I can't…" His voice tapered off to syllabic gasps amidst his loud, heavy breaths, repeating over and over. "I can’t, I can't…" Coran told him—nearly pleaded with him—to breathe. Until finally, he cried, "I can't!" The moment Coran heard the first sob cut its way through his black paladin's carefully constructed façade, Shiro all but melted under him. His body sagged in instant release, still and limp but for the shudder of a sob racking his body. "I can't," Shiro whimpered, voice thin and pleading. "I can't…" Coran shushed him, beginning to move his hand up and down Shiro's spine, massaging each little knot of anxiety along the way. "I can't…"As the night cycle stretched on before them, Shiro quieted, the still and silence of the castle corridors returning. His chanting ceased. His sobbing settled. With his head still cradled in his hands, fingers laced through his hair no longer shaking, his breathing grew steadier, shallower. Sleep, Coran told himself. He continued to smooth his hand along Shiro's back, his ministrations moving in half-time to the steady, regular rhythm of Shiro's nightly pacings. Finally, his black paladin could rest, Coran thought. And he would allow him to do so for as long as possible.Coran reclined his head against the wall behind him, finally allowing his own body to sag. He worked to steady his own breath in time with his movements, careful not to let sleep take him as well, no matter his exhaustion. His mind wandered. Of all the problems his paladins faced, perhaps this was the hardest to conquer. Shiro had almost pulled him into his panic tonight—a near miss. A small victory. But what would happen the next time… there had to be some solution. However temporary. But when faced with such a task, what could Coran do?"You'll talk to them?" Coran stilled his hand in surprise, the soft, trembling voice breaking the careful silence surrounding them. He kept his own voice low as he answered, "I will.""Thank you," Shiro said, the words shuddering. He sniffled around the edges of a deep, steadying breath. Keeping his face carefully hidden, he carefully wiped his hands across his eyes, smoothed his cheeks. "For everything," he added more evenly."You are most welcome, paladin." Coran gave Shiro's back a final gentle pat before removing his touch, releasing Shiro from his hold. After a moment he added, "I'm always here when you need me. If you ever decide you want to talk…"Head still held between his legs, Shiro glanced up at him, one red-rimmed, swollen eye visible past his white tuft of hair, his expression forced into something deceptively reassuring. They wouldn't talk about it. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- "I'm not ill," Coran said, a mix of emotions coloring his words. He pulled his blankets to his chin and studied his paladins and Allura as they all gathered at his bedside, a food tray in tow. "Well that's good," Lance chimed. He, Pidge, and Hunk (the bearer of the food tray) pressed in closest, looking like they would burst from sheer excitement. Allura seated herself at the foot of the bed, her hands folded in her lap, the picture of poise and composure. Keith and Shiro hung back from the other paladins—Keith hovering closest, looking like he wanted to join in but didn't know quite what to do, while Shiro stood to one side, apart from the rest of the group with a clean view of the doorway.Coran could count on one hand the number of times someone had knocked on his door in the past ten thousand years. He wasn't even sure the paladins knew where his personal quarters were located. In all honesty, he may have purposefully overlooked providing that bit of information to them. That meant Allura must have led the way. Now his single, solitary private refuge in the entire universe had been discovered. But he was willing to suffer the sacrifice gladly if there was a proper reason behind it. What that reason could be, Coran could not fathom. "Nor am I injured…""Also a positive," Pidge noted.When Coran had bid his early morning callers enter, he'd feared some emergency had arisen—after all, those were quite routine these days—so he was surprised when all six of his young charges had filed in the door to crowd around his bed chamber. It seemed there had been some sort of miscommunication. There was really no need for this. They needn't barge in. He could have easily made his way to the dining hall as usual. He was fine. Really. Sure his knees were a bit achy, but that was simply—Coran narrowed his brows. "Nor am I so old that I cannot manage for myself.""We know that," Keith said."Then I am unsure of the reasoning behind…" Blankets still held to his chin, Coran gestured vaguely at the six of them, then down at the food tray. "… this."Hunk beamed as his no doubt homemade dish was finally acknowledged. His chest puffed and his posture straightened even as he bent to deposit the tray across Coran's lap. "You're always the one taking care of us, right? We just thought we'd return the favor for once. So… we made you breakfast. Allura says it's your favorite." His light dimmed. "Well, it should be similar to your favorite. I couldn't find the exact ingredients..." Hunk muttered under his breath, casting a final unsure glance at the tray."And we took care of all the cleaning duties for today," Lance added quickly, looking particularly proud of himself as he reached back to sling an arm across Keith's shoulders and pull him closer to the group. "I showed Mullet here the ropes. It's kinda my thing." Keith started at the initial touch but settled into it easily enough. Coran though he spied a small, shy smile curving his features as he ducked his head. "I did the laundry," Pidge said, sounding very much like she was bragging. She adjusted her glasses, noting, "Which should be much easier now with the modifications I've made to the refresher unit."Allura regarded each of the paladins with pride as they noted their accomplishments. She stretched a hand across the bed to place it lightly over Coran's blanketed knee—a familiar, familial gesture—as she turned her attention exclusively to him. "All of your regular duties have been completed for you. Today is yours to do with as you please.""You deserve the rest, Coran," Shiro added from his little corner of the room."As well as our gratitude," Allura continued. "For all that you do for each of us."Again, Coran studied them. Their expressions eager to please, wanting to make him happy, wanting to make him proud, warm and affectionate. Their offering a heaping, steaming bowl of oozing green gelatinous proteins mixed with dried pink and orange fruits with hard violet grain clusters for texture (just like mum used to make!), and alongside his napkin and spork, a small bouquet of delicately folded paper juniberry flowers. Those were most definitely Allura's doing. Although the varying degrees of handiwork seemed to indicate she'd had help. Slowly, Coran lowered his blankets, leaving them puddled in his lap. "Oh. Well," he'd intended to say something more useful, but nothing would come to him except, "Thank you?""So," Lance drawled, "got any big plans for your special day?"Well, there were repairs to be made to the hangar air filtration system. And he could stand to catch up on the outer rim map upgrades. Not to mention the storage rooms could stand reinventorying. Then there was the issue of the flickering screens near the fifth level elevator. Oh, and he couldn't forget about cleaning out that malfunctioning waste unit of level eight. But… "You know," Coran said, picking up his spoon and scooping through his breakfast," I thought I might spend it with all of you."
10802631	Diary of Katniss	{ "Archive Warning": "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings", "Category": "F/M", "Characters": "Katniss Everdeen, Peeta Mellark, Mrs. Mellark, Mrs. Everdeen, Johanna Mason, Finnick Odair, Delly Cartwright, Madge Undersee", "Fandom": null, "Language": "English", "Rating": "Teen And Up Audiences", "author": "by MegaAuLover", "chapters": "21/21", "completed": "2017-12-26", "published": "2017-05-03T00:00:00", "words": "27,000", "Additional Tags": "Humor, Romance", "Relationship": "Katniss Everdeen/Peeta Mellark", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": "Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins, Hunger Games Series - All Media Types", "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	Katniss browsed the gift shop as she waited at the train station. She came to a full stop in front of the cardboard display stand. "Good grief I haven't had a diary since I was a kid."As a librarian, she knew quality bound books by sight. She picked up the red-orange leather bound volume with the green leaves crawling up the spine, and fell in love. She smiled to herself recalling the dreams she used to write in her journal as a kid. That was before her father died, and she became an adult overnight.Her fingers ran over the price. $39.95. She grimaced at the sticker and weighed the options. Then her eye caught the caption over the display and read it out loud "Chronicling your Resolutions is the Only Way to Complete Them. Buy a Journal today, and start the journey to change your life!"She grinned to herself and tucked the journal to her chest. She wanted to make changes in her life. She decided this book would be her conscious, her very own paper and ink Jiminy Cricket! She glanced at the time as she finished her purchase. "Damn! I'm going to miss my train."She boarded the near full train headed toward the historic District Twelve, all the while, she plotted her first entry into the journal.Christmas Eve, and Katniss tried to avert her horrified gaze away from her mother and her new husband, as they groped each other under the tree.At 32, Katniss was still painfully single. She liked it that way- that's what she told everyone- but in reality, she wanted to be in a relationship.I want to have sex! She'd wrote in her brand new diary, the only thing she trusted enough to confide her secret thoughts too. Growing up Katniss always put herself last; her family came first. Eventually, they didn't need her, and she hid in the quiet solace of the library. Until it struck her, she wanted A MAN! By the time she'd got to that stage, she was fat. The men in her acquaintance wanted skinny little sticks, with no thighs or asses, but they did require boobs, the one thing she didn't have despite her gargantuan size.She looked down at her large thighs encased in blue pajamas and thought to herself, 'no man wants a fat cow!'"Oh Bob," Her mother groaned.Katniss was utterly grossed out. The image before her was enough to make her want to become a nun. She certainly lived the life, unlike her mother.After being widowed for so long, Katniss' mother, Myrtle, finally met a man who caused her to come out of her shell, and she wasn't shy about it... at all. They were like rabbits, and although Katniss was happy for them, she was a little repulsed to see it unfold before her eyes.She turned around intending on escaping upstairs before she followed through with the urge to gouge her eyes out, but as she reached the landing, she heard the tree crash."Katniss!" Her mother called out.Katniss turned around plastering on a fake smile, trying her best not to grimace.Her mother stood up awkwardly, speaking as if she and Bob hadn't knocked down the tree while trying to get it on. She had a shiny, red ornament hanging from her hair. "You should get dressed, we're going over to the Mellark's for breakfast.""My brother is sparing no expense," Bob said.Katniss kept smiling, her fingernails dug into the palm of her hand."Oh, and wear this." Her mother, thrust a package into her hands."What is it?" Katniss was sure she was going to hate it."It's the latest fashion!" Her mother replied."Great," Katniss grumbled climbing the stairs, while her mother's giggles wafted up after her. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- "Peeta's single," Her mother whispered as they made their way into the house. The Foyer looked like it belonged in a magazine. The Mellark home was more of a sprawling estate, with gilded crystal chandeliers, marble floors, and beautifully ornate double doors."Mother!" Katniss gritted through her teeth. She questioned if she should write about this in her journal. Perhaps she should, as a way to look back and see her humble beginnings."His divorce from that Japanese woman came through last week. Muriel is beyond excited!" Her mother gushed. Then her tone turned gossipy, "Apparently, they separated in poor terms, so there's no chance for reconciliation!""Should we be talking about this right now?" Katniss forced a smile, whispering harshly while fidgeting with her poinsettia knitted vest; little bells, snowmen, and evergreen leaves hung from its green fringe.It was the ugliest thing! So itchy, even when worn on top of a green turtleneck. She tried not to scratch, but couldn't help herself.Her mother kept on talking about Peeta's mother, Muriel as if they had been best friends all their lives, when in reality there was a time neither woman could stand each other. It all stemmed from Muriel, thinking, Myrtle had a thing for Peeta's father. When it was revealed Myrtle liked Bob- Peeta's eldest uncle- instead, the women made amends.Katniss knew her mother was up to something but she didn't have enough time to ponder about it."Katniss, this is Peeta!" Her mother beamed when the man in question stepped in to greet them as a good host should. "Peeta, dear, you remember Katniss, right? She used to pick dandelions and throw them at you when you were younger. She also ran naked around your pool party one year."If Katniss hadn't been so shocked by how beautiful Peeta Mellark looked, she would've been mortified with her mother's embarrassing anecdote. A soft 'O' formed on her lips as she openly gazed at him. Time had done him well, he was no longer the cherub-faced boy who she secretly fancied as a child. When her father died she set aside all fanciful meanderings, forging herself into an adult. While most 12-year-olds were worried about choosing the right outfit, Katniss was worried about putting food on the table. Then she heard of his nuptials a few years back, and that was that childhood crush buried and forgotten… or so she thought.Witnessing the object of her early year's affection all grown, caused her heart to recall every last girlish thought she conjured about him. She flushed. His intense blue eyes bore into her, no doubt ripping her apart.There were rules about men that looked like Peeta Mellark. These men dated models and fascinating women. Not spinster librarians with only three friends to her account. A lock of his blond curls fell over his forehead, his blue eyes were like the type of sapphires that men in dark suits guarded. It wasn't fair, even with his ugly reindeer sweater, he looked yummy."Ah, yes," Peeta said. "I vaguely remember.""Myrtle, come and help me for a minute." Muriel frantically waved her hand without even a proper hello."Oh," Myrtle said confused for a moment, then she grinned unnaturally. "OH YES, I'M COMING!""So, what do you do, now that you're not throwing dandelions at frightened boys."Katniss stood open mouthed, watching his lips move. Then her verbal skills kicked in. "I am a librarian, spinster, who has a new year's resolution to drink less, but I've just broken that haven't I?" She lifted her wine glass as a demonstration, "I also want to stop talking to strangers! Not that you're a stranger, since you've seen me naked and all. Perhaps I should just stop speaking full stop." She giggled nervously.Peeta looked disturbed by the word-vomit that came out of her mouth. "Right, perhaps it's time to eat."She watched him walk away. She bemoaned under her breath, "Stupid, stupid, stupid."She was never going to catch a man this way.Feeling sorry for herself, she made her way to the buffet line to find comfort in food. While she waited at the small hibachi station, she saw Muriel pull her son aside. She really didn't mean to eavesdrop, but they were so close and not nearly quiet enough, she couldn't help but overhear him snap at Muriel, "Mother, I do not want to go out with a drunken spinster, who clearly has no ability to carry an intelligent conversation, plus... she dresses like her mother!"Katniss tripped on the carpet and fell into the orange punch bowl. And by the look on everyone's faces, she knew she was going to be alone for the rest of her life. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- "Dear Diary: Weight: 157 Pounds. Drink: Whole Pitcher of Mojito (yumm!) Status: Alone but blissfully inebriated. Having a pre-celebration, on my own. In reality not looking forward to New Years. My parents want me to come home for New Years, Prim's coming home with her glorious doctor husband. Happy for sister and mother on their nuptials. But it is just gross to see people all lovey-dovey ver each other when you're the third wheel. I have to say, being known as the desperate single woman, is a step below the Crazy Cat Lady. At least she has a man named Mo.They live in the first-floor apartment in the back. Crazy Cat Lady and Mo have over thirty strays, "all neutered", so she says. I don't like the way she looks at me, with pity. I cannot take one more look like that. My resolution for the New Year is simple. Step Step one : Decrease Drinking! Step two : Lose Weight! Step three : DON'T Think about PEETA MELLARK! Step four : leave inhibitions by the curbside and find a MAN! Admittedly the last step is a pipe dream, but nevertheless, will attempt. Now I will shut off the pitiful lovelorne80's music and finish the last of my mojito." Katniss stood up drunkenly with her mojito pitcher and slurred into her room. "I, Katniss Everdeen, will no longer be known as the Curmudgeon Spinster!"The phone rang. Katniss drank from her pitcher refusing to pick up the phone. The answering machine went off. "Katniss, this is your mother. Prim will not be home for New Years. My adorable son-in-law just surprised her with a cruise to Hawaii to celebrate their first New Years together!" Her mother's voice became dreamy. "Isn't he wonderful? So... Bob and I will not host our party. I am sure you can find something to entertain yourself with in the city! Toodaloo!"The machine beeped.Katniss slumped down on the couch. Looked at the contents of her pitcher and drank it. She eyed her diary on the floor and said, "Well. Here's to chronicling the Diary of Katniss Everdeen, Lonely Spinster."New Years Eve"Oh, Katniss," Delly said drinking her piña colada."Damn, that sucks kid," Finnick took a sip from his pink cosmopolitan."I say to hell with everyone and everything. This is a new year Kat, you just have to push forward." Madge lifted up her shot of patron.Katniss looked at her only friends in the world, sitting at the small table. She'd met her fiercely loyal but peculiar friends while working at the library.Delly was a committed serial dater of god-awful men. The latest one made her die her platinum blond hair, black and caused her to lose weight. Katniss guessed losing weight wasn't so bad, but still… jerk!Finnick was once a kid T.V. star. When the show was canceled, he retired from acting, living off the royalties and chasing anything with a pulse. He grinned and winked at both bartenders. Katniss lived vicariously through his fantastic sexual escapades.Madge was the daughter of the ex-mayor of the coveted Historical District Twelve. She didn't have to work, but did as a publicist. She had perfect diction but often cursed, to prove that she was gritty.Katniss's oddball collection of friends kept her from going insane."Peeta Mellark, what type of name is that?" Finnick picked up his drink and sipped it through the straw."I bet the little prick is hot, isn't he?" Madge said."Yes," Katniss groaned, her head fell on the table with a soft thud, a beer held between her cold hands."She's right!" Delly said showing Finnick the picture she Googled on her phone.Finnick whistled, "I'll do him.""You'd do anyone," Madge rolled her eyes at him taking the phone. "Damn! I'd blow him."Scandalized Katniss straightened up whispering, "Madge!" Though Madge was right, if given the chance, Katniss would get on her knees in front of him, no questions asked."Right, sorry," Madge shook her head. "That's frigging unfair.""I know! Guys like that only date like... actresses, with perky boobies." Delly shook her head.Delly was correct in Katniss's eyes, and that night as she drunkenly fell into her bed, she promised herself, she was going to forget about Peeta Mellark and start her diet. She wasn't going to end up alone on New Year's Eve again. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- "Dear Diary: After a month of dieting, I can say I have lost an incredible ten pounds! My romantic status, like the desert: barren. Going to the gym is the highlight of my week. Though Gym gives free Pizza to its patrons, in past life this would have been a dream. Now commitment to weight loss is more important, I shall not let the Peeta Mellark's of this world get me down! Weight: 147 pounds. Drink: Water. Food: None, but ravenous. Would love a meaty burger, with cheese, loads of bacon, and steak fries." Katniss wrote, but did not know she spoke out loud as she did."Put one down for me too."Katniss looked up from her diary and saw Gale Hawthorne grinning at her with a book in hand.Gale Hawthorne was constantly in the library borrowing books. He was a writer, who wrote the most fantastical short stories. He was roguishly good-looking, and fit the tall, dark, and handsome bill to a tee. He also called her Catnip as a joke, because when they first met, he didn't catch her name properly.Katniss had a crush on him but never said anything. Embarrassed, she lost her voice. She intended to snap shut her diary, but it slipped out of her hand and nearly hit him in the face before falling on the floor."Oh, I'm so sorry. I just... I apologize." She bent down to pick up the book. But when she sat up, she saw he was staring at her butt. She blushed, "How can I help you?""Well, you can start by telling me where the other half of your skirt went." Gale grinned and leaned over the table.Katniss felt like her face was on fire. She hadn't done her laundry and had to wear the skirt Finnick got her for the vicar and tarts party he hosted a few months back."Sorry," She uttered ashamed of her clumsy behavior.Out of nowhere, a female voice hissed making her jump, "Katniss, please remember this is a library. Not one of those chain bookstores that have hipster music, and overly expensive coffee." Effie, her supervisor, whirled by with a book cart.Gale lowered his voice, as to not get Katniss in further trouble, "Is your skirt sick? Librarians do not wear skimpy outfits, unless their matronly ones disappeared, or get sick." He grinned sexily despite being caught gawking at her derriere.Katniss was not sure what to reply. Intriguing men like Gale Hawthorne did not openly flirt with girls like her unless they wanted something. However, there was literally nothing she could offer him. His reaction to her made her head spin."Do all Librarians dress like you on the other side?" He pushed himself up and looked over the desk shamelessly."Mr. Hawthorne," Katniss laughed."Well?" He winked, "Inquiring minds want to know."Katniss looked at her diary. Normally she would have shrunk back, but this was a new year, and she was going to give as good, as she got. "I am appalled and so is my skirt. Skirt is not sick, only Mr. Hawthorne is.""Mortified to have caused such offense to your skirt, but will remain politically correct and apologize to you both. I will have to say though, your breasts look amazing in that top."She grinned, "My boobs thank you for the compliment, though my skirt feels jealous now.""Well, then I think I'm going to have to take your skirt out on a date then." Gale's white toothy grin contrasted his tan skin. "It just so happens, a friend of mine is launching his newest book tomorrow night, if you skirt agrees to do me the honor."Katniss drummed her fingernails on the desktop carefully. She pretended to think about it, and then said, "Skirt agrees to your terms, on one condition...""What is that?""The skirt will meet you there." Katniss kept her smile careful as he wrote down the location information and his number.He walked away, and she stared at his ass, he turned around pointed to her chest and said, "Oh bring along your girls, just in case they want to chaperone the naughty skirt." ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- "Dear Diary, There is no way I can get ready in a few hours. I need HELP! Have called my personal Glam Squad, and by that, I mean Finnick and Madge. Delly's idea of dressing-up runs along my own ideals, which consists of a sequined scrunchie. I have been ordered to soak in the tub and shave anywhere there's hair growing. That should take an hour or two. Do they realize I have to meet him in that time?! Darn it! It looks like I'm going to have to wax some areas as well. Dreading procedure, last time I waxed, I ended up in the ER with secondary burns." Finnick and Madge came to her rescue, they were going to help her squeeze into a tight, black short dress paired with tall black boots. Katniss thought they were going to need buckets of Crisco to help her slither into the dress. Finnick even managed to do something creative with the skirt, a messenger boy came to pick it up. In her bedroom, Katniss eyed the dress and shoes her friends had picked out for her. She wondered how her voluminous bottom half was going to fit in the stretchy material, she was sure half of her rear-end was going to be on display. "Katniss how is it possible you are the only female in existence to have the plainest, frumpiest panties?" Finnick dumped the entire contents of her underwear drawer on her bed. "I've known grandmother's who wear sexier things. I mean, your bras are elastic. There are Sports Bras sexier than this!" He picked up a tan one that looked like it was part of a conveyor belt at one point. She turned red at the sight of her friends sifting through her white, tan and green underwear. She clutched her robe together and tried to get her stuff from her friend's hands. "Guys, come on, this is embarrassing." "How in the world do you get men in your bed?" Delly picked up a dark green one with little books on it. "She doesn't," Madge said chuckling. "WAIT! WHAT ARE THESE?" Delly pulled a box out from the top shelf of her closet. Delly got her hands on the one thing Katniss never wanted anyone to see: The lingerie her sister purchased for her to wear underneath the bridesmaid gown. "Well, hello!" Finnick held up the racy red and black corset, garters and lacy underwear. "No," Katniss whispered. She knew it was a lost cause to try to dissuade her friends. An hour later she was stuffed into the lingerie and wearing the little black dress, with thigh high boots and her boobs proudly on display. "Katniss," Delly said standing in front of her. "You must remember to greet people nicely, no matter how much they might annoy you." Katniss scowled, she often didn't get along with people. Finnick cheekily winked at her. "You tend to babble when you get nervous, keep your conversation light and breezy." Katniss turned pink recalling her moment with Peeta Mellark at that Christmas Buffet. She muttered under her breath, "I don't babble." "One more thing," Madge said. She gave Finnick and Delly a quick glance. All three said. "DON'T GET DRUNK!" ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- The night was beautiful, it was the kind of evening one saw in the movies. Twinkling lights above, the bustling movement of the city and lovers walking to their dates. For once Katniss wasn't watching it from home on the television she was in it, to see a hot guy. Normally her nights involved going down to the nearest watering hole to get drunk with her friends.A low whistle caught her attention."Hey, baby!" The cat call made Katniss grin.She gave the guy a smoldering look over her shoulder. Katniss felt hot as she walked through the busy streets, this was a whole new world for her. Her last date took her to a restaurant that offered an early dinner special. She'd arrived at the restaurant just as a bus of Geriatrics was arriving. Her date claimed there was nothing wrong with the bland tasteless food. Nothing a shipment of salt couldn't solve. That was the past and Gale was her future.Katniss stopped in her tracks when she saw Gale standing by the entrance of the bookshop. He was devastatingly handsome. She watched a bike messenger drop off the skirt Finnick had sent earlier. Gale laughed when he saw what was inside the package he just received before he spotted her. "Dear Diary: Queue the music. Let "Am I The Same Girl" by Barbara Aklin fill the air as I walk sexily toward him. Oh, how do those lyrics go, oh yeah... "Why don't you stop and look me over…" That's right Gale Hawthorne, I'm HOT STUFF!" "Well hello there! I see the girls came out to play instead!""I think they are responsible for the skirt." Katniss pointed to box he held in his hands. She remembered what her friends said, to remain friendly and flirty. She was to be charming and present. She was not to bore people with details, and she was NOT to get drunk!"Well, allow me to escort all of you around," Gale said opening the door for her. But as she stepped inside, she ran into a wall of solid muscle."Katniss?"She looked up to see Peeta Mellark dressed like James Bond. Her mouth went dry."Catnip, you okay?" Gale asked before looking up."Hawthorne," Peeta greeted icily."Mellark, what are you doing here? I thought you were opening up a bakery back in your home district.""Well, I came out to the Capitol to support Beetee on his big night." Peeta stood stiffly.Katniss saw they were frosty with each other. Almost like two male lions sizing each other up. She had no idea both of them ran in the same circles, somehow, Peeta and Gale didn't coexist very well in her head."I'm going to find the ladies room." She walked away as fast as she could, to escape the pissing contest.When she came out of the bathroom, she lost track of time looking at some of the books on display, she was surprised when Peeta stepped by her side."So, did you run around naked in his yard as well?" He asked staring straight at the books.Katniss felt her face turn beet red, her heart felt like it wanted to stop beating altogether. She recalled her friend's instructions to remain charming, even if she didn't feel like it. "No. He's a writer who frequents the library where I work.""Oh," He responded. "How long have you been with him?""It's our first date." Katniss was proud of that statement, recalling her poor performance the last time they saw each other. She wasn't a complete loser. She was about to prove it!"I see," Peeta mused. He got closer, his breath tickled her ear and she shivered in delight. "Gale's tastes always did match my own. In college, we used to go after the same type of girls, beautiful, alluring."His cryptic words caused her to wonder what he meant by that. He didn't like her. Did he mean to say she wasn't Gale's type? She pushed away from him staring darkly into his face. She lost balance, his hand went around her waist and brought her closer to him to steady her. She was paralyzed in his arms, staring at him with wide shocked eyes.She questioned why his blue eyes sparkled like the stars in the night sky.He smelled so good, like warm spices. She fought some primal instinct to haul him to a darkened corner and have her way with him. She wondered why was she so attracted to a man who thought so very little of her. This sobering thought caused her shrink away from him, which in turn caused him to remove his hand from where it was perched.She stood straighter. "I guess his tastes have improved." There! She could carry an intelligent conversation! She could be clever while defending herself."Katniss," Peeta started.She wanted to rant against him but recalled what Delly said about her scowling when she found something annoying. She quietly looked down at her booted feet to school her face. She reminded herself to behave like a lady, "I have to go find Gale now. Excuse me."As she turned to walk away, he grabbed her arm stopping her. His words were rushed, low and urgent. "Good luck on your date, Katniss. But please, do not, under any circumstances, get drunk. People make dumb mistakes when their inhibitions are stripped off by alcohol."She opened her mouth then closed it. Her cheeks became inflamed. Angrily she grabbed a flute of champagne and downed it quickly. She didn't want to insult him. With her friend's advice fresh in her mind, she began counting backwards to relax the scowl was surely plastered on her face."Of course, your suggestion has been noted. It was lovely meeting you again." Katniss wanted to say more, but instead, she walked away proud that she didn't make a fool of herself a second time, not that she didn't have chances later on.Three, maybe four glasses of Champagne later, she was trying to push down the hem of her too short dress, when she lost her balance and tore down the life-size poster of Beetee's book. She fell at Peeta's Feet. How was he always so near her when these things happened?He bent down to help her up, but she was on her feet before he could lay a finger on her. She didn't want to see him mocking her.Hastily she walked out of the bookshop berating herself for her goof up. She could hear the laughter coming from inside as she headed down the street. She made it to the corner, she could still see the inside of the store as she waited for the crosswalk light to come on."Hey, if you wanted a copy of the book I could have purchased one for you." Gale came outside running after her.Katniss rushed on. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you in front of your friends.""Nah. Don't worry, they were okay. Now, we can't say the same about the huge cardboard display, although, it did have a happy ending with the skirt."Katniss was grateful for his light banter. She looked serious before saying, "Oh thank goodness! At least the skirt is happy."After a moment of lighthearted chuckles, Gale asked, "How do you know that frump, Peeta Mellark?""He's my-in-law." Katniss shook her head."Oh?""Yes, well, his uncle recently married my mother," Katniss explained to a puzzled looking Gale. "Although, we did know each other growing up. We went to the same Elementary School in District Twelve. We were never friends, though."He took a sip from the Champagne glass he still held, "Oh. Alright.""How do you know Peeta Mellark?""We were in college at the same time." The crosswalk sign lit green.Katniss recalled the conversation she had with Peeta, "He mentioned that.""I'm sure he did. We were roommates. What else did he tell you?""He said you used to go after the same type of gorgeous girl." Katniss wrapped her arms around herself. A myriad of emotions filtered through her as she relived that moment. She took his glass and finished its contents.Gale gave a mirthless chuckle, "Not just the same type. Try the same girl."When she looked at him confusedly he explained, "I thought Peeta was my best friend. Then he slept with my fiancé a few years back." Gale looked out into the street. "Broke my heart," he gazed at her. "When… I discovered the truth, she ran away with him.""Oh, I am so sorry." Katniss could see Peeta gazing at them from inside the bookstore. She wanted to flip him the birdie.Gale asked, "Hey, do you want to get out of here and get some real food?""But we didn't see your friend," She pointed to the store.Gale raised an eyebrow. "It's okay I'll email him, later." He took her hand and led her away. They walked side by side, neither one saying a word."It is a great night. Do you want to come to my place?" Gale touched her chin, and she innocently nodded.He brought her to his place and immediately leaned in to kiss her.Katniss had been kissed before, each time more disastrous than the last. She waited for his lips and found they were warm, but they did not stir up her libido as Madge said it would. She moved in further to his body, to see what she could feel. They somehow landed on his floor. That's when the liquor hit her system. She giggled."Katniss, are you drunk?"She looked at him and shook her head. She held up four fingers as she spoke, "I only had one Champagne flute."He looked at her face. "What are you thinking about?""I'm nervous," she confessed."About?" He looked at her curiously."This. I'm not exactly a sex fiend, you know." Katniss hiccupped.Gale stood up and offered his hand. "Come on kid.""You're kicking me out, aren't you?" She pouted."Nope. I'm tucking you into bed. You're in no condition to leave.""Thank you," Katniss whispered when she was tucked into his spare bedroom.He sat on the side of the bed, "For what?"Katniss murmured as she fell asleep, "For not taking advantage of me." "Dear Diary, Gale is a gentleman! Despite my drunken state, Gale did not take advantage of me. I woke up to a fresh cup of coffee and the offer of a warm bath. He even lent me some of his younger brother's clothing to make my way home. He called me two days afterwards, which my friends assured me was a good sign. We are going to coffee and a book club tonight. Crossing my fingers all goes well. Tonight I will not get drunk. I will not make spectacle of myself! In the meantime, I can proudly say I have avoided the free pizza at Gym! I go purely to exercise... And to stare Cato, the Spinning instructor's bum." ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- "Dear Diary, Newsflash! I, Katniss Everdeen, am no longer a candidate for Spinster of the Year Award. I scored a boyfriend! Though Gale may not be aware of that yet. After a month of dating, I've been wondering why I can't tell him I feel we should be in a relationship. Why do I get cold feet? Why do I feel as if at any moment the floor is going to swallow me whole? I do have to say: I look FABULOUS! Working out while staring at Cato's rear is a great way to stay motivated! Weight: Lowest I have ever been (drum roll please) 137 pounds! Drink and food: nothing living off of emotional high." A few weeks later she closed her apartment door and a genuine smile appeared on her face when she saw Gale waiting for her in his roadster. "Hi.""Hello, there gorgeous."They'd been dating on and off during the first two weeks, but now they saw each other on a nightly basis. They liked to dress up and go to social events. She often ended up speaking about his book to editors and in the business. In one occasion, they even ran into Madge, and Katniss proudly introduced them to each other. Although the relationship wasn't exactly serious yet, she was happy to share her beau with her friends. Katniss thought, perhaps she was falling for Gale, it was only natural all the parts of her life would convene in a little happy existence. She considered him her boyfriend and wanted to tell him as much this weekend. After a month-and-a-half of dating, Katniss was finally ready to sleep with Gale.This weekend her sister was celebrating her first year wedding anniversary. Prim wanted to have the party at a swanky bed and breakfast spa type place near their district.Katniss shyly asked Gale to come with her. Her sister wanted a Playboy Bunny costume party. Katniss had a black bunny suit she wanted to show off to Gale.Her family would be so impressed by Gale: An accomplished writer, plus he was easy on the eyes and so attentive.She laughed at something he said. Then they settled into listening to the radio. The radio plaid 'Rumor' by Adele and Katniss opened her mouth to sing."Jeeeze Catnip, I didn't know you could sing like that?""I don't sing for everyone." Katniss gave him a promising look."Oh, well I'll consider myself fortunate then." Dear Diary: I AM SEXY WOMAN HERE ME ROAR!" She summed up her sultriest voice. "Yes." Katniss winked coyly. "You should!"They arrived at the place, which looked like a grand house. She felt a little out of place as she stood in the foyer, but that didn't stop the quiet singing, after all, the song was stuck in her head now, and Gale seemed to like her voice."Katniss?"She cringed, finding Peeta standing there with a tall, beautiful woman. She looked like she could easily be a vogue model. Katniss felt like a frump in her oversized sweater and jeans. If she hadn't been so self-conscious about her appearance, she would have noticed the way Peeta's eyes sparked while roaming over her unmade-up face, a fact that didn't escape Gale."Hello Peeta," she said before her companion's icy voice rang out beside her."Mellark," Gale practically snarled making Peeta's eyes hardened."Hawthorne," His voice flattened."Are you here for Prim's anniversary?" Katniss tried to dissipate the men's evident mutual dislike, plus she was curious. She wasn't aware that Peeta and her baby sister were so close. Their families had only recently become blended by marriage, and if she and Peeta being the same age never were friends as kids, she doubted Prim was any closer to him."Yes, I'm also here to source some local products. You know how it is in District Twelve. Half of everything in your store has to be locally produced if you want to run a successful shop.""Oh," Katniss said."I'm sorry, where are my manners? Katniss, this is Jo, my accountant. Jo, this is Katniss Everdeen and her… friend, Hawthorne."Jo grinned at them, then said. "Peeta, we've got to go.""Sorry," Peeta apologized walking away, turning his head to look back at them as he went. Katniss did not catch it, but Gale did, and possessively placed his hand on the small of her back.After checking in, Katniss excused herself for a trip to the little girl's room, but when she stepped back out, she saw Gale was on his phone, again. He had been glued to his phone on and off the whole way to the venue. She sighed and decided to distract him with some activity. She looked at the brochure which had a few pictures of couples, rowing on the lake."Hey, want to go rowing?""Hmmm?" Gale mumbled distractedly, looking up from his phone."Rowing?" Katniss pointed to the picture. "It's romantic and I've never done it.""Sure, why not, we have time to kill." Gale put his phone down and Katniss smiled sweetly.They were rowing in individual boats acting like goofballs waiting for the rest of the guests to arrive. She caught sight of Peeta and Jo sitting by the picturesque dock, tablets in hands. She was jarred, she looked up to see Gale ram into her boat. She laughed at his antics, "What are you doing?" she screamed laughing."There once was a man from Nantucket," Gale said standing up in his rowboat intending to get into hers. "Who boarded a raft in twelve."Katniss laughed when he ended up in the river. He stood up, and she doubled over at his state. He pushed her boat to shore. She didn't want to be caught and ran, all under the watchful gaze of Peeta Mellark. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- "Whoa," Gale whistled.Katniss came out in her black little bunny outfit, fishnet stockings, and black kitten heels. She turned around and showed him her behind and held up the cotton puff. She was hoping to seduce Gale, hoping that she'd drive him mad with wanting. A weekend vacation was supposed to be romantic and sexy, she wanted to get the ball rolling. In her best sultry voice, she asked, "Do you want to pin my tail on me?"Gale made an apologetic face, "I want to but I can't."It was then she noted he wasn't dressed in his suit, "What, why?" She frowned disheartened."My editor called, they want to meet with me tomorrow, I have to drive there tonight.""Oh," Katniss deflated. All of her plans went by the wayside her disappointment showed on her face."I'm sorry, Catnip," Gale said pressing a small kiss on her nose. "I'll make it up to you,""Okay," she said. His book was a big deal to him, she understood."I'll call you afterward.""Alright," Katniss straightened herself up, thinking perhaps she could still seduce him now. "The bunny tail is very disappointed." She wiggled her ass enticingly but she knew none of her attempts were going to work. Gale had been trying to get his book published for quite some time but the editor disliked him immensely. He was always finding something wrong with the novel and once threatened he wasn't going to send to for final review. It was a battle Katniss had held Gale's hand over."Trust me, so am I," His eyes grazed her form before he left the room leaving her on the bed.Katniss wanted to wallow in pity, she wanted to order the biggest tub of ice-cream available from the front desk and stay locked into her hotel room. But after an hour of listening to Adele and Joni Mitchell, she came to the conclusion that Prim would only celebrate her first anniversary once, and she could be a big girl and go have fun with her family dateless. So she stuffed her key card into her bosom and made her way downstairs to the ballroom.She got several looks when she entered the dining area. She found everyone was dressed elegantly. She figured men dressed in tuxes wasn't completely out of the ordinary in a Naughty Bunny party, but not seeing another bunny costume in the room was odd.She froze. "Dear Diary: DAMN! DAMN! DAMN! OMG Peeta Mellark is only feet away, he blue gaze is like the X-Ray machines at airports. WHY DO THESE THINGS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO ME! Now everyone can see all of my wobbly bits. Classic, truly classic why isn't there a drink around when I need it." All of the family and friends gathered there stared at her. They began snickering, no doubt clicking their tongues knowing she was always able to cause a scene."Katniss! Didn't you get the memo?" Primrose hissed rushing towards her, closely followed by their mother."No," Katniss' tone matched Prim's."Well, you should have read your email. I emailed everyone," Prim continued. "My in-laws decided to show up with their very intimate friend, the Hospital Director. A Bunny party became very inappropriate to host such high-profile guests; do you want to get me and my husband in trouble?""I have no reception up here, and no one came by to say anything." Katniss defended herself. But it didn't matter because, in her sister's eyes, she'd gone and messed up her party."I can go upstairs and put on a pair of jeans." She tried to remedy the situation and salvage what little dignity she had left."Ugh," Prim said in frustration. "Katniss, this is important to my husband.""Sorry I didn't mean for this to happen, Pirm.""So where is this guy you've been seeing?" Bob questioned as soon as he showed up by her mother's side. Prim and her mother began having a side conversation, Katniss overhead the word dress several times.She felt exposed and her tongue was leaden, of the million things she could say about Gale or her lack attire she couldn't make a single declarative sentence."His name is Gale Hawthorne. But I can say in total confidence, he is not good enough for Katniss." Peeta said approaching the group as well."What," Katniss was shocked to hear him. "I think I would say the same for you.""Oh, so he is real," Primrose stated ignoring their exchange.Katniss frowned, wounded by her sister's comment. Katniss wondered why her sister would ask such a thing. "Yes! He's real.""It's just you never bring anyone home." Prim shrugged, "I've never met any of your supposed boyfriends, Katniss. I just thought you were fibbing. Look mother has a dress you can borrow," Her sister shoved a key card in her hand. "Just hurry." Prim was called to greet some prominent newcomer guest and walked away with her mother and Bob in tail."Fibbing? But I can't lie," Katniss moaned feebly.Peeta took off his jacket and slipped it around her shoulders. "So Hawthorne left you in the lurch." He didn't sound particularly surprised."His editor called him away.""I see," He finished buttoning up the suit jacket. "There. Now you look like Judy Garland in Summer Stock."She was grateful, and the warmth of his jacket wrapped around her and she felt safe, like when she was with her father. Thinking of her dad made her feel sad. Katniss scanned the room with her eyes, she didn't belong here. "Thank you, but I think I'm going to leave.""Stay," Peeta insisted.Katniss shook her head. "No, I'm not wanted here. I don't even have a proper dress with me. I'll just ruin Primrose's night.""Look Katniss," Peeta began."What?" Katniss became defensive.He was about to speak, but Jo called him, "Peeta."Peeta lifted his hands up to say something to her, Jo appeared by his side."Hey, I need you," Jo snapped her fingers at him. "Come on time is money.""Katniss, I..." Peeta began."Peeta we don't have time to waste," Jo said urgently. She tugged on his sleeve and he began to walk away he looked back at her but Katniss walked quickly away from him, while he was distracted, feeling horrid. Once more she was just the crazy spinster alone in the world. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Peeta was dragged away by Johanna, beautiful flawless Johanna. Katniss decided to pack up and head home. Katniss headed upstairs to her room. She quickly jammed all of her belongings into her carry-on and grabbing her knee length cardigan she slipped it on. Her only thought was to vacate the premises as quickly as possible. "Dear Diary; Part of me wanted to stay at that party, and cause havoc – get drunk and shake my bunny-tail – but then again…I could've done what my family wanted: gone up stairs and worn sensible ankle length paisley flower dress no doubt was hanging in my mother's closet. Yet standing there in Peeta's jacket gripping my mother's key card brought back memories of that Christmas party. Once again I'd be wearing a frumpy concoction with a drink as my only friend and consolation. I'd end up being the crazy drunk girl making inappropriate bodily gestures and gyrations at another family function. New Katniss will not succumb. The sensible side of me prevailed. I left my sisters tonight with dignity. Oh…why does having dignity feel so bad, sad, and lonely. Queue up Celine Dion's –All By Myself!" "Good Evening," the perky blond behind the customer service counter said.The woman behind was perfect petite, trim, with a pony-tail. She looked all of twelve and smiled like she was taking her schools year book photo. Given her mood, Katniss found her bubbly personality entirely annoying."I'd like to check out."The girl took the keycard. Her long manicured fingernails made that click-clack tapping noise on the computer, and it felt as if any minute now her fingernails would break the sound barrier. "Thank you, and how did you enjoy your stay?"The less than eight hours Katniss spent at the posh hotel was a disaster. She plastered a smile on her face, but she was sure she looked like a hyena laughing, "Pleasant.""Wonderful."She had Peeta's suit jacket in her hand and it smelled delicious like cinnamon, dill, and home. The word home was jarring thought for a man who made her feel inadequate; she wondered where that word came from. She frowned then said, "Would you mind giving this back to a guest of the hotel, Peeta Mellark, he lent it to me this evening…" Katniss thought quickly. "I was cold, and please return this to my mother, she's a guest.""Absolutely, I hope you have a pleasant evening and you for staying with us."She handed Peeta's jacket and the key card her sister had given her to the receptionist as she checked out and quietly left.She managed to find a solitary cab that was stationed at the front of the hotel."Hello Luv," the man smiled."Train station please," Katniss said.She settled back in the chair and of course, the soundtrack she heard in her head was being played on the radio. She wiped her face, as she sat in the back seat bunny ears in hand.The cab drove up to the train station, it was still early enough for her to catch the next train. "Darn it Katniss you will not in uncertain terms turn into a lonely spinster."Grabbing hold of her rolling suitcase she marched up to the machine, her fingers punched the screen with force and purpose. Nonetheless, the moment she had her ticket in hand and stood in the empty station she suddenly felt how foolish she looked in her long sweater high heels, fish net stockings and bunny suit. Her ears still on her head, one of them had flopped forward.The train horn blew as it pulled into the station. Katniss was the only one getting on or off. The wagon was empty and she chose a seat in the middle. Her head pressed up against the window. Her mind replayed the entire evening. "Dear Diary: Taking the express train to Capital will be there in a matter of hours. Peeta's lingering gaze, still trips me up. I am sure he must think I'm an idiot. Who does he think he is? Though, when he slipped his jacket around me, I felt like I did when my dad's used to let me wear his leather jacket. I don't know why I'm thinking of my father, now, or why Peeta reminded me of him. Home, he made me think of home. Ugh! Will not think of Peeta Mellark or his laser like blue glare! In lieu of humiliating night, I decided to go see Gale. At least he will be glad to see me and my bunny outfit." "Catnip, what are you doing here? It's the middle of the night," Gale asked rubbing his eyes. He was wearing an old pair of sweats and nothing else.She walked into the room, feeling sorry for herself. "Can I stay with you? I had a bad night.""Tonight?"Katniss nodded, she headed for his bedroom."Catnip," Gale trailed after her.She frowned and looked at him. "I thought I heard something!" She looked into his bedroom and found nothing."Why should there be anything?" Gale asked too quickly. "Let me set up the spare room for you," He offered in the same manner."Gale, I don't want to sleep in the spare room," Katniss said, hoping her intention was obvious."Look, you're tired, I'm tired. I know you don't want to be alone, but I need my sleep. Why don't you go to the spare room and rest? In the morning we can discuss everything."Katniss nodded, but as she walked away, she spied a pair of women shoes peeking from behind the sofa that did not belong to her. She frowned, then glanced at Gale and back at the shoes. His face was impassive. She knew this look very well, from when Prim was a child and was trying to hide something from her."Gale?" Katniss prompted, not wanting to believe what the signs were pointing to."Katniss," He started to speak, but she held up her finger, stopping him before walking back into his bedroom.Again, there was nothing there, but then she heard a sneeze. She headed into the bathroom, where she found a beautiful, naked blond. Dear Diary: What is it with the perfect blondes tonight, are they invading the Earth?! The blond flicked her eyes dismissively over Katniss body. "Gale, I thought you said she was skinny."Her heart stopped.She left without a word.Perhaps- she thought as she made her way down the street- she was meant to be alone. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- "Dear Diary: SOS …- - -... Why am I not likable?" "Damm, Damm, Damm," Katniss said as she walked toward her apartment. Seeing that blond woman in his apartment was like a slap in the face. She wiped her hair from her face, as she walked, her bunny ears were both flopped down. She dragged her feet preferring to walk home instead of taking a cab.Part of her was in shock the other part of her was furious. She felt foolish, to think that Gale would be true to her. She deceived herself into thinking he was willing to wait for her to be ready to be with him. Katniss imagined she looked like a frumpy sack of potatoes next to the statuesque woman. Dear Diary; Why do all the tall, slim, big boobed and leggy women have what I don't? She's everything I'm not. How does one get so slim, eating air and a piece of lettuce? Did I forget to mention she had incredible skin, creamy like a saucer of milk? Here I am thinking he's my boyfriend and he's banging an ex-beauty pageant contestant. My new anthem is 'Love Hurts' by Nazareth. Love is messy and it's left me wounded and with scars. I need a drink and tons of chocolate! She was glad for the darkened streets, no one was present to witness her demise. Her suitcase rolled behind her making an I'm-a-lonely-spinster thump. She wiped her face, she didn't want to cry over Gale, but the rejection hurt.She was glad for the sweater, it hid her bunny outfit and tail. It also happened to be chilly outside. She burrowed into it for warmth.When she arrived at her apartment Katniss was grateful to be home. She kicked off her shoes and grabbed a bottle of wine uncorking it she drank deeply. She saw that she had messages."You have three new messages. First message:" Katniss sunk down on the sofa as the machine beeped. "Katniss this is Prim, I sent you an email, but please bring something formal to wear. See you there."Katniss took a deep swig of her bottle."Second Message:" the machine beeped. "This message is for Katniss Everdeen," It was Effie. "Katniss please make sure you stamp the books with the correct date stamp. I've noticed there have been two infractions. One more and there shall be a sanction."Katniss rolled her eyes and drank deeply from the bottle."Third Message:" the machine beeped. "Hi Katniss this is Peeta, I got your number from your sister, wait…" the phone was handed over and her sister's voice came on."Katniss it's me, Prim, I'm sorry I behaved like a…prick." Her sister sounded contrite and sad. "I should've made sure you got my messages. I just wanted you here and when you left I realized how much I hurt you." Prim sniffed on the phone, and again Peeta's voice came on."I went to check on you, but I didn't find you in your room. I guessed you went back home. I just wanted to make sure you're okay," then Katniss heard Jo's calling him. "I have to go now, have a good night Katniss."Katniss sniffed and whipped her nose. Tipsy she saluted the machine, before finishing up the bottle. She stood up in search for another bottle she found one and drank, before falling into her bed. Tomorrow would be a new day, for right now she just needed sleep.The next morning she sat on the floor with a bottle of Jack Daniels, scribbling away in her diary. "Dear Diary: I've made a miraculous resolution. #1 Will not call Gale! #2 Will not think of douchebag Gale. #3 Will be a brave and strong girl no scratch that WOMAN! I am a confident, slightly inebriated, but nonetheless, I do not need men like Gale Hawthorne." Katniss stood up with her bottle of Jack Daniels and yelled, "I AM WOOOOO…" she drunkenly lost her balance and fell to the floor. Her hand lifted up and she gave a muffled shout, "…man."That night she sat with her friends at an upscale bar that Finnick was paying for. Her friends gathered around her in her hour of need, comforting her, making sure she didn't ravage all of the Ben and Jerry's ice cream in the city."What an ass!""Madge is right he is an ass, you don't need the likes of him Katniss," Finnick put the round of shots at the table."I can't believe he left you to be with that hussy," Madge slammed her shot on the table.Delly held her hands, "I'm sorry Katniss you don't deserve such treatment." She gripped her hand so tightly it hurt. "If that bastard didn't appreciate you for your worth I say good riddance." She grabbed Katniss shot and her own and drank them both. "You are an amazing person Katniss.""Delly?" Katniss wondered where this was coming from."I never liked him, even though he was sinfully good looking. Honestly, he makes the creeps I date look like knights in shining armor." Dear Diary, I'm gobsmacked! Shy quiet kind-hearted let-my-boyfriend-walk-allover-me Delly has a backbone. Plus she is confessing that she didn't like Gale. Could Delly be right? Looking back he didn't seem as interested in me as I was in him. He was reluctant to date me. I thought it because we were going slow getting to know the other. It was him all along who canceled our dates. I was always available. Was I the hunter? Perhaps this where my mistake was, I should've played hard to get. Or been more interesting, or maybe if I didn't have thunder thighs he wouldn't have strayed. Oh hokey sticks Katniss, you will not become one of those women. You will not become one of those women who believed there was something more that could've been done to attract their man. The betray hurts, need to stay in the present and not dwell on the past. Madge and Finnick both glanced at the other before stating, "We didn't like him either.""Why didn't you say anything?"Finnick got close to her, "You were happy and we didn't want to ruin your happiness. Katniss you're important to us and if he would've done something to you we," Finnick shared a nod with the girls, "would've kicked his ass. So let me know where he lives and Madge will personally rearrange his face."Katniss laughed, it was the first time she'd laughed since she'd broken up with Gale. Of her friends, the one capable of doing bodily harm was Madge."Has he tried to contact you since that night?" Madge leaned forward."No, I haven't heard from him at all.""Not one call to say sorry or to excuse his deplorable behavior. By the way how hot was the blond in the bathroom.""Epically hot."Finnick whistled.Delly frowned, "Even my boyfriend's call, to apologize.""Funny enough the only person I heard from was Peeta. He called to check up on me."Her friends exchanged a look of surprise.Madge shook her head. "Wait let me get this straight you heard from a man who belittled you but not Gale?"Katniss nodded into her drink.Finnick didn't let her sip it he gently pushed the glass away from her face. "No, no, no, no. You don't make a statement like that and leave us hanging. Inquiring minds want to know? When did you give Peeta Mellark your number?""I didn't, he got it from my sister.""Katniss I know brevity is the very essence of quickness, but give me a break, tell us what happened that caused him to call you. Did he know about Gale?""Well, he really doesn't know about me and Gale breaking up. He knew Gale left me before the party." At her friends puzzled expressions she explained. "Remember Prim was having that bunny costume party.""Oh right how amazing did you look in that outfit?""Finnick," Delly and Madge chastised."Actually, I was a total embarrassment for my family. Prim changed her mind at the last minute but I didn't get the message. I had no cell reception at the hotel, and there was no free Wifi." Katniss paused to take a sip of her drink but her friend's expectant faces stopped her. She put her drink down. "My sister was upset because some bigwigs were present and I looked like the entertainment for a bachelor party. Peeta put his suit jacket around me and asked me to stay, but I couldn't stay. I didn't want to be a bother. So I left, and I gave his jacket to the receptionist at the front desk.""AND," the trio said."Well when I came home he'd left me a message, he'd gotten my number from Prim. Put Prim on the phone to apologize to me. Then he said he wanted to make sure I was okay. He even went to my room but saw I was gone."Her friend's faces had a dreamy far off look as she finally took a drink, just as the waiter delivered the food. Katniss was hungry after months of starving herself she deserved this juicy burger with fries."A man doesn't offer his clothing to just anyone Katniss," Delly said a far off look in her eyes, she slumped back in her chair and twirled her hair in her hand."It's true," Finnick agreed."And he doesn't flipping get her number from her stuck up sister, make her apologize," Madge sighed, "and call her to check up on her when he's not interested.""It doesn't matter anyway, there's a woman named Jo. He said she was his accountant, but who brings an accountant to a family gathering?" Katniss mouth was full as she spoke. She took a sip of her drink, "You should see her; she's gorgeous and has Peeta wrapped around her finger.""Nonsense, if they were together he wouldn't have done this.""You forget Madge," Delly said, "Peeta is the same guy who slept with Gale's fiancé.""Maybe he was drunk and it was a mistake," Madge defended Peeta, "Besides do remember Gale was the one who cheated on Katniss."Delly became quiet then out of nowhere said, "Peeta is gorgeous the type of man I'd like to borrow for an afternoon or two.""Damm straight," Madge pointedly said winking at Katniss.Katniss laughed, it was true, Peeta was beautiful and she'd always had a thing for him, but the fact remained she was too hurt by Gale to think of anything or anyone else. Although the feeling of home when she was draped in his jacket hadn't left her. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- The next few days she went to work at the library bravely trying to smile. It was a difficult task to pretend she was fine when in the inside she was bruised. It hurt to see people holding hands and in love.It seemed the world was full of couples, amorously committing all sorts of public displays of affections, but it didn't just stop with the humans. When she walked to her apartment building Katniss began to notice cats, dogs, and birds also had their mates. It was painfully and pathetically apparent she was single once again. The world was made for couples, and singles often felt left out or awkward around the lovey-dovey crowd.So she stopped going out and had every takeout place on speed dial. On Friday nights she listened to sad depressing breakup songs, accompanied by her friends Ben & Jerry and Jack Daniels.The days slipped by and she heard no word from Gale. Katniss had even stopped seeing her friends, retreating within herself to reflect on how she'd gotten to this point.Eventually, Katniss began to emerge from her self-imposed exile to slowly acknowledge that there was more to life than having Gale in her life.She came to the decision she had to learn to love herself. The endeavor to write in her diary began with the simple wish to make a change. Heartbroken she faced each day with determination, trying to forget two men, Gale Hawthorne and Peeta Mellark.Katniss was done with men who made her feel insignificant. Dear Diary; How dare Peeta Mellark call her to and have her sister speak to her. How dare Peeta pretend to be so wonderful when he too was like Gale a cheater? The only difference was that Peeta never cheated on me… Gale made me feel small and unworthy of love, while Peeta evoked memories of my father and a cherished sweet innocent time. Why couldn't Peeta Mellark look like a hunchback? Or one of those greasy creeps that hit on me in the laundromat? He's the worst type of hot...the unattainable kind. She closed her diary and continued setting the books on the shelf. Effie passed by, her heels tip-tapped as quickly sped by where she was working. She could hear the woman's annoyed squeal as she addressed a patron looking for a book that explained the Marvel Universe. Katniss didn't pay the woman mind.Though a while later Katniss caught Effie spying on her from one of the stacks, it wasn't hard to spot her neon-green wig from a distance. As the day wore on she noticed Effie was following her. Katniss was searching for a book for a patron."Katniss?"Painting a smile on her face Katniss turned toward her sparkly supervisor. "Yes.""I distinctly remember telling you to put children's books in order.""I did, I arranged them for the new season, put up the decorations that you've suggested, and put up the most popular selections on display.""Oh...that was you...I thought it was Perpetua," Effie mumbled."No that was me," Katniss beamed. As Effie walked away, "Oh and Effie, I'm also working on the books we are sending to the library across town.""Good but do not forget that we have other library requests."Katniss hung her head. Dear Diary: At work, Effie's been watching me like a hawk. I've come in late a few times because of saundry drunken nights with friends. Damm Finnick with his fireballs. Ever since Effie has been silently been monitoring my every move in the library. Must Not Lose JOB! I wonder if Trinket has a life? EEEWW! Just imagined a frumpy apartment of endless pink and stuffed animals. I shudder, it's as bad as the crazy cat lady. Knowing my luck Effie has a significant other. In other news, I have fallen off the proverbial wagon. I've drunk my weight in liquor. I'm sure of it. Last night my friends dragged me to an undisclosed dive bar. This morning I've discovered a litany of condemning photos texted by supposed friends. Horrifying pictures of me at a karaoke bar with a tie around my head. Plus one short condemning video, of me, crooning to Kelly Clarkston's 'Since You've Been Gone.' Have been carrying on to the best of my ability. But one question plagues me day and night. Why does breaking up hurt so much? The next day at work she spotted this little girl with glasses, old black and white converse sneakers and a frayed knapsack over her shoulders, the whole time she held a little blond girl by the hand. Katniss was reminded of her youth, when her mother went through her paralyzing depression, after finding herself a widow. In desperation, Katniss pawned away anything she could find of worth around the house, including hers and Prim's good clothing, to pay bills and buy food. She vividly remembered the ache of having her feet jammed into ill-fitting sneakers because she couldn't sell them.Those hollow months, she'd spend her afternoons with Prim in the library, for warmth in the winter and for entertainment in the summer. It was the reason she became a librarian. Getting this job wasn't pure luck, she knew the place inside and out, like the palm of her hand. Every employee at the Library knew her by name.Her dream had always been to own a shop in her home district. Twelve was an oddity on its own; originally a mining town, overnight, became the hip, historical district, where fancy chain restaurants and big box stores were not allowed. Instead, Main Street was lined with a collection of mom and pop stores, family owned restaurants and diners that carried a lot of locally grown or sourced items, and all sort of local crafts and arts. Twelve was billed as a tourist attraction, and people flocked to spas, hotels, and even the cozy bed and breakfasts of the area, year-round, for its nostalgic feel. Dear Diary, Do I have the gumption to go for my dreams? Or will I be discovered in the library like a relic in those archeological digs, one day with my journal in one hand a perfectly preserved donut in the other? I need a drink! Katniss always dreamt of opening up a small little bookstore and coffee shop there, but she'd never done it. Mostly because she lacked the financial means. After her father died in a work-related accident, there just wasn't enough money to go around supporting the family. The Everdeen women relocated to the Capitol, closer to Myrtle's only relative willing to help out, chronic alcoholic Uncle Haymitch, who did as best as he could by them. Prim got a top-notch education, Myrtle got professional help, and Katniss helped Haymitch achieve all that by working from a very early age. That's how Katniss came to live her quiet life in the Capitol alone, saved for weekly meet-ups with her only three friends. A life half lived. She'd thought she'd finally found someone, something for herself in Gale, despite Peeta's insistence.She shook her head. Thinking of the blond man her mother had tried to set her up with, was no good. He no doubt would stand on his soapbox and wag his finger at her. She thought of him during her breakup with Gale. What she couldn't fathom, was why his opinion mattered so much to her. Why did she think of him at night? Why was Peeta Mellark so important? Sure, she reasoned, the man was gorgeous. He never treated her mother or sister unkindly. But he was judgmental when it came to her! She could hardly blame the man, when she was a basket case every time they were in the same room. Then there was the connection to her father, something she suppressed. Looking at the small perfect book in her hand, she thought, perhaps it was because he represented the ideal man, something that was clearly not for her.Katniss gazed down at the little girls, handing them the book."You have until the fifteenth.""Thank you," the little blond girl said, walking away.Katniss turned around to catch her breath. Dear Diary, GRRRR…. Why did Peeta have to be so nice to me? Why couldn't he be a jerk? Why must he smell so delicious? Why did I feel at home in his jacket? Must not think about Peeta Mellark. Must remain impartial. Upon further reflexion, perhaps I am a quasi-charity case for him? If this is the case, I shall push away my gut feeling, that my father would've loved Peeta. I have to make realistic goals, will only date sensible types. MEN THAT WILL NOT STRAY. In order to do that I have climb over 3 tons of take-out container to get out of apartment. On a side note: Would stalk Gale on social media be considered a federal offense? Traffic was horrid. She rushed the half-a-block to the Library. She had seconds to spare to punch in. Off course, Effie was there imperiously keeping record of her time punches."Katniss," Effie said as Katniss entered work."Morning Effie.""Late again, I see." Effie glanced at her watch.Katniss looked at her punch, "Actually I am punctual according to the time clock.""Hmmmmm," Effie looked at the time, "I think it must be broken, I will have someone check it."Katniss smiled, "I am sure they won't find anything wrong with it."Effie gave Katniss that tight lipped smile. Katniss sighed, time was not her friend. Dear Diary, It's been a proper three weeks since Gale and I broke up. He has not called or popped by my place. All forms of communication have stopped. I have seen his social media page filled with images and him and that blond bimbo he calls Glimmer. In my despair, I have taken up other hobbies. It is amazing how suddenly the most mundane things become relevant. Who knew the dust bunnies could be so interesting. Perhaps I should stop drinking. The other day I sauntered in with a massive headache and could not take even the dim lighting of the building made me feel as if I was staring directly at the sun. "Catnip?"Hearing his voice was like taking an arrow to the heart, she physically cringed. She did her best to keep her emotions at bay, plastering a smile on her face, she was a professional after all. "Hello Gale, are you ready to check out your books?""I wanted to talk to you.""I'm sorry," she tstked sarcastically, "This, is a reference book. You can not withdraw this from the library." So much for professionalism.Katniss handed the book back to him. Then noted Effie passing by slowly; she'd always frowned upon her relationship with Gale."Catnip, look, I know things didn't... I mean, Glimmer is so exciting! She works for the publicist, and she's... well, irresistible." Gale held the book in his hand, but he was looking at another. It was just like him. So infuriating!She was glad she'd never had sex with him. She'd feel worse about it if they had done it! Though that didn't mean it didn't hurt. She wanted to yell at him. Katniss looked briefly to see Effie parked permanently by the stacks watching her. She lowered her voice, "But you've only just met her."He gave her a look.The realization came over her as she gazed into his guilty face. "Oh. You've met her before," It wasn't a question.He sighed shaking his head, "I met her last fall when I went to New York to sign the contract for the book deal. She's amazing, beautiful. Her accent drives me wild."Hearing him bestow all of Glimmer's attributes made her feel small. "You led me on," she whispered meekly."Not Exactly, Catnip. When we met I didn't think Glimmer would come after me. You got to be reasonable, Catnip. Being with Glim is an opportunity I couldn't refuse. I know you get me Catnip. Because you and I-"Every time he called her Catnip her ire grew.Gale kept speaking oblivious to the thunderstorm brewing less than a foot away, "You and I, we're two and the same. We need a wow factor, and I think Glimmer is it, for me. I think I can really fall for this girl. I just need you to understand that...I...I was confused by your skirt.""You need me to what?" Katniss uttered in disbelief."I need to you understand," Gale said. "The flirty skirt, it mislead me," He pleaded as if that was enough explanation or even a decent reason at all for what he'd done.Katniss slammed the book she held in her hand on the table."Katniss Everdeen, that is Mahogany!" Effie came straight away towards her."I'm sorry Effie, but he is dumping me with the friend card after I found him with another woman!"Effie raised an eyebrow. She gave Gale a disdainful once-over and said, "Go ahead, I want to hear what you tell this shmuck.""Alright Gale, I might not be as exciting as Glimmer," Katniss said bracing her hands on the counter. Her voice became louder and louder until she was shouting for the whole library to hear. "But I've got aspirations. YES, I DO." She pointed to herself. "And how is this for a wow factor? I would rather be the crazy cat lady who was eaten by her pets than to spend one more second in your presence… you... two-timing liar. GOODBYE!"She grabbed her bag, jumped over the top of the counter that separated her and the patrons, and triumphantly left the building to tumultuous applause. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- "R-E-S-P-E-C-T," Katniss sang to herself as she marched out of the library with her diary in hand. "I love you, Aretha!" She shouted as she walked down the street. She twirled as Aretha Franklin's song filtered through her body. For the first time in her life, she felt good.As she crossed the street a horn brought her out of her dance haze ."Oh sorry!" Katniss quickly scurried across the street.The sound of the horn was like a wake-up call, she snapped out of her delirium.The bravery lasted all about five minutes. She entered a diner, her hands shook as the reality of what she'd done settled around her shoulders. She'd never been that brave. Never been so forthright with anyone. Sure she'd faced lions for her sister and mother. It was natural to defend Prim, but it was an entirely different story when it came to standing up for her own rights. This was the first time ever she'd said what was on her mind unafraid. It felt great that it'd been Gale.The chapter on Gale was closed. She sat in the booth, blinking rapidly."Hi?""Hello," helplessly she stared at the waitress."What can I get you?"Her eyes narrowed in on the waitress. The poor woman looked like she'd seen better days. "Water.""Honey we just don't serve water without buying something.""Oh okay," Katniss could feel the blush on her face, "Ah...how about a cup of tea?""We don't have tea.""Really?""Look, we ran out this morning, we had a bunch of British tourists saunter in and drink all of it." She tapped her pen against the ordering pad."Right," Katniss looked around, "Coffee then."She didn't even look up, but her voice sounded annoyed. "Just coffee?"Katniss spotted a case of donuts, "Coffee and a donut.""K' big spender, coffee and donut coming right up."Katniss waited until the woman was gone before she pulled out her diary and purse. She rummaged around for a pen she needed to solemnize what happened this morning.The waitress came back with a mug and a plate with a donut. "Sugar is on the table and here's the creamer," she said as she reached over to the other table and grasped a handful of those little tubs of nondairy creamers. "Enjoy."Katniss shook her head. "Dear Diary: What did I just do! Ugh! I'm mortified, but rather proud of myself? Gale deserved it! I am WOW! …..aren't I? Why am I sitting in a coffee shop with donut feeling rotten for standing up for myself? Isn't this braver Katniss what I've wanted all along, but for goodness sakes why should I wallow in my misery with fatty foods. Well, donuts taste good and they don't judge size of hips! Who needs gorgeous tall man…wait is that geezer winking at me? EW…he is the same age as my Uncle! Hold on…the waitress just told me donut and coffee are on the house! She wrote you go girl on the ticket! Why are those people staring at me? Why are they whispering? They are pointing at me! Something is not right! Is that my voice coming out of patrons phone? Must vacate premises and investigate!" That night she sat at home in her pajamas bemoaning her stupidity. She'd lost her job thanks to that louse Gale Hawthorne, someone filmed her whole atrocious stunt in the library and posted it on social media. Unbeknownst to her, it became an instant hit. It went viral in mere minutes, and somehow Mr. Snow, the Head of HR caught wind of her crazy and inappropriate behavior. Snow had been looking for a way to get rid of her for ages, they abhorred each other. He finally had enough reason to fire her after the Gale incident went public. Katniss was glad Effie was alright, but, she'd have to move back home. Her only consolation were her friends."He's a flipping jerk-off," Madge raged. "Honestly glad you sent that douchebag packing.""I'm just so happy you had the presence of mind to keep yourself poised and ladylike while schooling the bastard!" Announced Delly proudly, "Very articulated, without using coarse language!"Katniss gave a watery laugh. She was on a Skype call with her friends who were in the Bahamas courtesy of Finnick."I for one, am glad you got rid of him. Gale didn't like us very much. No... I'm wrong. He liked Madge. He was always texting her," Finnick said.Madge scoffed, "That's because he wanted my opinion on his ridiculous book, Huntin' Hawthorne."Delly asked, "Oh, Katniss what are you going to do about a job now?"Heavily influenced by the power of a few beers, she exclaimed proudly, "I am going to start over!""You mean you're finally going to do it?" Finnick sat up excitedly."Yes, Finnick, I'm finally going to open up my own bookstore café in my home district." She sighed. She looked around her apartment and grimaced. There were take-out containers and fast food wrappers all over the place."Good for you Katniss." Madge nodded."I'm in, I've got millions to spare!" Finnick truly had millions. There was a revival of the show and money was pouring in to add to his pile. There were talks of doing a spin-off like Full House."Finnick, it would be a loan. I'll pay back every penny." Katniss didn't want to have that over her head. She didn't like owing people, friend or not.He shook his head and gazed at her pointedly over the computer. "No, it wouldn't be. It would be an investment. I would be a silent partner." He said smugly."Okay." Katniss could agree to those terms; she didn't want to borrow money from Finnick, but a business partner, silent business partner, she could manage. He was a great guy, although when she first met him, she wanted to stomp his foot and slap his face."To Katniss Everdeen, future businesswoman extraordinaire!" Madge raised her cup.They all toasted to a fruitful spring and summer. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- "Dear Diary; Sad about Gale, feeling stupid and idiotic for thinking he was something more. He hasn't called, though I did see him and Glimmer walking across the street the day I left the Capitol. IN NEED OF HARD LIQUOR SOON. Too bad I cannot afford it. After my little-recorded rebellion, I'm being labeled as badass. Me Katniss Everdeen Lonely Spinsters a badass! This miraculous and although I feel bad I will survive as Gloria Gaynor sang! "Katniss." Katniss looked up from her laptop to see her mother giving Bob an amorous look. "Yes, mother?""Ah," Her mother cleared her throat, "Will you continue your search for a location today?"Katniss gave her step-father a side glance, he seemed engrossed by his newspaper, but there was a red flush on his face. She shook her head swallowing, she could only imagine what was going on underneath the kitchen table. "Dear Diary; Ugh, can't a girl have her breakfast in peace without seeing her her parental units acting like teenagers? Why am I always the third wheel? "I don't know last Friday it was pretty disappointing. Finnick and I didn't see anything. I've been concentrating on finding an apartment while we get this matter of the location settled. Maybe I should get a job while we work on this." "No," Bob said looking at her with those trademark Mellark looks. It made her think of Peeta. "If you get a job and an apartment you'll become complacent again and you'll never achieve your dreams. I want you to succeed in achieving your dreams." He picked up his paper again, "This is your home, why spend money on an apartment?""Isn't he wonderful."Her mother's cooing and bright eyes caused her to spit out her tea, but what Bob said was correct. If she settled she'd never get her life on track. It was good to see her mother happy, even if was rather gross think I'll go for a walk in a bit.""GOOD!" Her mom's eyes flew toward Bob who had put down the paper, he was grinning at her crookedly. "Good, good...for you!""You know what I'm going to put this away, and take that walk."She ran upstairs to her room, put her computer down, quickly grabbing her cross-body and keys. "Mother I'm leaving."Her mother came from the kitchen, her jean skirt was turned on its side and her ponytail was now on the side. "Have a good time Katniss.""Thanks."Katniss stood outside moans filtered from an open window. She wasn't a smoker but she was about to start. Her mother and Bob were driving her crazy, and she'd only been here for two weeks.She heard a thump followed by a crash, then giggles, whatever happened was only a temporary setback."OOHHH Bob…""Moving back home Katniss was not the most brilliant of ideas," she muttered to herself as she sat on the stoop. It was a necessary evil to move back to the house in order to save money. It was a miracle that she was able to sell her co-op apartment quickly. This was the half of the money she was using to buy and set up her business. Every penny counted.She covered her face with her hand. It was a beautiful spring day, but it was being ruined by noises coming from the house. Her mother and Bob seldom were apart."BOB…"She smacked her forehead with her hand wishing for someone to take her away. Her mind went back to that fateful night she agreed to start her own business.It was a scary but thrilling. She couldn't wait to start over, so she'd packed her things moved back in with her parents until she found a place to live. It was not an easy sell to her sister or mother, but having Finnick as her partner won them over. Finnick charmed her family. She and Finnick had thrown themselves onto the mercy of the real estate market. She had a fair idea of what she was looking for.She dreamt of it.A place on Main Street, that had a lot of foot traffic, and where she could easily walk to or from an apartment. A place that had sufficient space for books and a cafe plus it had to have a large storage room for the coffee, tea, and books. Katniss was determined to find what she needed at a reasonable price.She'd signed her incorporation papers before she'd had a business. Finnick set it all up, but Katniss was very much aware of what she was signing. She didn't want to take advantage of Finnick, and she knew her friend, he would happily give her the large sum of cash without any thought. It was the one area Bob helped with, he had quite the legalistic mind."Katniss," Finnick yelled from his hybrid car that was worth a massive amount of money."Oh thank goodness," Katniss ran from the stoop. "What are you doing here?""I think I found a place, but I don't want to do anything until you take a look at it.""Really, we've been looking for a few weeks and nothing we've seen was worth the investment.""I have a good feeling about this place.""I hope so," Katniss stared out of the window as they drove into town."We've been driving past this place for two weeks. Last night after I dropped you off I got into this conversation, with a waitress named Annie, she told me this building was available." Finnick pulled into the parking spot right in front of the building. He was still talking while they got out of the car. "I know that we've been concentrating on a storefront, a place you can lease, but imagine owning a whole building Katniss. Between both of us we can buy this place, and still have money to set up your business and you can live upstairs."There were times Finnick acted childishly and there were times he was brilliant this was one of those moments. The detached two story townhouse were several businesses on either side, a boutique clothing store one for children and one for women. At the end of the block, there was a daycare building. Across the street was main entrance of Victor's Village Park. She peered into the window pane and peered inside. This place felt like home."FINNICK THIS IS IT!""Good, I thought you might feel this way so I had my lawyers draw up the papers and I put in a down payment for it and they accepted it." He held the key in his hands. "The closings in two days, you get to pay the closing costs.""Deal!" "Dear Diary, Weight: 145 pounds, eating everything not nailed down. Drink: Massive amounts of coffee and water. So much has happened since my last entry. I am on the road to recovery with a new sense of purpose. I practically danced the day I signed the paperwork for the building. Adulting is not easy, but this one time I shall state, things are finally coming up roses. In other News, other things have improved. I have moved out of my mother's place, now that upstairs apartment of the building Finnick and I co-own is finished. It's good to have a home of my own. I was tired of finding Bob's tighty-whitey underpants scattered throughout the house. No place was sacred for Bob and my mom to pound into each other. Don't even want to know how they got into the rafters of the garage ceiling. Enjoying the peace and quiet, and I have thrown out my ear plugs!" Katniss paused writing; she tapped her pen against her journal. She contemplated the past month and a half. Her ongoing mourning, the frantic pace of trying to open up a business in District Twelve, and her status of a permanent spinster. She hadn't realized she had been humming and singing under her breath the whole time until she was interrupted by the sultriest voice she'd ever heard. "I was wondering who was going to rent this space?""Hi," Surprised and stunned Katniss jumped up, pushing her journal into a box. Nervously she stood unsure why Peeta Mellark was there, in her store. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- "Didn't mean to startle, you," Peeta said apologetically, slipping his hands into his pockets. He looked so larger than life in her empty store. His forearm muscles were quite impressive. She'd never noticed just how broad shouldered he was or the way his butt filled his pants. He was dreamy and sinful like a good piece of decadent cake. She swallowed, feeling bad for thinking these thoughts about him. "You were singing, and like a sailor of old, I came by the call of the mermaid's song."Her eyes grew bigger than her head after such comment."I didn't mean to scare you into muteness, you know." Peeta rubbed the back of his head looking around. "I'm surprised you still sing so well. I haven't heard anything alike since we were in Kindergarten, so, please… don't stop singing,""I didn't expect anyone here, that's all," Katniss swallowed so hard she swore they must have heard her in the next district.She gazed at the timbered frames. They finished demolition the day before, and she was waiting for some inspectors to come and see the wiring, plumbing, and structure."So what's the concept?" Peeta asked looking around the place with interest.Katniss crossed her arms defensively, "Café bookstore. I'm trying to set up relationships with merchants now, before we start construction.""Good thinking, finding local vendors now. That's where I nearly lost it. Thank goodness for Jo. She helped me a lot in that department, and now I'm a little wiser myself.""Oh," Katniss breathed out trying to smile at the other woman's name."Yeah, everything is so strict." Peeta grinned.She jammed her hands in her pockets, feeling like a dork for being jealous of his girlfriend. "I need to find a vendor for bread and pastries.""I can help you with that, I'm the best baker in town!" He honestly smiled at her for the first time ever. She really didn't quite know how to feel about it. "We can come up with a seasonal menu that would be cost efficient, giving you high-profit margins.""Really?" Katniss was shocked that he would want to help her with the food. No one was ever this nice to her. Normally there was a backhanded compliment or disguised joke made at her expense. She wondered where it was."Is Hawthorne helping you out with this?" Peeta asked, his tone was harsh, and his face became hard. He was doing a poor job at concealing his dislike for the man.Katniss shook her head. And there was the jab."We're not together anymore. I found him with another… we broke up." She managed to remember to stop, just before humiliating herself again in front of Peeta Mellark. "I'm surprised you don't know about it, the whole incident was filmed. I made it to Tosh.0 according to my friend Finnick," She said uneasily."Oh, I wouldn't have known. With the bakery and all, I really can't keep up with current events, but that sounds like a big invasion of privacy," he said, it didn't sound like a shrug. It almost sounded like he was honestly concerned about her. "Well, then this is-""Look, I know you two hate each other, but if you're going to gloat and make some 'I-told-you-so' comment, please spare me. I'm not good with relationships. Believe me, I know I'm not exactly socially adequate to be running around in society." Katniss rolled her eyes, trying to keep it light. She tried desperately not to sound like a loser, but she wasn't successful. "Lord knows my family delights in pointing it out to me. But please, don't gloat about Gale. I feel kind of small right now. I'm well aware I'm an idiot, you know. I'm not the girl everyone wants."Peeta's face became unreadable. But she kept on talking."Gale wasn't even sorry about leading me on, he only made it clear the girl he'd met in New York, Glimmer from England, was a better fit for him. He said I was like him, that we both were waiting for that wow moment. I guess I'm not wow enough." Katniss swallowed to keep the tears from falling. She ended up feeling sorry for herself."Katniss," Peeta said seriously, staring straight in her eyes, "Just so you know, I do not think you're an idiot. Gale is the idiot."He looked around the empty shop space.Katniss watched him, wondering when the death blow was going to come. She was used to being rejected.After a moment of contemplation, Peeta said, "I know I was pretty rude at the Christmas party, for which I had no right, especially while wearing that awful reindeer sweater."Katniss agreed, "It was pretty bad."They chuckled about it awkwardly.Peeta rubbed the back of his neck, an indication that he was nervous. "I also was rude to you at the book launch. In hindsight I shouldn't have left you get...-" he took a breath. "What I'm trying to tell you, and I'm doing a rather poor way of saying it, is...-"Katniss looked expectantly at him, thinking this is where Peeta Mellark insulted and cast her off to the wolves."I like you." He said with a ragged breath. "And I might possibly be, the biggest idiot in this story for being such an ass.""Yes," Katniss rolled her eyes, her tone sarcastic. "You like me with my uncontrollable mouth, drinking habits, and horrid fat self. I do have to agree that you were quite an ass," She mumbled the last part. "Dear Diary: I stand by the cornucopia like in the Hunger Games waiting for the boy I love to strike me dead!" "Alright, agreed, I'm an ass. Yes, you tend to be a bit of a duck out of water on certain occasions. You tend to say the first thing that comes into your brain, but I like your sweet, naive side, I like that your head seems to be working with a malfunctioning filter. I like that you would rather walk away, than to be a further embarrassment to your family, even though I think they should be damned proud of you. I like the way you defend the people you care about, even when their behavior is inexcusable. And I like that you can still sing, even in the most horrid ordeals. I like you Katniss, simple as that. You are so... pure, and to me, you're perfect. I like you just as you are."Katniss was stunned, but before either one could say or do anything, Jo appeared. "Peeta, there you are! Listen we've got to finish the books."Peeta was about to say something when Jo spoke again."Time is wasting, Mellark," Jo came into the store and noticing Katniss for the first time, she grinned "Oh, hi… Katniss, is it?" Without waiting for an answer, she pulled him away. "Come on, you promised me ice-cream if we finished on time.""Right. Okay, I have to go now." He said almost disappointed.She watched him leave, her mouth still hung open. She felt as if a giant hole opened up and swallowed her live. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- "Dear Diary: Brain cannot compute what Peeta Mellark said. He likes me just as I am. Need to have this scrutinized by the best minds I know, my friends. I am sure they can decipher what he meant! Perhaps lack of alcohol is driving me insane!" The emergency meeting the next evening was absolutely necessary as far as Katniss was concerned. Never mind that there were serious matters like Madge giving her an in with book deals, and setting up the hottest selling authors to come to the store for the grand opening, those were the least of their concerns. This meeting was all about Peeta's words and their meaning.Katniss sat holding her unopened can of cheap beer, the only drink she could afford these days and watched her friend's expectantly.They all stared back blankly.Katniss felt the huge spotlight shifted overhead. "Well, what do you guys think?" She asked fidgeting with the beer can."He likes you just as you are," Said Delly absently, the Starbucks coffee she snuck into the district was halfway to her lips.Katniss shook her head. Delly was no good to her right now. The girl was near tears.She turned to Madge, "Well what do you think it means, Madge?""Just like that?" Madge stumbled on the words. She picked up her bottle of Jack and drank straight from it. "That's unheard of. No man says that kind of things to you unless he is pissing drunk or inside of you.""If he really said you were perfect, just as you are, He means…he likes You, just as you are." Finnick repeated, shaking his head stunned. "No one has ever said that to me," He whispered dejectedly.Her friends couldn't believe it. Neither could she."I still don't know if I heard it correctly. Maybe I'm going deaf! Maybe there was some sort of temporal time disorder at that moment and it messed with my vision and hearing. You know, my left ear has been acting up lately." Katniss fell back into the chair.Delly asked, "Seriously Katniss, what are you going to do if you see him again?""Be cordial to him. Honestly, I don't even know if I'll get to see him again." Katniss uttered, it was true she didn't think she'd see him again. Although he did offer to supply her with baked goods from his shop, but, she quickly discarded the notion as nonsense. Men like Peeta Mellark were not interested in girls like her unless it was pure friendship or in this case sound business practice. "Dear Diary: An update, Weight: I've thrown out the scale…read further below for fascinating explanation…! Drink: Coffee, well not considered coffee since I mostly take loads of milk and sugar with it. Not one Alcoholic beverage consumed in days, proudly, I can say, caffeine is my new drug of choice! It helps justify the insomnia. Peeta Mellark and I have become friends and I spend my nights wondering how that has happened? I have discovered why Peeta reminds me of my father. He is helpful and noble, just like my father, always willing to lend a helping hand. My new friend keeps me supplied with the most delicious bread. Oh, how I dream about Peeta…I mean bread…..I dream about warm delicious yummy… oh Hell! Peeta, I dream about Peeta constantly! He knows my eating habits so well he promised to make me a cheese bun, I am not sure about that. He says I will like them…time will tell. Only one cog in the friendship wheel. That stick of a woman with big gufungas, named Jo. She is his "buddy"- But I believe she's secretly implanted a tracking device on him, that goes off whenever we're together longer than 15 minutes. Buddy my foot! More like boyfriend seeking Cyborg! Why am I pining away for a man that will never see me other than a frumpy librarian?!" A few weeks later she sat across from Peeta on the floor of her still unfurnished shop.When he started coming by, Katniss acted aloof, but she found herself opening up to him. She struggled with permits and contractors and all sorts of issues, and he was readily available to help her navigate around the obstacles. He was a well of knowledge and didn't squander his advice. She was grateful for that.She wanted to give up, she shoved the laptop away from herself in frustration. "I can't-do this.""Of course you can!" He said soothingly, smiling sweetly, with just the right touch of shyness, it made her believe him, if even for a second. He pulled up a box and sat next to her. "Here, let me. Look, you've got this far. All you have to do is install the right food equipment, get certified baristas, and fill up your shelves with amazingly good books." Peeta took her computer and reviewed her documents for the town. He made a few changes before announcing cheerfully, "There. All done!""How am I supposed to find baristas?" Katniss scrubbed her eyes tiredly, with the tip of her fingers."You put an ad in the paper," He answered easily, "I'm sure you'll hear from someone who knows how to operate that machine in no time." Peeta pointed to the still boxed up espresso machine in the corner.Everything was so simple and possible when Peeta was around. She glanced at him and smiled, noticing those damned eyelashes of his with envy. She picked up her notebook and wrote down, "Okay, put an ad in the paper."As if on cue Jo opened the front door. "Mellark!"Peeta put down the computer. His voice distilled annoyance and tiredness. "Jo, what is it this time?""The repair guy is here to fix that oven," Jo glanced at Katniss, "Hi there, Katniss. Still, want to do this?"Katniss bravely stood. "More than ever.""That's what I thought," Jo grumbled as she pushed Peeta out of the store.Katniss checked her watched. "Fifteen minutes on the dot!" Dear Diary; Weight: Blech Drinking: Not going to quantify this prompt with an answer. I have other meatier pressing problems to work out. Is it wrong of me, to want Johanna the cyborg to disappear and give me just a little of Peeta's time? True that all I would do is stare at his ass. Seriously though he's got a gorgeous rump, along with his eyes, his chest, that smile...sigh...everything. Though must say there is more to Peeta besides his looks. I often see him chatting to the people on the street, he is generous, kind, warm, and sweet. I've never seen him treat anyone poorly, he's particularly good with children. Whenever he's helping me with the paperwork, he always makes me feel as if I am his equal. He also is stubborn, when he get's an idea in his head it's hard to change his mind, but he's not above reason. Unlike me where I tend to lose my better judgment when angered past rational thought, as evidenced by the video floating out in the universe. Peeta is the opposite of Gale who at times treated me dismissively like a pet. Honestly, I thought him not wanting to sleep with me was an act of gentlemanly conduct. He treated me poorly and Gale had it coming to him. If anything, had he not acted in such a manner I wouldn't have gotten fired and I wouldn't have dared to achieve my dreams. I do owe him a debt of gratitude. Though the debt of gratitude I owe Gale is insubstantial, I feel the debt of gratitude I owe Peeta is weighty. Both men are so different. Peeta has been supportive and instrumental in my endeavor and Gale merely the catalyst. Gale was cheeky and intense. I had to watch what I said around him for fear that an argument would erupt. Whenever I am with Peeta I don't have to worry about what I say. He likes me just as I am...not my words but his. These words still send me into a tizzy! I thought I was an expert on hunger, but seeing Peeta makes me starved for his attention. I eat Pizza I think of Peeta I drink chocolate I think of Peeta I eat bread I think of Peeta Cinnamon reminds me of Peeta I am going to have to change my diet or do what Madge said, corner Peeta and gobble him up. I AM PEETA STARVED! ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Dear Diary; Weight: Ha...what weight…! Emotional Status: Anxious Stress: Through the roof. Sex Life: Dead on arrival...wellllll actually that's not exactly true. My libido is not dead, it's quite active at night. Good grief, the bread has morphed into a suave personification of nail-biting sexy. I've started to dream about Peeta dressed in that tuxedo telling me he wants to drink me, like a martini. He walks into the store, stares at me with those smoldering blue eyes and gives me that panty soaking grin. Next thing I know I'm ripping my clothes off and he's pounding into me with his thick long manhood, as I scream, please shake me and stir me. Just imagining what he looks like under his clothing makes me all hot and bothered. Whenever he walks into the shop the music starts playing. The other day he caught me singing Adel's 'Skyfall' as I was sorting through boxes. He just stood there staring at me momentarily before asking to taste test what he'd come up with for the store. His samples made my taste buds dance. He beamed at my reactions and suggestions. That grin of his always fills my stomach with butterflies. That is until Johanna comes-a-knockin, always within fifteen. Our friendship has progressed to phone calls, he calls me to go over some detail of the store and we end up chatting about other things as he helps me with a phone number of a local store owner. He even has helped me with getting in contact with the local newspaper, an ex-marketer that makes excellent advertisements for the district's businesses. He's even texted me. I've also noticed Peeta always seems to find a way to stay a little bit longer, and he's constantly texting me funny quips that brighten my day. Something one of my friends would do, but I don't I wish to switch places with Johanna. There was a knock on the door. Katniss put her diary down frowning wondering who it could be. She glanced at her watch it was only six, and by all means, it was early on a Friday night, but she just didn't have the energy. It had been a long grueling day she'd gotten all of her shipments, all the while conducting interviews for a barista. With her opening only a month and a half away Katniss was pushing her limits.Tonight all she wanted to do is, drink some boxed wine, heat up one of those bland cardboard tasting good for you pizzas and sleep in. In many ways she was grateful her friends couldn't make it out here this weekend, it gave her the ability to shower and slip into her pajamas."Peeta?" "Dear Diary: Dkheidkejgjie;akd;ejfidf!" "Hi," Peeta's eyes darted about the inside. "I didn't catch you at a bad time.""What are you doing here?""I ah, had nothing to do so I brought some movies and I brought cheese buns. Figured that we can share some food." He held up the shopping bag in the air."Where's Johanna?""She's out of town," Peeta shrugged."Does Johanna know you're here?""She's the one who suggested I come here." "Dear Diary; I've been lied to before by men. I also do not want to be the other woman. I am conflicted as to whether or not to believe him, though when he smiles I can't find malice or deception in his smile. He looks so innocent standing at my door with those muscular arms. He looks perfect in a gray corded shirt that hugs his biceps and dark jeans. How many muscles can a man have? Wait what am I wearing? Stay calm Katniss smile. Damn, damn, damn! Great, just realized I'm in Oscar the grouch slippers, green pajama bottoms with little yellow bow and arrows, and a gray sweatshirt that had seen better days. Why do I always look like a hot mess? Katniss, girl, keep it together….think about Johanna his girlfriend…the fembot with the super jugs. Is his phone ringing? " His phone buzzed and he said, "Sorry, have to take this, it's Jo?" He shifted the bags to one hand to answer his phone he put it on speaker. Katniss could hear Johanna's voice."Hey, are you over her apartment?""Yeah, say hello Katniss?""Ah, hi Johanna," Katniss felt bad for doubting Peeta."Good boy, okay take me off speaker…" Joanna demanded. Peeta did as she bade him and put the phone to his ear. He nodded several times and his ears became red before finally hanging up. "So, are you going to let me in?"She let him through he'd proven to a perfect boyfriend. "This way," Katniss murmured closing the door. He followed her to the kitchen that was to the left. Whatever was in that bag was going to be much better than frozen pizza."Nice, stove.""Thank you, it's a hand me down. Finnick was redoing his kitchen and gave me this one.""You've got a better kitchen than me, that convection microwave oven is fancy.""I don't even use it, I use the one under the counter, it's a cheaper version but at least I know how to use it."Peeta laughed, "Okay, I like your honesty."Her heart rate tripled and she mentally told herself to act cool. "What are we making?""Actually I make meals for myself well in advance so that I can just reheat them during the week."Katniss didn't think like that. She was scrimping and saving her meals lately had been dollar bargain type of deals. Very reminiscent of when she was a kid. "I've never done that, mostly I eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or sometimes I go wild and have a tuna sandwich or celebrate with the occasional frozen meal.""Katniss I've seen your meals, remember." He pointed to the Pizza that was on the counter, still half frozen. "That's why I'm here."She blushed, "Okay so I don't have a great diet. But I've got to save every last penny, and that," she pointed to the carton. Katniss prepared to say a lie and say it was delicious, she couldn't."Go ahead, what about that diet pizza."Squaring her shoulders she said the truth, "I shall have you know that pizza was on sale and I used a coupon!"He grinned, and those darned butterflies went ballistic in her tummy."So does this mean you don't want what I have in the bag?"She took the box and threw it inside of the freezer. "I can always save my frozen meal for another day.""Good choice, I've got fresh cheese buns, and I've made chicken and potatoes in a red wine sauce. All we have to do is reheat in a microwave and enjoy."Katniss curiosity peeked at the mention of the cheese buns. Her expectations were shattered when she tasted the flaky doughy bread infused with dill and gooey goat cheese. His joy was apparent on his face as she ate. His meal was the best thing she tasted in months.With dinner over and the dishes done they gravitated toward her living area. She sat on the sofa feeling like a stuffed like a manicotti. Peeta slipped the movie to the DVD player, "Wasn't sure what you liked, but I heard you singing Skyfall and thought you might like action films.""I do." An hour later she regretted her words. Peeta brought one of those apocalyptic end of the world Zombies were after you movies. She was curled up by his side, more like plastered to his broad muscular chest. She was practically part of his shirt.nHis arm went around her to comfort her.Katniss stopped breathing for a minute. Once more the powerful sensation that she was home hit her. She wanted to kiss him to stake her claim but then she remembered Joanna. He was most likely here to lend her his support as a friend. Her heart sunk.When the movie was over he smiled. "I thought you like action movies.""Peeta Mellark, that was no action movie!""I didn't know you were chicken.""I'm not a chicken, but a zombie apocalypse is not my type of movie." She shuddered, "I don't know if I will be able to recover, I think I will need massive amounts of therapy. How's your insurance?"He chuckled and she nervously looked at the clock it was only nine at night. It was still a respectable time for him to get home.Peeta gave her that cute dimpled grin of his. "I'll give it to you on Monday, next time I'll bring a James Bond movie.""At least James doesn't eat brains or people.""He only blows them up."Katniss was about to say something else but she started laughing, he laughed and she thought to herself that even his laugh was perfect. They slowly shifted to the door. It was one of those moments that had to end even though you didn't want it to. She opened the door but neither one made a move to end the evening."This was nice.""Thank you, for coming over…-" The tips of her ears felt really warm."It was nothing. I, ah, like what you've done with the place. It has plenty of space. My place is crowded, overrun with things I need for the bakery. I don't have the luxury of a basement. I have a fold out bed and dresser that has seen better days."Katniss chuckled, "Most of this stuff is furniture from my friends.""It's good to have friends," Peeta murmured. "Dear Dairy; There it is the friend-zone speech. All emotional stations embrace for impact and maximum damage." "I know that without Jo I wouldn't have been able to open my bakery. I just don't want you to feel alone in this. I'll pop by Sunday to help you stock the shelves.""Really?""Yeah, bring the peanut butter and jelly. I'll bring the bread.""Okay," Katniss said closing the door. "Ugh, why do you have to be so flipping handsome and unavailable?" A thought occurred to her, "Wait do I have peanut butter left?" ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Katniss decided she needed a break from the store. She was in her bathtub soaking listening to Madge."So he just showed up at your apartment, uninvited, but with food and a movie?" Madge said over the phone.Madge was the only one she'd been able to contact. Finnick and Delly were having a spa day. "Yep, he showed up with a zombie movie.""You're not into zombie movies, hell you don't like scary movies at all." Katniss could hear the wheels in her friends head turning, Katniss was just as confused.Madge had the most dating under her belt, Katniss was glad she'd picked up, "I hate them, though action films I love.""And Johanna was fine with him showing up at your house?" Katniss could hear her friend's mixture gobsmacked disbelief over the speaker."She called him while standing at my door. Put me on speaker with her, she wanted to make sure Peeta was following her instructions.""Katniss either they are just friends and she's trying to push him toward her or…-"Madge drifted off, this was a sign that she was thinking something that Katniss wasn't going to like. She braced herself for what her friend was about to say. "What do you mean or?""There's only one other explanation," she began whispering. "They like to play on the swings my dear, and like to share the swings with other friends," Madge said. She was at her boyfriend's home, and she couldn't speak the way she normally spoke. Her boyfriend's parents were boring and very bland. Madge had to be on her best behavior. Anything sexual was coded to avoid an issue with them. 'Swings' meant 'swingers' and 'Share Swings' meant Johanna and Peeta had an 'open relationship.'She emphatically loathed the idea of having to share Peeta."Katniss they might be looking for a third party, you know someone to swing with them.""EWEE…a threesome…no…I'm not that type of girl." Katniss couldn't imagine herself in bed with two people, she wrinkled her nose at the thought of having to compete with Johanna's boobs.Madge laughed, "Listen I know out of all of us you are the prude one but if you want Peeta, this might be the only way to get him."Katniss thought about it for a second, and then she scowled, "Madge I don't like sharing, what's mine.""Yeah, that's the problem I had with Daniel Cleaver." Madge sighed, "He wanted me to join him in his bed with every other girl he picked up. Look I have to go now, my boyfriend is looking for me. But you have to find out if Peeta into open relationships, okay bye."Katniss hung up the phone with Madge and wondered to herself how she was going to ask Peeta if he and Johanna were swingers. Dear Diary, A swinger? An open relationship? I am a prude, I admit it. I do not think I can be that woman for anyone, no matter who it is. I'll gladly go by the name of Sister Katniss of Perpetual Pureness. But seriously how in the world am I going to ask Peeta this? UGH I NEED A DRINK! Where did I store those boxed wine's I purchased today for an emergency. Doesn't this count as one?" Sunday morning Katniss found herself in her store amongst stacks of books. Last weekend she'd had gone through the trouble of separating them into two gigantic piles Fiction and Non-Fiction. Today she was separating the books by genre and then organizing the genre by author's names. The shelves were already set up and they had their titles on the sides and the top indicating the genre. She wanted to make sure it was easy for her clients to find the books.She hummed to herself as she worked nervously thinking of the arrival of her helper, Peeta Mellark.Despite the obvious awkward conversation they needed to have, no thanks to her friend Madge, she wanted to see Peeta. Overalls were the only thing she didn't feel fat in. She'd braided her hair an attempt to look nice lately she'd been piling her locks up into a messy bun. But today she'd taken care to look cute. Her heart pitter-patted 'Peeta's Coming,' since the moment she'd opened her eyes. She glanced at her cell phone it read seven in the morning. She groaned she had five more hours before he'd shown up.Katniss expected him to stop by midday, peanut butter and jelly was normally eaten at lunchtime. She wanted this non-date to go well. She bought a smooth and a chunky peanut butter; she'd also got grape jelly, grape jam, and an apple preserve. Katniss had long discovered that the local dollar store carried a wide variety of staples that were otherwise expensive in a groceries store.She was pulling a heavy crate of books across the floor when she slipped on bubble wrap and lost her footing. Her arms were waving wildly as she fell backward and fell into something solid, she craned her neck to see it was Peeta. "Dear Diary, Why must I always look like a loon in front of him? He must think I'm insane or a loser! For that matter that shade of red is gorgeous on him. Does he have to look scrumptious in everything he wears?" He helped her up, and for a second standing there in his arms, their breaths became in synch. Katniss swallowed and she noted the way his eyes followed the column of her throat. His arms tightened around her and that heavenly smell of cinnamon enveloped her. His eyes grew large on his face. And she became nervous, and even imagined that his head tipped toward hers. She scrambled away from him. "How did you get in?"He rubbed the back of his head looking down, before glance back up at her. "Your back door was opened…are you okay?"Katniss blushed she kept on hearing the cheesy seventies porn music. "Oh yeah, sorry I just slipped.""I brought us some breakfast, I wasn't sure if you were hungry," He turned to the small pastry box he'd put on one of the piles. "I'll get the bread at lunchtime."Katniss cleared her throat and turned pink."Katniss are you okay, you look like you're coming down with something?""No," her eyes darted about, "Yes, it's just that I just thought of an embarrassing conversation I had with one of my friends.""Oh."Katniss began to ramble, "It's wholly inappropriate, and I shouldn't even be speaking much less tell you my good friends dirty laundry. But my friend had a man in her life but he wanted an open relationship and she tried it but it wasn't to her liking. I mean I am a monogamous relationship, but not that I would ever condemn anyone who believed in a polyamorous relationship. For me I am a monogamous type of girl, I don't like to share what's mine."Peeta chuckled, "I believe in monogamy to Katniss."His answer caused her to physically relax. "I'm sorry her conversation had me on edge. You were right I have verbal diarrhea.""Katniss I thought we went over this. I like you there's no need to apology. And while we are at it. I've been meaning to apologize for my poor behavior that day. My mother had been trying to pair me up with several young ladies at the party that day."Katniss wasn't sure what to believed she'd been lied to and made to look like a fool."There was a girl named Bridgett that she was trying to get me give a second chance to. She was passed out drunk...under the buffet table. I was trying to get my mother off of my back, and regretfully you heard me say those things." He pulled out his phone, and showed her an image of the buffet table, with a blond woman passed out at the table right. "My cousin took this picture, right before you fell into the punch bowl, there's Bridgett under the table."She should have felt mortified, but then she chuckled at the sight of the blond woman under the table just as she fell into the punch bowl. The woman's outfit was worse than hers, it looked like she was dressed in Christmas themed tapestry. "Does she have a tree handbag?""Yep, my mother was trying to hook me up with that.""Wow, I am so sorry.""Well my mother was also trying to get me to like you as well, and it worked. I like you."The intense way he said it made her blush. Katniss saw the box of pastries. "Okay, maybe I'm a little hungry."He lifted an eyebrow and opened the pastry box, "Whatever you like is yours?"The way he said it caused shivers to run up and down her spine. Katniss grabbed the chocolate donut with the chocolate frosting and sprinkles, it was the only thing could cool her spiraling libido. She shoved it in her mouth wondering how she was going to survive the day without clobbering him over the head and dragging him upstairs into her she-layer and having her way with him."So where would you like me?"His words caused her to think of a dozen places or so she'd like to take him. She grabbed another chocolate donut and pointed to the section furthest from her. As he walked away in her mind she began chanting the Bond theme. Dear Diary; Being friends with Peeta Mellark, sucks, especially when you want to be more. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- "Dear Diary: Weight: Hell I don't want to recognize those numbers…. Drink: Cannot lie have friends here for moral support…will be plastered by the end of the night. Peeta status…wellll...still stuck in the mud. Sigh, I've been friend-zoned. Though I must confess Peeta has the largest heart. Ever since that day when we had our peanut butter and jelly date, he has spent every Sunday with me helping me set up the store. He has become one of my closest friends. This weekend though it's all about my squad. They are all here to figure out what's going on with me since I've invested so much time in the store…and of course, to lend massive support, not only to be nosy." Katniss was busy in her kitchen, trying to keep up with the conversation around her. Tonight she splurged and bought ingredients to make a good meal. It was very nice to have her friends come and stay for the night. Although they were drinking her wine boxed wine not one of them complained. Katniss was cutting up potatoes to add to her soup.Finnick asked, "So is he a swinger?""No!" Katniss sputtered. "He isn't, well at least that is what he said to me.""I don't think he's a swinger," Delly said."How would you know you've never met the man?" Finnick gasped, "Wait Delly are you a swinger?"Katniss stopped her chopping to look over her shoulders."I don't kiss and tell," Delly stuck her tongue out at Finnick and Madge.Katniss chuckled. Her grin didn't last long."Katniss you have blue balls," Madge said to her as she was in the kitchen.Katniss turned red; it was true she was lusting after Peeta in a bad way. She was so wound tight not being able to touch Peeta Mellark in a non-platonic way that she had to snap herself from daydreaming about him constantly. In her head, she had her latest fantasy where she opened up the fly of his jeans and had her way with him, in her imagination he tasted like cheese buns."Speaking of blue, why is the soup blue?" Delly asked."OH CRAP!" Katniss yelled. She'd used string to tie the leak had turned everything blue. She was miserable but her friends were all laughing, and no one heard the knocking or when the door opened."You okay?"Her head snapped to the side and there he was the personification of all of her wet dreams, standing there with bags in his hands."Hi," her cheeks turned a brand of red only used for muscle cars. "Dear Diary, What is Peeta Mellark doing in my home, in my kitchen, with my friends? We've made no plans to get together. He just showed up. Well, at least time I look cute, I'm wearing my most flattering jeans, and a long tunic shirt that covers my big butt. Wait did he just glance at my rear-end?" Finnick, Madge, and Delly stood there with their mouths open."Peeta," her voice squeaked and she stood staring at him. When she remembered her manners. "These are my friends. This is Madge, Delly, and Finnick.""Hi," the chorus awkwardly said before Madge blurted out. "Fuck me."Peeta laughed, "You must be Madge."Madge grinned, "Just saying if you ever want to go a round or two…"Peeta's eyes touched hers briefly, then he looked at Madge in the eyes, "I'm a one-woman kind of guy. Always have been.""Well," Finnick said, "That's great but wonder chef here had managed to mess up my dinner, and frankly I'm starved."Delly piped, "I would offer my assistance but as every single one of my boyfriends know I am useless in the kitchen. I'm only good at eating.""Good grief that is the truth, do you remember when we did that charismas cookie exchange, and Delly thought it would be creative to add codfish to her sugar cookies." Finnick shook his head, "It was awful, simply awful. No amount of alcohol removed the taste.""They weren't," Delly said, but Katniss gave her the same pointed look Finnick and Madge were giving. Delly laughed, "Okay…okay," she threw her hands in the air, "I'll admit they were atrocious. Absolutely disgusting, I don't know how you guys ate them all.""Don't you remember I started making lots of blended fruity drinks," Finnick, "It was the only way to keep them down," he winked.Peeta sided up to Katniss, he grimaced when he saw the blue broth. "So I brought a movie if you guys want you can go relax while Katniss and I make something out of what I have in my bag and whatever frozen food option she has in her freezer.Katniss opened her mouth, she wanted to deny that she had a stack of frozen foods, but he'd seen the proof. She clamped her mouth shut."Come Finnick, escort me to the sofa, my legs are wobbly…" Delly said taking Finnick and Madge by the hands and pushing them out. It was clear that they wanted to act like flies on the wall."Okay let's get cooking," He put his packages on the table. "I've got a roasted chicken with me. I see the potatoes have been spared the pot, so we can easily make mashed potatoes. What else have you got here?""What about dessert?""I got that covered, I brought you samples of the exclusive cakes and pasties just for your café. Like roasted expresso chocolate cake."Katniss wanted to hug him. "I've got a frozen vegetable medley bag.""Well let's get to work," he paused and looked at the blue soup, "We can make it taste good."Katniss grinned, "They will never let me live this down."Peeta chuckled, "That is what friends do, and imagine the laughs we'll have later on," he said washing his hands. Katniss immediately wondered what he meant. "I mean at least this will taste mile better than Delly's cookies."Katniss nodded but she was very much confused, it sounded to her ears as if they were going to be more than friends. Katniss pushed it out of her head because of course, he was with Johanna. She helped him make the food she wasn't a complete idiot in the kitchen but she didn't think that blue string would have died the soup.They were at the table when Johanna called Peeta, he got up and excused himself immediately the questions began."Holly," Madge blurted out her curse word swallowed by her taking a swig of her wine cup. "Katniss, pictures do not do that man justice! No wonder you are tighter than the suspension cables on the Brooklyn Bridge.Katniss sunk low into her chair. Madge was the only one who knew about her recurring fantasies."Madge is right, and he cooks like an angel," Finnick took a piece of the chicken that Peeta brought over. "I don't care who this Johanna is, you steal him and get knocked up Katniss."Katniss eyes went round, "Finnick!""What Finnick is saying Katniss," Delly said, "Is that we like him, and he said nice things about you."Madge had food in her mouth, "Good grief, woman, stop being nice, I'm with Finnick, steal him from Johanna, seriously we need to keep him around if not for the eye candy."Hey," Finnick protested."Sorry, but he's gorgeous," Madge wiggled her eyebrows, at Finnick."Delly interjected "And he can cook, he's like a legit chef. I couldn't believe what he did with Katniss, cookie monster's blue soup?""Cookie monster blue soup, I love that!" Madge said lifting her glass of boxed wine."They all started laughing."Sorry, I...what's so funny?" Peeta looked confused."They're making fun of my soup," Katniss said. "They're calling it the Cookie Monster Soup."Peeta sat down, "It's a great name for it."The laughter died down."I have to say that was a great meal," Finnick said. "Of course you spent exactly thirty minutes in the kitchen and produced a blue soup that looked like you melted cookie monster in, and thank goodness for Peeta to come and rescue you, or else we would've ended the night by eating frozen pizza."Katniss cheeks turned pink."We still love you, and like you," Finnick said glancing at Madge and Delly before his eyes landed on Peeta. "Just the way you are.""To Katniss," Madge lifted her wine glass."Just the way you are," Delly said dreamily.Katniss couldn't help be caught in Peeta's blue gaze, her friends toasted. Her heart sped up and she could feel as if they were the only ones in the room. "Dear Diary: Queue up Martha and the Vandals: Heat Wave…Whenever I'm with you, Something inside, Starts to burn deep, And my heart's filled with fire…..I am definitely filled with fire, and it shows up in my cheeks. I have to remind myself to behave. I cannot be the other woman, and treat poor Johanna the same way. I am not that girl. I can never be that girl." Katniss picked up her wine glass and sipped it. It brought her back to reality. He was involved with someone she reminded her self, over and over again. He was with someone. She also reminds herself that he was the one who stole Gale's fiance. And she Katniss Everdeen did not have a good track with men either. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Dear Diary, In these past few months, we've grown so close that we just pop over each other's apartments. Johanna doesn't live with him because Peeta doesn't have a lot of space. His apartment is basically a galley kitchen and a sofa bed. The other rooms are storage for the bakery. I think though Johanna values her privacy, she definitely wears the pants in that relationship. She calls and he runs. Needless to say, my feelings towards him have multiplied but I am wholeheartedly conflicted. I am attracted to him, for real, and not just because he's freaking gorgeous, I have an attachment to him a bond that no matter what I do I cannot shake. Although I would love to live one day in Johanna's shoes I would never want to be the one help end their relationship. I don't want to be the other woman. I wouldn't want to be that woman who prides herself as waiting in the wings, nor would I want to be the rebound girl again. I want to be Peeta's first choice but it will never happen. I am part of a one-sided star-crossed lover team. I am destined to be his friend. So instead I will cherish this time life has afforded me and daily remind myself I must concentrate on the store opening. It's upon me and I've never been more anxious. Thank goodness for the magic of boxed wine, to help cope with my nerves. Peeta tells me I need to relax. I laugh, and look down at my huge thighs and think at this rate I'll never be able to fit the front door. It will happen one day just wait and see. "You're going to be fine."Katniss wasn't sure. They were upstairs in her apartment, Peeta made her soup and some fresh dinner rolls. He teased her though about the Cookie Monster debacle as a way to make her laugh. Throughout the evening her eyes kept on straying to the strong line of his shoulders, it was a better activity than having to think about tomorrow. She couldn't believe tomorrow she'd be opening up her store. As Peeta had promised everything had come together.He put the dish towels down. He looked so at home here. Her apartment smelled like him, like cinnamon, fresh bread, and dill. She'd come upstairs and found him in her kitchen baking and cooking. He had such an attractive but."Listen to me you're going to be fine.""Peeta what if I fall on my face, what if no one wants to buy an actual book? I mean people don't even buy books anymore they download them on to their computer's, phones, and tablets. Am I insane for doing this? Or what if the coffee isn't good enough, or what if-""Stop."Katniss blinked.He put his hands on her shoulders, before holding her. "First off, you've got a website where people can buy the books online from your store, and download them on to their apps, for all of those people out there who don't want to buy a real book."Katniss heard the James Bond music in her head. She felt so comfortable here in his arms, she snuck a peek up at him. "Dear Diary; There's a reason I keep on having that recurring dream of Peeta looking like James Bond. We almost always end up sweaty and naked. Sigh if my fantasies could only become a reality. This man is gorgeous. I am staring at his lips not having a clue as to what he saying. Blink Katniss pay attention." "I won't let you fail, we can do this together. Plus you've got Madge, who has lined up some great authors, Finnick has some of his show business friends who'll be here promoting a book or movie. You will not fail. Not to mention you've got some exclusively made treats from this town's best baker."She blushed pushing herself away.Peeta had gone above and beyond. He created some treats that would only be sold in her shop. That chocolate espresso cake was one of her favorites, as well as the cheese buns.He reached out and slipped a lock of her hair behind her ear. "There's nothing to fear, well only the caffeine-starved crowds, but it's not like there will be a massive gathering of Zombies or anything."Katniss chuckled, "You are never going to forget that darned movie.""Nope, I can't believe you are such a scaredy-cat when it comes to zombies and ghosts.""Brain-eating Zombies, not my idea of a lovely movie," Katniss shuddered.Peeta grinned, "I know you've got a fondness for James Bond." "Dear Diary, Envisioning Peeta in that damned James Bond Suit as he pushes me up against a wall. Having his way with me….gah! Are my cheeks turning red, I feel the red flush coming. Oh dear, get it under control Katniss!" She cleared her throat. "Well, what's not to love? He wears a tuxedo. Has cool gadgets. Saves the world, and he's devastatingly handsome.""Remind me never to take you anywhere near Daniel Craig, or any of the living men who've played James Bond, I can only imagine what you would do?""Well as long as I'm not drunk, I'd be like a squealing fangirl," Katniss couldn't help the grin on her face."I find it adorable how your face gets all blotchy when you smile like that.""Well, some people would say its hives."Peeta laughed."Thank you, for making me feel better, and for cooking."He separated from her and pulled out of his bag. "It's the least I could do, besides I didn't want to explain to the whole world why my tongue was blue. These cheese buns are just for you, for tonight or in the morning. Have a good night's rest."Katniss watched him leave her apartment. She hugged the box to her chest. He was like a cheese bun absolutely delicious. "Dear Diary; Opening the shop tomorrow will most likely set the place on fire. Can't be trusted behind the bar. Weight… unspecified. Okay, maybe I'm back to being 160… but it's completely understandable, I'm under a lot of stress here, so shut up! Plus Peeta's CHEESE BUNS…sweet mercy I can't get enough of them!…And don't judge me for what I am about to disclose, my drinking… well, I have four boxed wines. All empty. Underneath my bed. Will be a wreck on opening day… or roaring drunk!" Katniss kept herself away from anything she could knock over the day the store opened.She watched as everyone came to visit her shop, and following her friend's advice, let the patrons browse in peace while smiling politely from a distance. She hoped her smile wasn't scary, her mouth hurt from all of the activity.Even her mother and Bob came to celebrate the inauguration, but they'd disappeared somewhere. Katniss didn't dare think where they disappeared to, but was already planning on having every surface of her little apartment above the store sterilized. In fact, she was wondering if she should burn her sheets just in case, when a deep voice spoke next to her."You'll be fine," Peeta whispered."OH," Katniss jumped in the air. "Sorry," she smiled sheepishly, "I'm a bit jumpy. This is such a big thing, tonight. I didn't expect so many people to show up.""Katniss, this is a big thing in our district. Apart from the coffee sold at the diner, there isn't a coffee bar in town, and oddly enough there isn't a place on Main Street, where people can buy a book. Not to mention the samples of the sandwiches and other treats are phenomenal. Jo is beside herself, she loves your dark brew.""Oh," Katniss somehow kept her smile in place. "Well, at least now she doesn't have to worry where her boyfriend is?"Peeta frowned, then looked surprised, "Jo's not my girlfriend."His declaration was like a swift kick in the gut, she saw stars and heard Mockingjay's sing. She stammered, "I… I… I… thought she was."Peeta shook his head slightly, as the dawn of comprehension began to sink in. "Nope, she's not. You can ask her yourself. Here she comes,""Ask me what?" Jo beamed at them.'Katniss was wondering if we were dating," he asked. "I told her now, but I think she needs to hear it from you," he said with a wide smile."Yuck! Excuse me, but you must be brainless to think that Peeta and I could ever work! He is like the annoying brother I never, ever wanted." She gripped his chin the way a sibling would, just tight enough to hurt. "He is adorable, when he's not around me. That's why I've been pushing him to date you." Jo laughed, "If you thought I was with him, no wonder you didn't get his signals. Man, you are brainless." She took a long sip of coffee with exuberance. "Damn! I have to give it to you, Brainless, this is exceptional coffee." Jo said slapping Katniss on the back.Katniss was pushed forward into Peeta. His hands grabbed her then moved down until his fingers splayed on her lower back, right above her butt. Her fingers splayed on his chest. Her eyes widened, her mouth became dry and her senses were besieged with the warm scent of man, cinnamon, dill, and bread. Jo kept right on speaking, Katniss was a quivering mess."Now... if you'll excuse me, I think I just saw that Darius character winking at me." She sighed with a devilish grin, "You know me and gingers, I can't stay away from them."Mutely, Katniss watched Jo saunter away in astonishment, while the other woman slipped her arm around the district's deputy chief Darius. She looked to Peeta, her semblance of graceful businesswoman went out the window as she lost composure. Just before her big mouth could open and make a greater mess of her situation, someone tapped their fork against a glass. She turned to see Finnick and her friends standing in front of everyone."I am lucky to be the friend of one Katniss Everdeen." Finnick began. "When Kat came into my life, I thought she was attracted to my devastatingly good looks." Everyone laughed. "What she was attracted to, was not my looks, or my considerable fat wallet." Another set of laughter. "She was interested in Me. She liked and accepted me for who I was. She made this possible, and tonight we salute you."Madge and Dell raised their flutes of Champagne with Finnick, "To Katniss Everdeen, we like you just as you are!""Katniss Everdeen, we like you just as you are!" The crowd parroted.Katniss didn't know what to say. She smiled timidly, and her eyes turned to Peeta.Peeta murmured, a tender smile coloring his features, "Just as you are."She smiled back at him, and she could feel him moving closer to her. Caught, she didn't know what to do. What if this was going to be one of those awkward moments when you think a guy is going to kiss you on the lips, but they end up kissing you on the forehead? She waited with bated breath. Her lashes began to flutter shut. "Dear Diary:" "Am I going to be kissed by Peeta Mellark, do I hear Minnie Riperton's "Loving You" in the background!" "Oh damn, I'm in trouble!" "Catnip?"Her world came to a screeching stop. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Damn! She whined internally.Peeta's face became tight as he uttered, "Hawthorne.""I went by the library in the Capitol and found out from Effie, you moved here." Gale pointed out. "I can't believe you did this?"Katniss gaped in disbelief at Gale in her store. "What are you doing here?""I came to say I miss you. I can't seem to forget you. Everywhere I go I see you. Just the other day I was at a party, and someone made an obscure reference. I turned around expecting you to say something academically clever, but you were not there. I miss your itty bitty skirt, and the memory of that bunny outfit has kept me up for nights." Gale took her by the hand, dislodging Peeta away."Oh…" Katniss could only blink.Gale ran his fingers gently over her knuckles, before pulling her further away from Peeta, "Katniss, can we talk?""Now is not the time for this." Katniss shook her head not wanting to get persuaded by Gale. She saw Peeta walk away. Her heart shrank. She didn't want him to leave. Katniss thought she'd read all of the signs wrong. Peeta was not about to kiss her a few minutes ago, he wasn't interested in her in any romantic way. She looked down at her feet, then forced Gale to stop moving. She decided she didn't need either of them to survive. She resolved she'd be a Spinster and a proud one at that!But before she could speak her mind, Peeta dropped his hand heavily on her shoulder. "Oh hell, Katniss! Don't leave with him, he's wrong for you."Gale gave him a nasty, challenging look."I think you and I need to speak outside." Peeta addressed Gale.Gale raised an eyebrow and smirked, "Fine."Both men left her, moving steadily through the crowded store."Katniss, what's going on?" Delly asked frantically, as her friends gathered around her.Finnick, took a sip of his drink and glanced through the window. Peeta was taking off his navy blazer and rolling up his sleeves. Finnick shouted, "FIGHT!"Katniss was pushed forward, by her friends and the people who were in her cafe."What's going on?" She heard Delly ask again.Madge responded, "I don't know, but this can't be good for Katniss."The entire district surrounded them.Peeta hunched down ready to attack, "I should have done this, years ago." He snarled baring his teeth."What? Are you are going to fight me now?" Gale looked incredulous but amused at the same time.Peeta shook his head. "You're right; you're not worth fighting with."Gale laughed, "You were always a priss in college."Peeta continued to walk away, he was headed toward Katniss.Gale taunted, "Cupcake."Peeta didn't pay him any attention, until Gale crossed the line, "Not even a woman like Katniss cares for a guy like you, even if you are a cupcake!"Peeta turned around and rushed at Gale."Crap who are we rooting for?" Finnick asked in excitement.Madge and Delly yelled at the same time, "Peeta!""Oh, right." Finnick chuckled.Madge said, "He's been there for Katniss, helping her open the business, and he likes her just as she is.""Plus he's never dumped her for a woman named Glimmer," Delly said."Right, this is cool!" Finnick said then ducked as Gale and Peeta ran by.Katniss had never had men fight over her. "All of that is right," said Katniss shaking her head sadly, "But, Peeta slept with Gale's fianceé in college, and broke his heart."Her friends were left open-mouthed, about to reply when Gale tried to punch Peeta.Peeta ducked and hit Gale on the chin.Gale teetered backwards, but rushed toward Peeta blindly.They witnessed Peeta lift Gale and toss him like a rag doll.Gale landed in a newly planted bed of flowers, he stood slowly brushing off the dirt. "Damn, you're strong for someone who only just tosses play-dough for a living." Gale saw Peeta charge at him, and ran like a coward.They chased each other through the streets of District Twelve until they came to the fountain in the middle of the town's square. Much to the amusement of the crowd, two grown men were acting like angry little girls as they tried to kick each other. Everyone followed them.Peeta chased "You broke her heart."Gale grunted as Peeta tackled him into the water, "She's frigid.""Then why come after her again?" They stood up and began punching each other in the face or at least trying to. "You cheated on her!""She wouldn't sleep with me. I was stupid that weekend. I realized, later on, she wanted me for real," Gale pushed his wet hair away from his face. "I missed my opportunity with her."Peeta stopped his fist in mid-air dropped to his side, "Really?""Yes," Gale said hunched over and out of breath."Okay," Peeta said and began to walk away."You know what Peeta, if you're so in love with Katniss Everdeen, then you should marry her."Peeta turned around to stare at Katniss, who felt like a deer on high lights."That way, she would definitely screw me, like your wife did!" Gale smirked mockingly, his words made everyone gasp.Peeta turned pale, the truth was finally coming out."Gale?"His head snapped to where she stood. "Katniss! Can't you see I want you? I've liked you for a long time. Then I heard you write in your diary about him. I wanted to know what it felt like." Gale slowly made his way toward her, "To get the girl before he did. I knew I had to be quick, the moment I saw how he looked at you. So I lied."It wasn't Peeta who stole Gale's woman, it was the other way around.Katniss, gritted her teeth, in disbelief that she was lied to, twice, by Gale Hawthorne. All this time she was under the misconception that Peeta, who liked her just the way she was, was a bad person. Regardless of their beginning, he had been nothing but a sweet friend, and Gale had marred her concept of Peeta with fabrications that she believed in. He played with her insecurities about being alone.She snapped."OH HELL NO!" She shouted, all of the pent-up anger inside her, came to the surface like a volcano. In a flash, she jumped into the water and punched Gale square in the face. The poor man had not expected that, and fell back into the water with a comical splash.She shook her hand. "Golly that hurt!"Peeta tenderly took her hand in his, "You really weren't with him?""No," Katniss whispered shyly, "I think I would rather only sleep with the boys I throw dandelions to."A slow smile broke on Peeta's face, "Good, I've always been a goner for girls who have no inhibitions, and run naked around pool parties while singing their hearts out," he murmured right before leaning in to kiss her. "Dear diary: There are a few things in life that are monumental, and one of those is a great first kiss…" Katniss's legs turned to jelly and collapsed as Peeta kissed her passionately and roughly. He easily caught her in his arms, carrying her out of the fountain."Wait a minute," she gasped, "Good boys like you don't kiss like that." Katniss stared at Peeta astonished."Oh yes, we do!" Peeta grinned naughtily as he threw her over his shoulder, making his way back to the building. "Finnick, you got this?" he asked over his opposite shoulder.Katniss saw Finnick give a thumbs up, as Peeta took her not to the bookstore cafe, but to her upstairs apartment. Dear Diary: SCORE! PEETA IS A SEX GOD! ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- The light slowly filtered into the room. Somewhere in the apartment music floated in through the bedroom door. Peeta sang off key, "Deck the Halls!"Christmas was here once more and somehow Peeta convinced her mother that they would make to the party late. He wanted for them to sleep in, and he wanted to spoil her with breakfast in bed."With Boughs of Holly…." Peeta sang.Katniss could not hide her grin at hearing her partner in crime, friend, boyfriend, love of her life butchering a holiday classic song. Happily, she stretched in bed, it was Christmas morning and she was glad the bedlam was over with. The store was going strong, especially that Madge managed to get some pretty high profile authors to her store.Last night they were opened until the last hour, people came to meet Susan Collins. Some were disappointed in the movies, but the books were still a favorite. Katniss stocked up on the books and the movies and her Christmas Eve had been a success."Fa, La, La, La, La, La, La," Peeta sang loudly.Her shoulders shook. She could imagine him shaking his gorgeous butt in the kitchen."Tis the season to be…Jolly!"Peeta was hot, better looking out his clothing than any James Bond she could've imagined, and he looked devastating in a suite. On Thanksgiving, she was like a cat-in-heat around him. She'd gotten him her mother's closet where she'd jumped on him and kissed him until he was breathless. Of course, then there was the bathroom where they'd defiled the toilet seat, but it wasn't enough. As soon as they'd gotten home to their apartment above the bookstore, he'd pounced on her.The next morning when she opened for business, she had a red mark on her neck that she had to cover up with makeup."Fa, La, La, La, La, LAAAA!"She giggled, Peeta was perfect, aside from his singing, but she could deal with that. Katniss closed her eyes. The light from the Christmas tree Peeta insisted they put inside their bedroom filled the room with warmth. Her friends were supportive and a little in awe of the way he treated her.Katniss hadn't heard from Gale, not since that night where she'd finally stood up for herself. She hoped him well, but she just didn't want to see him again.Ever since that fateful kiss at the fountain she'd discovered just how passionate Peeta was. If it wasn't for her having to run her business they would've stayed all day making love. As it was she'd barely been able to walk straight.He didn't care about her wobbly bits nor did he care about her thighs he loved all of her and that in itself was an indicator that he loved her. Last night he'd especially amorous.Her cheeks tinged pink when she thought of where his lips had been, a dull ache began in-between her legs, an ache that was accompanied by the strong feeling of love.Katniss sat up and looked over to the book, identical to the original. She took the book and gently palmed the cover. She took her pen and began to write. Something she stuck to even after she began her relationship with Peeta, he was supportive of her writing. "Dear Diary, Merry Christmas! What a difference a year makes. Last year I began this journey watching Bob and my mother go at it under the tree. I was forced to wear the ugliest outfit known to mankind. I still shudder at that the thought of that vest my mother made with wear. It was a wonder Peeta ever looked my way. I looked like a desperate loser; especially after I fell into the orange punch bowl. That incident was the catalyst that pushed me to step out of my comfort zone. With little prospect, I forged forward in my adventure never knowing how lovely my life would actually turn out. It was fraught with tensions, doubts, and touches of lunacy. My face turns red at some of the things I wrote down. But I can not complain. I've learned valuable lessons. 1. You must love yourself, even with all of the wobbly squishy parts 2. Excessive drinking isn't a wise thing to do during important social situations 3. It is never too late to start over 4. Never trust Gale 5. I have the best friends in the world 6. Get a Phone with better reception 7. Peeta likes rabbits….not explaining that one...though we did have fun! These lessons have led me to my future. Since the store opening my life has changed dramatically. These last few months have been indescribable. No longer a silly lonely spinster. Peeta and I are in a committed relationship, we've moved in together in my apartment above the shop. His place was dismally small and we're are happy together. Madge has gotten engaged to her boyfriend and has introduced Delly to one of her fiancé's best friends. Thom is the quiet sort, doesn't say much but his eyes light up every time Delly walks into a room. Finnick has started seeing Annie the waitress but he's cautious. He doesn't want anyone to know yet. He's been hurt so often by the people he's dated. So far I can see just how they are slowly growing together. I've become a sex fiend. Peeta Mellark is insatiable. Peeta loves me just as I am...well he also loves that bunny outfit. He loves pinning the tail on this bunny. He's going to miss that outfit as it no longer fits. I have gained considerable weight, and stopped drinking, because I, Katniss Everdeen, am Pregnant! For once I have even outdone Prim! My sister has dedicated herself to purchasing the cutest onesies for the baby. She tells the baby several times she is going to be the best Aunt in the world. Mother is besotted with the idea of becoming a Grandmother. Though I do get nauseous whenever she boasts that the Mellark men are virile lovers and gives Peeta's uncle a smoldering look. Peeta takes it all in stride and has asked Bob to quell his ardor for my mother in family gatherings. As this is my new adventure, Peeta has given me a new journal. He said I should chronicle my new escapades and turn it into a fantastical best seller. I think my first foray into literary arena should be titled Diary of Katniss Everdeen, Lonely Spinster, it has a lovely ring to it, don't you think?" *POV*Katniss sat on their bed. Peeta braced himself up against the doorframe of their bedroom, lazily gazing at her while counting his lucky stars. Growing up he had a crush on Katniss; he found her irresistible. His hands gripped the tray with the food, recalling those dark days.When she'd moved away, there was always that lingering 'what if' in regards to her. Then last Christmas his meddling mother intervened and he foolishly squandered his opportunity with Katniss. He was devastated when he discovered she was dating Gale.It was hard seeing her with that idiot. He'd thrown a vase across the room after he'd seen them at the lake. Though happy for her, he selfishly wanted to be the one that brought her joy.The odds were in his favor when he found her in the empty store; he was viciously glad when he found out Katniss and Gale broke up. He began to pursue her offering friendship first, but after the fight, Peeta didn't waste time with pleasantries, he didn't want to risk her slipping through his fingers again.Thank goodness for Johanna. She was his sanity during those months.His blue eyes took in her curvy form his blood heated up. Katniss was exotic looking with tanned skin contrasting grey eyes, and long dark hair. When she shifted his shirt stretched across her stomach displaying the baby bump. He smiled at the sight of the love of his life, jotting happily away in her new journal. He knew her next entry would record all about the little black box he clutched tightly in his hand, in his pocket…..….and they lived happily Ever After…..(as long as Peeta kept Katniss supplied with... Cheese Buns)….THE END!
10811910	Just A Gryffindor Bloke	{ "Archive Warning": "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings", "Category": null, "Characters": "Harry Potter, Ginny Weasley", "Fandom": "Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling", "Language": "English", "Rating": "General Audiences", "author": "by Philo [archived by thequidditchpitch_archivist]", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2006-07-29T00:00:00", "words": "1,119", "Additional Tags": "Fluff, Romance, Hogwarts Era", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": "The Quidditch Pitch", "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	Last night we snuck to the pitch just as the sun was setting. We raced above the hoops and hovered in silence, watching the Gryffindor hues spread across the sky. Well, he watched the sunset. I watched him. The red of the sky reflected off his glasses, which were slightly askew from the speedy flight. His hair was messier than usual and I could see a spot on his jaw. His shoulders were slumped and he was, surprisingly, gripping the handle of his broom wrong.Then it hit me—I still love him. Maybe not in that breath catching, eleven-year-old “I fancy you” way, but I love him in more of a deeper and understanding way. We had been through so much: the Chamber, the Ministry, even simple Quidditch games. It scared me. He had been no more than a good friend to me, really. That’s when I started looking at the reasons why I should even be keen on the boy.I’ve never seen him go to bed at a decent time the night before an exam, or seen him do an entire homework assignment by himself. I’ve watched him Accio Hermione’s essay from under her fingertips as she and Ron had a row. I’ve even watched him fall asleep in the Common Room, Potions book in hand, as he desperately tried to understand the text. I would just cover him up and sit near him, hoping he would wake up on his own so I wouldn’t have to disturb him. He’s always forgetting quills and parchment, spilling ink, and tearing book pages. Even though he buys his books new, they look worse than Ron’s after a few weeks. He may not be the best student here; that title belongs to Hermione. He gave Neville a chocolate frog yesterday—his last of his latest purchase from Honeyduke’s. Neville had been talking about his craving for one and how he had only bought a few which were now long gone. If it had been me, I would have grudgingly tossed it over and scowled for a few minutes. Not Harry. He heard Neville’s predicament but said nothing. Later I saw him slip a Frog into the top of Neville’s school bag and return to his seat. Neville found out who had answered his chocolate wishes and tried to thank Harry. He just waved it off with a genial smile. On the most recent Hogsmeade visit, I saw Hermione eyeing a small, leather-bound box designed to hold quills. She told me, in what we thought to be a secret whisper, that she didn’t have enough money left to get it, but would love to have it. Shortly after that, I saw Harry slip around a corner and I assumed it was to get away from us and get over to Zonko’s. The boys caught up with us later, and out of the blue, Harry asked to carry our bags back up to the school. Ron has just snorted and grabbed a few to carry as well. As Hermione and I unpacked our bags in the Common Room later, she let out a small squeal. I peered over her shoulder and saw the little quill box. I also noticed the little smile playing around Harry’s lips and the way he sunk a bit deeper into the sofa. He outright denied having anything to do with it. At breakfast about three weeks ago, Ron came down to breakfast with a bewildered look, but that’s not what made me curious. Ron was most likely born bewildered. That morning, however, he had something in his hand aside from his bag. He sat down and tossed it down on the table and proceeded to fill his plate. I scooted closer and beheld a violent orange book with speeding cannon balls on it. It was the Chudley Cannons annual from last year filled with retired plays, photos, interviews, and tips among other things. Ron had wanted one of these for years, but we could never manage to snag one. Harry sat down between us, and I could hear Ron whispering fiercely about it. I caught Harry saying something about how he figured they could share it, if it was upsetting Ron so much. That shut him up. He had a blissfully befuddled glaze on his face the rest of the day. I never have really warm socks like Ron does because I have this horrible knack of losing them when I need them most. So I logically nick Ron’s. A few nights ago I hadn’t had time to slip up to his trunk because I was up late revising for a Transfiguration test. My feet were freezing, so I kept trying to keep them tucked under my robes to no avail. Harry had been sitting at a table near me, and I could feel his eyes on me occasionally. I heard a chair scrape and he was gone for a few moments. I remember looking to my right and seeing a flash of glasses reflecting firelight. On the sofa cushion beside me were a pair of thick, dark grey wool socks with tiny snitches flying about—his favourite. I held them for a second before greedily shoving my chilled feet into them. They were already warm, most likely from a Warming Charm.Even after showering, he still looks a little dishevelled but remembers to brush his teeth after every meal when he can. Hermione would beat him if he didn’t. His glasses get smudged a lot, and he always gets a spot near his chin from leaning it into his hand when he’s revising. He stinks after playing Quidditch, and still tracks in mud after practices. He can belch on command most of the time, but refuses to do any other gross things outside of the dorm. He’s purely a boy, but he’s one of the nicest I know.Now that I’m back in my bed, thinking, I realize that I love him for all the little things he does. It’s not the fame or the power that has attracted me. Maybe the fantasy of it all drew me to him when I was small, but now that I know him and I see him and sit with him everyday, I could care less if he was even popular outside of Gryffindor. I’m just attracted to the normal side of Harry, the side that most do not see. The world sees the Boy-Who-Lived. I just see a normal bloke on broom, with spots and messy hair and wicked eyes. Maybe tomorrow we can watch the sunset again. Maybe someday I’ll be able to tell him how much he means to me—as a friend and more.
10820901	Blancmange	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "Gen", "Characters": "Terence T. D'Arby, Daniel J. D'Arby", "Fandom": "ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 \| JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken \| JoJo's Bizarre Adventure", "Language": "English", "Rating": "General Audiences", "author": "by bakkhant", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-04T00:00:00", "words": "1,000", "Additional Tags": "Brotherhood, Fix-It, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 3: Stardust Crusaders, Siblings", "Relationship": "Daniel J. D'Arby & Terence T. D'Arby", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	Terence is dragged into consciousness by the sound of someone moving at his bedside. Having no desire to engage with a single nurse more than he has to, he keeps his eyes closed, feigning sleep. The scratchy fibres of his pillowcase reeks of cheap detergent laced with old sweat, and he tries to filter the air through his nostrils. It doesn’t really work.A particularly loud clatter makes him grimace and grit his teeth. He’d shaken off the concussion last week, but his head still feels agonisingly tender, like something’s been permanently shaken loose inside. The game is obviously up, so he reluctantly opens his eyes. It wouldn’t do to be impolite to the nurses. Who knew what they might do to his jelly in retribution. Except, when his eyes adjust to the light, he realises that the clumsy, thoughtless fool making all that noise isn’t a nurse at all.“Hello, Daniel,” he says. His voice comes out raspier than he’d like, throat thick and mouth dry with sleep. “You look like shit.”It’s an understatement. Once he gets past the initial shock of the scraggly white hair, he can make out a faint line of grimy yellow on the inside of his shirt collar, the sallow, paper-thin quality to his skin. Spineless as ever, Daniel doesn’t point out that Terence hardly looks any better, all formless bandages and shapeless blue hospital shift. He looks away instead, shame etched deep into every one of the new lines on his face. Terence turns his head as far as he can within the neck brace, studying him with vaguely repulsed fascination. His hands are shaking - useless for gambling - as he reaches into a plastic bag and brings out a modest bunch of flowers, light purple with furling petals.“What are you doing here?” he asks, quickly growing impatient with Daniel’s silence, the timidity in his movements. He isn’t the one laid out on a hospital bed, rigged up to half a dozen machines because he can’t even see to his own bodily functions. Star Platinum hadn’t even had to lay a finger on him, if the accounts Terence had heard were true: his mind had crumbled all on its own.Daniel keeps avoiding his gaze. He mutters unintelligibly into his bag, fishing out a Tupperware box and, after further fumbling, a spoon. He holds them out, tentatively, like he’s actually expecting the invalid with numerous shattered bones to rise up and strike them out of his hands.Terence eyes the proffered items. “What’s that?”“Blancmange,” Daniel says, with that same off-putting nervousness. “You used to like it when you were sick, so I thought - I’m not as good a cook as our mother was, but I thought you'd probably be sick of hospital food by now -”Slightly stunned, Terence lets him ramble on, tripping over himself, until he trails off into apologetic silence. This isn’t what they do, flowers and concern and familial hospital visits. This is breaking the only understanding they’ve ever had as brothers: that they would keep their distance as they followed their own paths, gambling, improving, learning about everyone’s minds and weaknesses but each other’s. Also. He hadn’t even considered visiting Daniel, only nodded at the report of his defeat and gone back to practising, refining his technique to razor-point precision. Not that his brother would dare reproach him for it, if he minded.He doesn’t know if whatever he’s doing now makes Daniel stupid, or brave, in some way of his own that Terence can’t quite grasp. The uncertainty makes him uncomfortable - he’s a gambler; he needs to know himself best of all - and he presses hard against it, trying to force it to yield an answer. He only ends up more uncomfortable, and frustrated.At his lack of response, Daniel makes as if to withdraw the container, visibly downcast. “Sorry, I-”“I didn’t say I wouldn’t eat it,” Terence breaks in, more unsettled than he has been in years and sounding all the more confident for it. “Hand it here.” At least there’s the familiarity of having the upper hand, he thinks, when Daniel complies without question.He’s glad he still has a single working arm. It makes grappling with the lid difficult - thankfully Daniel doesn’t try to intervene - but being spoon-fed would be one layer of humiliation too many.The dessert inside glistens, promising silky sweetness. Terence isn’t swept away by any wave of nostalgia, like some might: he’s always preferred to put the past behind him, his collection being his one indulgence, and even that he only dwells on in anticipation of victories to come. Still. He’s far from prime condition now, bone-tired and constantly aching between shots of morphine from the worst defeat he’s ever suffered. It’s weak of him, he doesn’t need such things, but the comfort - isn’t unwelcome.“Why are you here?” he asks again, lifting the spoon to his mouth, as much to even the playing field as out of real curiosity.To his surprise, Daniel’s sigh is almost exasperated, as if Terence were the slow one. “I’m your brother,” he says, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. He quirks a half-smile at Terence, a hint of the old Daniel who could charm men and women alike out of their money and their souls. Terence had looked up to him once, very briefly.He takes his first mouthful of the blancmange to avoid replying. The taste of vanilla and cinnamon floods his mouth, slips over his tongue.Terence isn’t a sentimental person, but he can’t help but be reminded of home, of a time long gone when he’d had both his mother and older brother. “Not bad,” he judges flatly. Incredibly, that elicits a quiet laugh from Daniel; Terence glares at him, raking his eyes pointedly over the dirt under his nails, his disaster of a shirt.If he ruins the effect by eagerly jamming his spoon back into the blancmange, well, there’s only Daniel to see.
10866231	Solare	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "M/M", "Characters": null, "Fandom": "The Transformers (IDW Generation One)", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Explicit", "author": "by goddity", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-09T00:00:00", "words": "5,516", "Additional Tags": "Doctor/Patient, Self-Service, Masturbation", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": "Whirl/Rung, Rung/Whirl", "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	“You’ve been starin’, Doc.” Rung flinched in surprise. Generally he was very focused when his patients spoke to him, but he hadn’t quite felt himself lately. Part of him had attributed it to being in a vegetative-like state after Ratchet’s rebuild, while another part of him put it to being alone with his own thoughts for perhaps a bit too long. More disquieting still was that most of those thoughts had led him to thinking of the very mech in front of him - Whirl. “Oh?” Rung rubbed his thumb over the datapad he’d held in lap, unsure how to entirely react. “I apologize.”“Weren’t even listening!” Whirl chided, leaning forward to fill the space between them. “How unprofessional, an absolute mockery of your profession. Letting yourself get distracted when a patient needs help.”“Whirl, I’m sorry.” The mockery went over the psychiatrist’s head who, in Whirl’s experience, was generally good at catching those sort of things. “I’m afraid I have been distracted.”Whirl’s optic narrowed, suspicious of Rung’s confession. Naturally Rung was open and truthful more often than not but for it to trickle into his work was unusual. If Rung were a different mech, Whirl might have been inclined to believe that he was up to something. However, seeing as Rung was generally ignored by the crew, it was unlikely that any of them were conspiring with him. In truth Rung never really seemed to be up to much of anything. Whirl was sure that he would anticipate if Rung were actually up to something.“Just can’t keep those optics off me, can ya Eyebrows?”What Whirl had not anticipated was the harsh blossoming of blush flooding the doctor’s faceplates. The patient found himself at a shocking lack of words. Rung’s orange servos closed around either side of the datapad, slender orange fingers gripping the back. Behind the glasses, Whirl saw the bright blue optics shoot to the table between them, nothing on it but Whirl’s claw. Rung appeared to be struggling to come up with a response.“You, uh, don’t say.” Whirl opted to fill the silence himself. “They told me that your brain module had been intact after Swerve’s little misfire.”“It was.” Rung replied tersely, insulted by the implications. “I…. I was awake. I was alive, Whirl.”Rung fell silent, again vanishing into this own thoughts.“And?” Whirl prodded as he lightly clacked his claw. “You can’t start and not give me all the saucy details of how I so effortlessly seduced you without even being around!”“...This isn’t a conversation we should be having.”It was Whirl’s turn to flinch. To call Rung’s choice of words ‘surprising’ would have been a gross understatement. “Well, we’re, uh, talking about this.” Whirl said somewhat uneasily.Rung glanced up, an unfamiliar shine in his optics. “We’re not here to talk about me, Whirl.”“Well we’re talking about you talking about me.” The ex-Wrecker had to admit his curiosity. Rung didn’t typically keep secrets, at least not after they’d been put on the table. “You spent so much time locked up in your own head, surely you’ve got something to say, Doc.”With a hefty sigh, Rung put aside both the holopad and his glasses, removing a visual barrier between them. Without them, Whirl noticed how soft and concerned Rung’s expression was; he seemed expressive enough with just the eyebrows, exposed optics were almost overkill.“... If you wish to discuss it, I will.”Whirl vaguely waved his claw, encouraging the doctor. Rung sighed, resting an elbow on his knee and his chin in his hand.“I was… alive, despite not being together. You’re right, I… I spent a lot of time in my own head, figuratively and literally. I had nothing to do but think and remember and consider things. Everything was… a blur when it happened. I couldn’t stop thinking about what happened with Fortress Maximus. You told him things you hadn’t told me, you called me your friend… And I couldn’t stop thinking about it.”Whirl took the opportunity to elevate his emotional position with a bit of additional sarcasm. “Awww, that touched that we’re friends?”Rung’s faceplates brightened. “I couldn’t put it to the back of my mind. I just kept thinking about it. Specifically, I thought about… Well, my thoughts always led me back to you, Whirl.”The ex-Wrecker wasn’t used to people thinking about him without some sort of immediate consequence for it. It didn’t help that he’d never seen Rung like this.The doctor was hunched forward, one hand draped over his lap and optics distant and unfocused. He was as lost in thought now as he had been before his rebuild. Whirl couldn’t say he hadn’t noticed - Rung had very specific behaviors and strangely there weren’t other mechs who behaved like him. He was so disconnected that he hadn’t been listening during one of their sessions; their first session since the rebuild, as a matter of fact. Regardless of the actual severity of the problem… It was having a real effect on Rung. “I was so worried about what could happen if…. If I never came back. I was worried for you. I know I’m not realistically much help but I worry about you, and I… I was worried that without me Ultra Magnus wouldn’t let you get away with quite so much. Anything could feasibly happen, and if you were hurt, if I could have been here to prevent it…“I was trying to tell myself that things would be fine. I-I have plenty of reason to believe that life here would be perfectly content to continue without me. But I was constantly flooded with concern and fear and I had to ask myself why.”Whirl’s vocalizer felt as though it had been crushed. He made an effort to speak, only projecting frantic, confused static. Rung looked at him, concerned and puzzled and trying to piece together an appropriate response. He could find no response but to continue talking.“And when I woke up, First Aid was there. And later, Swerve came, and when Rewind took me to the bar… I saw you. I’ve… I’ve never felt something like I felt then, Whirl. It was… It was like being in cryostatsis, and when I saw you, it felt… It felt like the hot, sweet warmth of sunlight. I felt like I had been cold. Which, I’ll admit is a bit senseless, I was functioning just fine but… I saw you, and I felt warm. “I-I saw your optic, and I felt as if I was blinded by the sun. I… I’m thankful I couldn’t speak at the time. I wouldn’t have known what to say and I would have lost myself… Rather like I am now.”“Me?” Incredulous and shocked, it was all Whirl could manage. “Entirely. Exclusively!” Rung’s hands rested on either side of his helm, seeking a grip to express his distress. “I-I couldn’t stop thinking of you! And…” Rung fell slack, shoulds and servos falling to either side of him, lightly gripping his seat. “And I still feel like I’m standing in sunlight, in this cold vacuum of space… Trying to figure out what to do.” The ex-Wrecker had no response for this. No typical sharp wit that was laced with venom, no self-deprecating humor that would get people to ignore him, no comforting words that might have helped Rung understand what a terrible idea this was. “More than anything, I wanted to get better to see you again. I felt like… If I had… Well, if I had died in that moment, I would have died with regrets. I’ve never been a terribly remorseful man, Whirl. I-I’ve lived a good life, I’ve made mistakes but done my best to correct them over the years, but.. I would have left you behind without being honest with you.“And I have to be honest now. Because I don’t know what will happen tomorrow, Whirl. I… Something could happen in a blink. I could lose you. I could lose myself. And…” Rung hesitated, gathering his thoughts. “I love you, Whirl.”Whirl stood up hastily, half transforming into an embarrassing amalgamation that was most easily described as a helicopter with legs, making his way towards the door and leaving the small orange doctor in his wake. However, the office door wasn’t quite wide enough to accommodate the size of the alt mode, and in truth… Looking back at Rung made Whirl want to stay. Rung had let his optics drop to the floor, not so dense as to misconstrue Whirl’s desire to leave. He made no effort to invite Whirl back to his seat, to argue for him to stay, to request any words from him; but was surprised that Whirl was walking back to his seat with the sharp singing of his transformation cog relieving him of his alt mode. “....Sorry about that.” Whirl grumbled. He wasn’t sorry about trying to leave, but he had enough social skills to know that he had to apologize. He’d never seen Rung like this; hunched over, eyebrows furrowed, cleansing fluid threatened to streak his cheeks on their way out of his optics. “It’s fine.” He replied softly.“Why don’t you, uh, keep talking?”Rung looked up, a weight on his spark he wasn’t entirely familiar with.“Do you want me to keep talking?” “Do you want to keep talking?”The psychiatrist sat silent, thinking for a moment for replying with a small nod. “If you’re willing to listen.”Whirl felt a tightness around his spark not unlike the death grip of an enemy’s servos closed around his throat. Sure, he was used to seeing mechs in pain, but the pain on Rung’s face wasn’t the sort he was generally trying to inflict. While Rung might have been a healer, Whirl wasn’t. Seeing Rung so distressed after everything Primus had thrown at him just didn’t seem fair. “Yeah. Go ahead, Eyebrows.”Rung scooted forward in his seat, sitting on the edge. He pulled his hands into his lap, unable to look back at Whirl’s optic. He had known one of two things would happen: unrealistically, Whirl would have been more understanding and maybe would have shown a little compassion for Rung; realistically, he would have reacted like he just had, or would have laid on a more flirtatious tone in hopes of off-putting Rung. “I spoke earlier hoping… Rather optimistically, I’ll admit, that you might have…. It’s foolish of me to have expected similar emotions, I’m your doctor.” Rung sighed, having somewhat lost steam after Whirl’s attempted escape. Knowing Whirl like he did, he could tell the mech was still hoping to leave despite agreeing to stay. It was becoming increasing difficult not to notice his body language. “... I’ll admit, Whirl, I didn’t plan much further than this confession. I don’t know what I entirely expected to happen but, I… I wanted you to know the truth. I wanted you to know that I… I care deeply about you, Whirl.”The ex-Wrecker slowly returned to his robot mode, optic unfocused and off of the small orange medic. If Rung thought saying these things was hard, he had no gravity of the effects they’d have on someone like Whirl. Whirl didn’t deserve Rung, he knew that, just like Rung didn’t deserve having to watch Whirl try to flee the conversation. Rung was a fine enough mech that Whirl didn’t see having that much issue tied down to him, but…Thoughts trickled to silence when his optic caught the intense blue glow of Rung’s spark out of his peripheral. The spark was always on display, but now the usually-dim circle had become the most powerful source of light in the room, and it felt warm. Rung had filled the space between them with his EMP field, and Whirl found himself surprised that he understood. It wasn’t a particular emotion, which was unusual - Whirl hadn’t been aware of the capabilities of a field like Rung’s, but given his background… He was radiating warmth and heat, and it felt like the tickle of sunlight on Cybertron. He hadn’t noticed that he moved forward in his own seat, closer to the soft warmth of the doctor. “See?” Rung was standing. When did he stand? Even at his full height, Whirl hovered over him. When had they gotten so close… The warmth felt heavenly, it felt so welcoming and inviting, it felt… Not that he used the term lightly, but it felt like home. Before Whirl could consider the consequence of his movements, he felt small, gentle servos on either side of his helm, gently pulling him closer to the warmth. Rung had taken a place on his side, admittedly a difficult position for him to get much of anything done...“It’s felt like this since I woke up, so to speak… Every time I see you, my senses are flooded, I can’t make sense out of my processor…” Without a moment to object, Rung’s soft white derma had parted, brushing against his mandibles. The smaller mech hesitated for a moment, waiting for Whirl to stop him, or to make an effort to anyway, but was pleasantly surprised to feel the soft tap of a claw clicking down his spinal struts. The digits against his helm curled into soft fists, and Rung turned two, bright, unfiltered optics to his patient. The cold blue pierced him like a knife, and Whirl was very familiar with the sensation. It made sense why Rung wore glasses with such powerful expressions. With a claw teasing at Rung’s hip, he placed another gentle kiss against the mandible, following the soft curve towards Whirl’s optic. Whirl felt his fans click on which kept Rung busy for a moment, hesitant to keep moving without some encouragement.“Well are we doin’ this or not, Doc?” Whirl managed through a thick layer of static. There was no denying that Rung was a handsome mech. Not anything particularly remarkable, not a speedster or anything, but cute. He had such well planned and symmetrical curves; everything about his frame was in aesthetic harmony. He was like a clock; well thought and measured movements he’d been practicing for centuries, soft round parts moving limbs in gentle and minute gestures… He was a marvel, in his own rights. Whirl didn’t imagine many mechs would agree with the sentiment but there was a beauty in Rung’s simple, circular frame. “Do… Do you want to do this?” Even Rung’s soft, dulcet tone had some underlying static - something he had no doubt learned to hide very well over the years. “If you’re uncomfortable I can-”Whirl wasn’t inclined to hear another lecture on consent, instead opting to press the small doctor closer to him, close enough that he could feel the eagerness in his own field. It was hard to admit that he hadn’t cared about Rung. If he had been permitted in the medibay, he would have visited before the meeting at Swerve’s. He wasn’t likely to mention that Rung hadn’t taken offense to his pet name like he had Skids getting his name wrong. The thought reminded him of the warmth that Rung had projected. Rung’s small, diligent hands were mentally mapping Whirl’s helm, tracing every inch with a touch so gentle and light that it left Whirl wondering why Rung had never pursued a physical craft. Whirl cautiously wondered how well Rung remembered things like this; how many helms he might have mapped before they left…The soft kiss to his antennae was enough of a reminder that it definitely didn’t matter. Whirl felt that bright, sunlight warmth rush over his frame again, moving a claw over the luminous glow of Rung’s spark. Rung lifted his helm, touching his forehead to his crest. “Don’t hesitate to stop me….” Whirl make a rather convincing pft! noise despite a lack of glossa or derma or mouth in general. Rung chuckled in response, a light, shy and airy sound. Whirl let the small medic press to him as best he could, planting a small kiss on his chassis, just over his Autobot symbol. And Whirl had a thought. And like most instances where Whirl felt he had a good idea, he acted on it almost instantaneously - and before Rung could even squeak in protest, he found himself straddling Whirl’s chassis. Rung did, however, hastily reach out to stable himself, grabbing Whirl’s pauldrons with a bit less grace than usual.“W-Warn me next time!” Rung’s voice wavered, his usual nervous nerd personality shining through with Whirl’s sudden tenacity. And Whirl had another thought. A bit more scandalous, a bit more daring than he would usually attempt… But the more he thought of it, Primus was it tempting. While he lamented the loss of his own hands, even now, Whirl still remembered how hands should move. He lightly tapped a claw over Rung’s modesty panel, watching his faceplates light up. He could see the soft surge in his spark that sent a bit of charge crackling under his armor. Despite having a rather strong command of the situation, Rung was susceptible to slipping back into being complacent.“Open up, Doc.” Whirl mumbled, watching the flair of charge that sprung from the spark and sent a slight shock to his own armor. Apparently Rung hadn’t expected this, or was enjoying it far more than he anticipated. Whirl was satisfied by both potential circumstances. “A-A bit forward, isn’t it?” Rung had failed to stop the trickle of static into his voice while Whirl repeatedly tapped his claw against the panel. The soft smile he wore was enough to tell Whirl he wasn’t upset with the situation. The fact that his modesty panel shifted out of view was a better sign. Like most of Rung’s frame, it appeared to be original parts. Modest, simple, exactly what Whirl would have expected and more. Rung’s servos tightened around his armor as his spike decompressed, the same soft persimmon as his armor. It was decorated with a few biolights that ran along the ridges instead of small pinpricks along the sides of the shaft. His valve was similar, the lights a softer shade of blue and already glistening with transfluids. Whirl was thankful he didn’t have his own faceplate to light - a good poker face was key in these situations.“Damn.” Was the most eloquent statement Whirl could make, given the view. He glanced up as he leaned back in the seat, fans roaring when Rung’s valve slid over his cockpit and left a slick path in it’s wake. Realistically he wanted to be able to look up better, keep his eye on Rung’s expressions…. The silent gasp at the shift proved to be worth it. It was becoming glaringly apparent that Rung wore his glasses to better hide his expressions and Whirl perfectly understood when he saw how his optics curved at the compliment. The helicopter took a moment to gather his thoughts, a devilish crescent optic locking with the doctor’s. “Now, uh, as we’ve discussed before, I lost quite a few…. Vital pieces.” Punctuated clacking of his claws. “Honestly the parts that would make this really fun. But some things, Rung, you don’t forget. And I know mechs like I know clocks.”Rung blushed, hanging on every word.“So you’re gonna have to do it yourself.”If his spark had been bright before, it rivaled the sun now, shame and heat and arousal flaring out of his field before Rung could dial it closer to his frame. Given the ability, Whirl would have grinned. The sensations still danced in his own field as he watched Rung adjust his posture.“You want to watch me self-service?” His tone would have been flat without the static whirring beneath his words. “Well,” Whirl gave his best impression of a shrug without jiggling the minibot too hard. He couldn’t hide the smile in his voice. “I thought you wanted me to see you. Since I lack the tools to do this myself, I need you to do it.”Rung pursed his derma, relenting rather easily. If Whirl didn’t know any better, he would have thought that the smaller mech got off on the concept. Whirl might have known a little better.With a rough ex-vent, Rung relented, servos releasing Whirl’s pauldrons and leaving small dents in their wake. “Alright, then.” Rung’s smile burned Whirl’s spark in the way that no amount of overload ever would. “I’ll… I’ll do my best to follow your instructions.”Whirls fans kicked higher, hot air rushing over the smaller mech. Whirl didn’t remember thinking of Rung like this before; legs spread, interface array exposed, glasses gone and faceplates bright. Whirl honestly had rarely given thoughts of this nature to any mech but seeing Rung so eager, so willing, it only made him want more. Explicitly, more of the doctor. “That’s the spirit.” Whirl placed a claw against Rung’s spinal struts, eliciting a shudder and another ex-vent. “First things first… Since you’re already lubricating, lube your fingers.”A bit hesitant, Rung obeyed. He curled a few digits, accumulating some of the transfluids from his valve and slicking his fingers with them. Both mechs noticed it wasn’t entirely enough for them to be considered properly lubricated. Whirl managed a rather impressive tsk!, resting his helm on his claw. “Well, that’s not quite enough now is it…. Suppose you’ll have to find another way to slick them before we get much further.”It was clear by the look on his face that Rung had an idea. Whirl recognized that kind of hesitance; Whirl knew that he was an intimidating partner and with such a colorful background, it could be difficult to say no. Rung, fully aware that he had been the catalyst for this encounter, was not inclined to turn back how, pressing his own digits to his mouth and coating them with a fine, thin, pink layer of oral lubricants. Clearly in no rush, Rung made a point of punctuated, slow, languid movements. Glossa delicate pressing between two digits, Rung could feel his partner’s chassis heating beneath him. Whirl’s fans roared eagerly, eliciting a moan from the smaller mech. Whirl had been fairly certain that even if he lived another six million years, he would have never heard such a sound come from Rung. Primus, was he glad to be wrong. When the smaller mech finally withdrew his fingers from his mouth, a thin membrane of solvent connected them, more than ample lubrication. Whirl reset his vocalizer, doing his best to focus on something other than the small puffs of steam from Rung’s fans.“Better.” Whirl’s own fans worked harder to keep him from overheating. “Naturally we’re gonna focus your valve… If you can follow my directions you’ll definitely see the appeal of interfacing with a clock maker.” Rung visibly shuddered, armor rippling against his frame. It was inappropriate to want Whirl to get his hands back specifically for this sort of behavior, but conceptually Rung rather liked the idea of a tinkerer poking around inside him. Though, he was notably quite skilled himself with his practice with models. He hoped he’d be up to snuff. “Okay.” Rung’s voice rippled with static, a slight quiver in his servos as he reached for his equipment. “Ah.” The single sound was enough to make Rung hesitate, glossy servos recoiling from their assigned task. “Can just go in there, there’s a technique to this kind of thing you know,” Whirl playfully narrowed his optic. “You have to follow my directions, remember~?”Rung lightly bit his derma, cautious enough to avoid any sort of swelling. “So first things first you can’t just go right in. I mean, sure you can but… Where’s the fun in that?” Whirl lightly tapped his claw down Rung’s spinal struts, groaning at the small arch he received in response. “Start with the exterior… Pace yourself. Overstimulation will just make everything else painful. It’s not worth rushing, now is it~?”Rung was shocked by how compelling Whirl’s simple command was. He had known that Whirl had always been somewhat of a persuasive mech, but having never been on the receiving side of it… He took the slick digits, spreading his lips with the pointer and ring while gently tracing the outline of his ulterior node with the middle. Whirl’s chassis roar beneath him, engine rumbling with enough force that Rung had to use his unoccupied hand to steady himself on Whirl’s pauldron. Every motion from his fingers left the chassis slicker, and dipping his middle finger lower was enough to apply ample amounts of transfluid. Rung had forgotten how much gratuitous fluid he produced during interfacing, it had felt like his last encounter was centuries ago. The singular golden optic was transfixed on Rung’s motions, soft small circles that easily hypnotized Whirl. The soft glimmer of biolights was occasionally cut by the simple gesture and Rung’s soft, eager panting was overwhelmed by the continued roar of the helicopter’s engine. The small doctor would have been more concerned that he had manipulated Whirl into all this but the tug at his plating that came from behind was enough of a sign that Whirl was enjoying things just fine. Rung pressed the three fingers lower, tracing along his entrance in anticipation of Whirl’s next command.“Wh… Whirl?” The golden optic flicked, blinking back to life before focusing on Rung’s face. It wasn’t the first time Whirl had gotten transfixed on something in Rung’s presence.“Right, Right.” Whirl’s claw continued to trace his back. “Never took you for a dripper… Tell me about your interior.”“Ah…” Rung withdrew his fingers for a moment, hesitate to withdraw without permission, but when Whirl made no attempt to stop them he rested the sticky servo on his thigh. “I… I have a ridged dome… just past the preliminary calipers.”Whirl manually clicked his fans higher in anticipation, dulling his engine to better hear the doctor. His optic shuttered as he imagined partaking in Rung himself. The soft grip of the calipers as he entered, gripping and squeezing at his spike, encouraging him to press deeper. And a dome, it wasn’t much of a surprise given the aesthetic of his frame. A shudder passed through him as he felt it, the ripple of curves and ridges passing under his spike, tugging at his own ridges as he pressed deeper in. The soft walls of the dome squeezed while the ceiling and floor of his valve threatened pain with too much rough movement, the perfect combination of sensations. Of course he had a dome...After that, anatomy was usually universal without modifications. Seeing as Rung didn’t have any other mods, Whirl didn’t imagine he was hiding any away in his valve. That soft chain of orbs would welcome him next - a chain gate of rippling spheres that caressed every angle of his spike before he went as far as he could. The head of his spike would press through the soft membrane that led him to Rung’s receptacle, where he’d be able to plug in. Then they would transfer data and Rung would know-There was a painful surge of charge under his armor that sparked out of his claw and into the smaller mech, leaving Rung twitching and dripping with overload almost instantaneously. Rung blinked with a bit of panic, obviously not expecting the charge to bounce to him or expecting the charge at all. His clean hand went to his face as the lights in his optics stabilized.“Wh… Whirl are you okay?” Rung’s servo on his pauldron tightened, the armor still tingling slightly from the electricity but absorbing some of the excess. Whirl’s frame still crackled, the mech a bit incredulous that something like that could happen. Though his memories said that overloads did usually bounce off his partners… It had been long enough that he didn’t really remember.“Uh, yeah.” He muttered through static, tracing an optic over Rung’s form. He was bent forward, close to Whirl’s helm, obviously looking for any signs of malfunction or error. Whirl couldn’t see much, but he could see the way Rung’s spike had come to sit in the puddle of slick he’d left behind on his windshield and he felt the charge flaring to life again. “Preliminary calipers, dome, chain gate… receptacle… Right?” Whirl saw Rung’s expression soften when he actually spoke. It came as a great relief to Rung. It’d been awhile since he’d experienced an overload exclusively at his partner’s charge, but Whirl could have short circuited. In truth they both could have, given Rung’s size. The fact that Whirl could speak somewhat coherently and could actively remember before the charge meant that he was probably fine. A little rough around the edges, likely still a bit high from the charge, but fine. “Yes, that’s… that’s right. Are you okay?”Whirl nodded his helm, pinching Rung’s armor and effortless pulling him back onto his chassis.“We’re not done though.” Rung looked incredulous “Whirl, are you certain? I don’t want you to offline or-”“I’m fine, Eyebrows. Worry about yourself a little, you’re making a slaggin’ mess.”Rung’s faceplates flickered, one light clearly struggling to keep up after a powerful overload. Whirl’s spark surged at the sight of a job well done. It had been some time since he’d felt so accomplished with his handiwork.“Didn’t… Didn’t have you go on talking about those machinations for no reason. You’ve made enough of a mess, you’ll be fine… We’re going in.”Rung’s servo returned to his crotch, a few biolights flickering instead of their soft solid blue. Apparently the overload had done more for Rung than he’d initially thought. A great topic for a session later. The grip on Whirl’s pauldron tightened as a digit pressed in, slick enough to meet with nearly no resistance. With a light tap to his struts Rung took the hint, pressing in another with a low groan. Whirl shuddered in response, lost to the soft schlick that followed Rung’s diligent little movements. “D.. Describe it, Rung.”The doctor let out a flustered gasp. “I… I can’t reach very deep…” He scooted forward, pressing the crest of his helm to Whirl’s. “But-But… I can feel my calipers, they’re rather insistent that I don’t move but… ah.. It won’t do much good to have my fingers held in place. I.. I can reach a little over half of the ridges..”“Uh huh.” Whirl’s voice was mostly static.“The.. The ridges are harder than I remember. R-Really rough, but the.. Surrounding interior is soft and-and exceptionally moist but given my overload…” Rung wasn’t fairing much better himself, words glitching and stuttering as he shifted, a soft whimper slipping past his dentae. “And-And I can’t reach any further.”Whirl cursed the Senate, Whirl cursed the war, Whirl cursed every medic he’d talked out of performing repairs. Nothing seemed worth the sacrifice of giving in and getting a proper helm or proper hands but it burned to watch Rung and be unable to take care of things himself. Spindle-like workman's hands, Whirl could have reached without effort, Whirl would have forced him into overload after overload until Rung threatened to offline, sticky and dripping and-“Go deeper.”“Whirl, I can’t-”In one quick motion Whirl had his unoccupied claw on Rung’s wrist, and despite the limited field of motion, shift Rung with ease and had his digits pressing over the dome and towards the chain gate. Rung somewhat struggled against him, fully aware of the strain on his servos and the tug of his protoform as it stretched beyond reasonable limits. Primus, the benefit though. Rung had never attempted to reach deeper, make contact with the nodes that slept between the spheres that circled his servos and encouraged him closer to the receptacle. He wouldn’t reach it, no matter how hard Whirl pushed him or shifted, he wouldn’t reach that. However, reaching the chain gate was more than enough reward. The two digits he’d sent in hardly seemed like enough now and his frame ached for more. The two fingers searched out every node they could find among the spheres, while Rung breathlessly called out each one as he made contact. It only took five nodes before Rung was doubled over on top of Whirl’s claw, sparks dancing under his frame as a second overload overtook him, excess charge shooting through Whirl. Whirl shuddered, armor rippling as the charge seized him, sinking back into this seat and taking in the view of a remarkably sticky Rung on top of his equally soiled chassis. Rung ex-vented hard, spike and valve slick and shiny with transfluid that diffused the glow of his decorative biolights. He watched Rung withdraw his fingers, just as shiny. He flexed them a few times, hoping to discourage the soreness before carelessly wiping the mess on his thigh. Rung leaned forward, peppering the crest of Whirl’s helm in soft tender kisses and whispered thank yous, the small window to his spark illuminating the casing of Whirl’s optic - warm and bright as the sun.
10889712	To the life you make	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": null, "Characters": "Gerard Way, Frank Iero", "Fandom": "My Chemical Romance", "Language": "English", "Rating": "General Audiences", "author": "by More11a", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-12T00:00:00", "words": "1,376", "Additional Tags": "Post-Break Up, set in 2016, Awkwardness, Soulmates", "Relationship": "Frank Iero/Gerard Way", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	It's not that Gerard isn't happy to see Frank, it's more like they're coming from two different worlds now (which they're really not – they're both musicians with families, ex-fangirls' dreams, chaotic, creative minds, Jersey boys). Gerard has always suspected that Frank might be from another planet, even, because how could someone so crazy special be from fucking Belleville. Then again, they're all aliens now.They meet at a cheap Asian place downtown that he can't even identify as Chinese or Korean or Indian or … anything, and the proprietors don't seem to care either. The fluorescent lights are not exactly flattering once you're past the invisible borderline of 35, and he climbs up on the barstool with a sigh – his legs have been hurting like a bitch since he's tried to work out yesterday.He plays with his phone. Looks away from where Frank is slurping vegetable noodles that smell like an exploded flavor enhancer factory. Frank's arm is still in a cast and Gerard's heart is cast in stone. When he first heard about the Sydney accident, he thought he felt something crack, but maybe it's just been an illusion. Sometimes he burrows so deep into Doom Patrol that he has trouble figuring out what is real – an old problem of his, almost as old as trying to blur the boundaries on purpose. He looks at the world and can almost see the construction lines; he imagines that, if he took an eraser to the edges of his vision and started rubbing, whiteness might start to show underneath. Sometimes, nothing he sees really makes sense, and Frank used to change that, but what if Frank doesn't make sense either? Frank has officially broken protocol and they need to talk. It sounds silly, even in Gerard's head, but they had a silent agreement of never forcing their new music on each other, and now Frank has invited him to a Patience show and it's not okay. Because... principles and stuff. Because of reasons. Ha. Frank can't just go around and tell Gerard to be part of the crowd while he's on stage, can he?! Apart from the fact that Gerard really has no idea how Frank is going to play guitar with a broken arm (not that he didn't think he'd find a way... it's just shocking to imagine him doing it in any other band than the one they had together). Frank still has that pretty, shiny Italian hair, and seeing his tattoos makes Gerard feel strangely at home, just like Frank's voice that is velvet and honey and all good things and being 30 and wearing uniforms and holding the whole world in your hands, plastic weapons and tour busses and fan art and giggles. They were on top of the world, man. Top of the charts. Top of everything. Revenge has never been so sweet again, revenge on anyone who's ever spited them, and maybe there are base motives to some things that you can only admit to yourself when you're older. Gerard can look back and think: We were heroes, yes. There's no emotion attached to it nowadays, it's just a thought that he knows became a fact. And usually, it's followed by another thought: No one this young should have to be a hero. It's taken him years to admit, but it's true as well, nevertheless. Back then, he took it on because he felt it was his task in life, but now, every once in a while, he allows himself to feel sorry for his younger self – for all of their younger selves. Because he never might've written a truer line than „You don't know a thing about this life“. They never learned to grow up the normal way, did they? How the hell is he supposed to teach Bandit what growing up means? He's digging for the light every day, oh yes, and he still believes it's what it's all about. It's just... some days are harder than others. It's so obvious to everyone that Gerard has moved on, the only person he needs to convince sometimes is himself. He really doesn't want the early 2000s back, but some part of his brain apparently hasn't gotten the message and feels some kind of twisted nostalgia. The Black Parade is already ten years old, and he was determined not to let anyone rain on his parade, but looking at the big picture, somewhere between everything that's happened in the world, between death and destruction, it's been quite a shitty year, and it really makes him wonder what will become of humanity. The problem is, everyone seems to wait for him to say something about it. Once you speak up about one tragedy, people expect you to continue doing so – after all, it's what started the band. Danger Days, on the other hand, started as a joke back then, but the truth is Gerard has always had a sort of unhealthy obsession with everything dystopian, and he's getting really fucking scared the closer 2019 gets. Of course, Danger Days is just a fantasy, but sometimes he worries it could be like some kind of self-fulfilling prophecy. The future might be going to shit, but the past is a safe place to dwell. He's listened to Frank's new stuff recently, and it sounds so much like Pencey Prep and wacky hair and being young that he almost had to turn it off. Almost. „So, uh... you comin' to the show?“ asks Frank and puts down his chopsticks with his good hand to pick up his phone instead, trying to hide the fact that he's hanging on Gerard's every word. Gerard suddenly feels like he's standing in the middle of a mine field, which is not what having lunch with one of your oldest friends should feel like. He wishes he could tell himself that he got rid of Frank's flyer as soon as he could, that Jersey's close-to-unreliable garbage disposal service took it to the dump weeks ago... but it's really lying on his nightstand. He's suddenly and painfully aware that he has been opening and closing his mouth like a demented goldfish for the past half minute or so. Frank is giggling now, which makes it kinda hard to figure out if he just said „Gee!“ or „Geez“, or maybe meant to say both. „I didn't think it was this hard to decide. Wait... are you mad at me?“ He gives Gerard the puppy dog eyes he mastered so long ago. „I'm not mad“, says Gerard quickly, „I'm just...“ He doesn't really know what he is, though. Confused sums it up pretty nicely. The word „starstruck“ crosses his mind and now he's almost laughing, too, because he knows Frank would completely misunderstand it and probably kick his ass for making fun of him. „What?“ asks Frank and watches him with his perfect brows furrowed. And Gerard makes up his mind. „Nah, sorry, I'm not coming to the show. But don't you even think about smashing that pretty new Epiphone of yours, because I will hear of it anyway.“ Frank smiles at him then, a smile that looks somehow deflated and at the same time, Gerard can't help but notice, incredibly relieved. „Okay, man, but you're gonna regret this. It will be the shit. We'll have a fucking party.“ It reminds him of long ago, back when joking and teasing each other was in their nature, back before everything became so much more complicated and, at the same time, so much easier between them. At times Gerard feels he's never been closer to anyone, maybe not even Lyn, because she wasn't there from the beginning. Frank was there, through sleeping on top of each other in vans and playing in front of twenty kids all the way through twenty thousand. „Does Evan know you're not supposed to have candy after soundcheck?“, Gerard fires back and Frank, laughing, drops his napkin and has to go diving under the table for it, which includes comically hopping off a barstool that wasn't made for short people. And while Frank isn't looking at him, Gerard closes his eyes and almost explodes because he missed this so much. Maybe the present isn't so bad. Maybe they can deal.
10867233	Alone	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "M/M", "Characters": "Gokuhara Gonta, Hoshi Ryouma", "Fandom": null, "Language": "English", "Rating": "Not Rated", "author": "by Kreeptyd", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-09T00:00:00", "words": "517", "Additional Tags": "Alone, I love the comic so much, Lollipops, Quiet, Short, alternative universe", "Relationship": "Gokuhara Gonta/Hoshi Ryouma", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": "New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing, Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types", "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	They were alone. But really alone. City was quiet. Cities aren’t quiet at the end of the afternoon. Adults come back to their bigs home. Teenagers are coming outside. Stores are closed. And others opens. The city is never quiet.But now, it was. No sound, except the whistling of the wind. The wind who make move Gonta’s hair. He was sitting on the roof, looking down. Looking at the empty’s street. Looking the lonely right in the eyes.He could hardly hear the footsteps against the tiles. He realized the newcomer when he sat down beside him. Gonta turned his head towards his friend Hoshi Ryoma. The feeling of solitude went away and the silence was replaced by Hoshi's grave voice."You think about where they can be again ?""Yes. Gonta can’t just think they all disappeared. There must have a reason for this.""Maybe there have one, or maybe not" Muttered Hoshi, looking at his friend, his lollipop still in his mouth. If he still had a lollipop with him his last days, it was mostly because of the giant sitting next to him. Gonta didn’t like to see Hoshi smoking and had repeatedly asked him to stop. Hoshi didn’t understand what was bothering him until his friend said he didn’t want to see him die young. That made Hoshi laugh, he was going to die young no matter what. He was condemned to death, after all, if the whole world comes back, they would finish the execution which they never completed. But Hoshi had tried to stopped smoking, so he replaced the poison with sugar. Anyway, the lollipops tasted better."And if they're all hidden ? Asked Gonta, outgoing Hoshi from his thoughts.""It’s impossible. They can’t hide everyone so quickly. And we had heard about it if it was that.""Gonta keep thinking it’s possible. Gonta was in the forest for years, there's good luck that he never heard about it and Hoshi was in jail.""Yes, but others captives were gone too, even these who were condemned to death like me. And as you said to me, your wolf’s family disappeared too and I don’t think they're hidden with humans without you.""… You’re right…"Hoshi looked at his friend who was looking back at the street. The sad look on his face split Hoshi's heart. He didn’t like to see Gonta sad. He approached a little more his friend and began to caress his back."I know you miss them. But I promise, we’ll found them, your family and everyone."Gonta's ruby eyes met Hoshi’s black, a tint of hope shining in them."You really promise ?""Really."Gonta gently caught his friend in his arms and hugged him. Hoshi let Gonta did docilely, taking advantage of this moment of comfort. The two friends looked at the sunset, the darkness gradually taking the place of light. Hoshi gently took Gonta's big hand in his so small side. He closed his eyes, taking advantage of the one he loved most in this world. Yeah, I promise Gonta, I’ll do everything for make you smile again.
10800546	a musician distinguishes	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": null, "Characters": "Sham Ausla, Chance Windar, Laylan Ausmainern, Fenrah Ausla, Lexis Alainya, Syria of Undrun, Shyshax, Danzel, Talis, Ounce, Leesha Alainya, Istra Windar, Meuril Sor, Capricia Sor, Alainya, Corellian - Character, Archemais, Malic Ausmainern, Jubal of Undrun", "Fandom": null, "Language": "English", "Rating": "Mature", "author": "by capricornia", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-02T00:00:00", "words": "4,297", "Additional Tags": "Drinking, Angst, Interspecies Sex, Knotting (Mentioned), Wedding, Violins, Music, mentions of the smell of blood, Can Shyshax Keep His Nose Out of Everyone's Business for Once?, Depression, Mentions of Suicide, mentions of slaughter, i guess?, it's set in Sardor-de-lore so if you've read the books you know what I mean, post-epilogue, this is NOT a/b/o", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": "Sham Ausla/Chance Windar, Laylan Ausmainern/Fenrah Ausla, Syrill of Undrun/Jubal of Undrun (mentioned), Lexis Alainya/Syrill of Undrun (implied), Archemais/Alainya (implied), Chance Windar/Laylan Ausmainern (one-sided)", "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": "The Prophet of Panamindorah - Abigail Hilton, Panamindorah Series - Abigail Hilton", "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": "F/M, M/M, Other", "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	“It must be difficult,” Sham says, partly affected by the wine, partly because Chance looks so miserable at Laylan and Fenrah’s wedding and will probably only be marginally happy if someone’s winding him up, “to watch all your brothers and closest friends select lifetime mates, knowing that you’ll never have the same kind of celebration.” He wishes immediately that he hadn’t said it.Chance chokes a little on his bread and tries to recover by drinking a large gulp of wine. “You’d better watch it,” he says, “or you’ll get a second hoof-print in your chest to match the first.” There’s Chance’s morbid sense of humor again. “And besides,” he continues, the beginnings of a small smile flickering on his face, “you’re not married.”Sham has never been bold in social situations; he likes his violins and his medicine and his quiet evenings. If he were braver, if he were more of a joking shelt, he might say Would you like to shoot two birds with one arrow and remedy that? But he’s not, and he won’t, and the thought takes his breath away; he’s not ready. So instead he says something about how he never knew Chance cared that much. It’s the wrong thing to say, apparently. Chance turns his face away and drains his goblet.“Do you really not know me at all after all these months?” Chance mumbles, too softly for a faun to hear, but Sham’s wolfling ears pick it up. Chance must have known he’d hear; Chance probably knows exactly to what pitch wolves and wolflings can hear. It’s not exactly a comforting thought.It’s been a year and a half since the battle with the centaurs, a year and a half since the destruction in Port Ory and Danda-lay, a year and a half since Syrill was exiled to Filinia, a year and a half since Corellian the iteration disappeared. Corellian’s here, though, and Sham sort of wants to talk to him and sort of wants to avoid him at the same time. Syrill’s here, too, with the Filinian delegation who have come to the wedding. It’s very much a political wedding - Meuril, Capricia, Istra and Jubal are here as well, along with Chance’s oldest brother, who is now the king, and someone who is apparently Dance’s pup and is the new king of the Durian wolves. Sham has also spotted Archemais here, somewhere, though he’s not sure if the wizard is staying for the entire thing.In that year and a half, Chance, Sham, Fenrah, Laylan, Capricia and Shyshax have worked hard together to iron out the details of the new wolfling kingdom. They’ve all gotten to know each other a little better, but they haven’t exactly been the closest of buddies. They’ve had more disagreements than agreements, even between Fenrah and Laylan, who have only grown more in love.The wedding's a far cry from the few smaller, more intimate marriages he remembers from his childhood - though, he realizes, he's never seen a wolfling ruler get married. He wishes it were more intimate. Maybe then Chance wouldn't be exchanging his princely misery for wine.“I know you enough to know you’re miserable right now,” Sham points out to him.Chance raises his eyebrow as if to say, so are you.“Put down the wine and go eat something substantial, please. We’ve set up a faun table with no meat.” Sham doesn't think he's seen the cliff faun prince eat a single thing since the guests were invited into the hall. Chance doesn’t say anything. “As a healer, I’m ordering you to eat,” Sham says firmly. Chance nods this time, but still remains silent.“Chance.”Chance looks at him, then. Sham takes him in: rather gaunt, hair shorter than usual, the tiniest smudge of kohl under his bottom eyelashes, left over from the previous night doing Firebird-knows-what. In all honesty, he looks terrible, for all his fancy wedding clothes and purple cape. He’s standing at the table, shoulders up, posture tense. His ears are flat against his head, and his cheeks are somewhat flushed. Sham knows he knows most of the fauns in attendance, and some of the panauns and cats, too. Perhaps it’s losing his best friend to marriage that’s got him so down. Perhaps it’s the ruined city of Sardor-de-lore in which the wedding festivities are being held. Perhaps it’s simply his natural state - but Sham has seen him shaking and vomiting and losing blood; Sham has seen him needy and desperate for medical assistance and yet so resilient that after torture he still wouldn’t give away government secrets, and he still noticed things none of the rest of them did. Sham has seen him relaxed, drunk on thistle brandy and joking around with Shyshax. Sham has seen him sit for hours, playing the violin to stop Sham from killing himself.He can smell the depression on Chance, hanging there around him like his own personal storm. The least Sham can do, he thinks, is return the favor.“What is it?” Chance asks.Sham decides against saying whatever half-formed thought is on his mind. “Come with me,” he says instead. Chance eyes him suspiciously but follows him out of the hall and down the stairs. “Be careful,” Sham warns when his paws push over part of the stair railing. “These stairs weren’t meant for hooves.” He can’t see Chance behind him, but he trusts the young prince will follow his lead.“This is the palace, of course,” he begins, and gestures to the grand hallway below them. “I used to play on this stairwell - it’s a servants’ stair, and they’d always complain about me being underfoot. King Malic would hold informal meetings in this hall, and sometimes he’d look up and catch my eye.” Those were the only times Sham had ever seen his king look happy. He remembers wondering, when he was about five or six, what kind of childhood the wolfling king had led, if he’d been happy, if he’d played on those same stairs.They walk down the rest of the stairs and through the hallway, then past rooms with paintings gauged by cats, past stones with sword-marks on them, past carpets matted in rust.“I’m glad it’s her,” Chance says suddenly. “If it was to be anyone, I’m glad it’s her. She needs his help. He needs to feel needed.”Sham nods. “Pack instinct.”“Yes.”Sham leads him down more stairs, through bedrooms and kitchens and underground bath rooms. He’s going mostly by muscle memory, and there are several times where he has to pause and cast about.“This is a state secret,” Sham says as he leans against the wall in what was once a nursery. The beds are torn, and it’s so far underground that nobody has gotten to clean up the bones yet. Sham shivers. He’s not sure if the blood he’s smelling is imaginary or if it’s still there on the bedposts.“I am not a wolfling, Sham,” Chance reminds him, as if Sham doesn’t know that, as if Chance is the one who is having a wolfling identity crisis and not his former-bounty-hunter counterpart storeys above them.Sham laughs. “No,” he says. “And you’re not the only one with secret tunnels.”Chance looks confused. “I thought you said something about a sewage grate--”Sham shushes him and pushes against the secret door in the wall. It opens with a horrible grinding noise. Sham sniffs the air. He can smell the stale air in the passage, bringing news of wood and metal and death. The room beyond the passage is large and dark, but Sham knows his way around it like it's the back of his hand. He sniffs, casting about for the lamp hanging from the wall."There should be enough here, unless the cats destroyed it...." He finds the switch and turns it a couple of times until a light burns in the lamp. Chance looks startled in the new light."When the cats sacked Sardor-de-lore, they didn't just kill wolflings," Sham explains, "they killed our culture and knowledge, too. You were born afterward, and Capricia was too young to remember. We had many inventions. It wasn't until we stayed in the house of some, ahem... cliff faun that we realized you don't have these. It's made from natural gas we imported from the Wefrivain archipelago and the Lawless Lands."“I never expected to see these in person,” Chance whispers. “I read about them. I even, um… tried to get some alchemists to try and recreate this phenomenon. It didn’t work very well.” Chance stares at the gas light as if it holds all the secrets to the universe. "That's... what you wanted to show me?"Sham laughs, even though it isn't funny. "No. What I wanted to show you is what's in the next room." The next room is completely dry. There are sealed containers of oil on the shelves that line the wall next to the door. They're so deep and so far under the palace now that the cats never got down here. Sham lights the gas lamp on the ceiling, and he hears Chance gasp.On the wall opposite them, and on the two walls on either side, are musical instruments. There are many stringed ones, but some winds are there as well. Sham gazes at them for a while, remembering his father taking him down here for the first time when he was three, letting him touch the flutes on the very bottom shelf.Sham risks a look at Chance. The youngest cliff faun prince looks like he might cry. Sham wonders if anyone has ever cared to show him something beautiful like this, something they thought he might like."I used to come down here a lot, when I was a child," Sham says. It's not what he wants to say, but Chance understands anyway."Thank you," he says, "for showing me this."Through the tunnel and up the stairs, Laylan and Fenrah's wedding is going on. The meal is almost winding down. Soon it will be time for the traditional performance from the two joining families. Sham is, of course, the only family Fenrah has left - besides Laylan, of course, her third cousin. And because Fenrah is Laylan's only wolfling family, and she's the one marrying him, Chance has agreed to step in and play the traditional roles. Sham wonders who explained the traditions to him, or if he already knew."I figured we could take an instrument from here, for our wedding piece," Sham says."They're probably not in tune," says Chance, and Sham can tell by the tremor in his voice and the smell of sweat and tears that he's saying, I could never. Not after what I did. He wishes he could stop Chance from feeling so damned guilty all the time, but he knows he’ll only be able to do that once he fully forgives Chance. From time to time, he thinks he’s ready to, but then he sees some pack decimated by the faun bounties. He knows it’s not all Chance’s fault, but it’s difficult to forgive the person who actively hunted one’s pack for so many moons."We can tune them," Sham says gently. "We can do it right here. Come on, Chance. Pick an instrument."Chance, of course, picks the one that had once belonged to Malic's great-grandfather - and he hands it to Sham."You ought to have this one," he says. "Why do you not?""You know what it is?"Chance shrugs. "I've seen diagrams. There are several wolfling history books in the library at Danda-lay.""I haven't come down here since I was seven," Sham says. "With my father. I wasn't sure if it was still here.""So you came down to get a piece of your old life back, because you feel like you're losing Fenrah." Now it's Chance's turn to be uncomfortably apt. Sham shifts onto his bad paw, flexes his claws against his boot, feels the phantom pressure of a sword puncturing his skin. "Well, aren't we just the prettiest picture?" Chance continues, somewhat bitterly. "Two former enemies, jealous that they're losing the only true friends they've ever had.""I might call Laylan a bit more than a friend," says Sham, wondering if he's crossing a line.Chance sighs and stares resolutely at the ancient violin in his hands. "Then you would be wrong. He keeps to himself. Always afraid of getting on the wrong side of public opinion, of getting murdered in the middle of the night. Not that he couldn't fend off any attackers." Chance sounds proud, but his ears are drooping. "I never could get him to come out of his shell with me."Sham wonders if he knows how worried Laylan was about him after Daren had beaten him half to death. "Well, thank the Firebird you're not like that," he says, and Chance actually laughs. "You can take that violin," Sham says, pointing to one just above faun-height on their right. "My father made it."Chance picks it up reverently, strokes the wood, the strings, the bow. "It's excellently made," he says.Sham sniffs. "Of course it is." But he's smiling despite himself at the way Chance is inspecting it. "Let's go entertain some politicians."Sham leads the way back to the wedding hall with the clack of Chance's hooves beating the stone behind him and reverberating around in his brain.They play pieces of music so ancient it hurts Sham’s heart, though he’s not sure if that’s from the wine, the emotion behind what they’re doing, or the fact that Chance knows and can complement the traditional wolfling wedding music. Sham thinks if Chance had been magically turned into a wolfling somehow in the middle of the night, he would have saved all of wolfling culture. As he plays, he thinks about the unfairness of it all: Chance being able to research wolflings because of all the resources available to him, as a faun and as a prince, while Sham and Fenrah had to go on what they heard from the ruined packs and their own spotty childhood memories - and he pours all that emotion into his music. Laylan and Fenrah disappear, the wedding guests disappear, the cats, Chance, Sham himself, until there’s only the music of the two violins, dancing together, winding around each other, breaking apart and coming together, singing traditionally, innovating wildly. Sham changes the key, Chance harmonizes, and together they complicate the notes so much that it makes Sham tear up. He feels like his whole body is coming apart, like his muscles are separating from each other, like his own depression is leaking out of his head with his tears.When they’re done, everyone is silent. Sham opens his eyes. Fenrah has her eyes closed, as is the custom. Laylan is looking at Fenrah, as is... not quite the custom, but who is Sham to judge? He just improvised on the traditional wedding duet with a cliff faun.Lexis is grinning so wide all his teeth are showing. Sham feels his ears instinctively flick back. Talis is standing behind Fenrah, and she looks like she’s crying. Danzel leads everyone in applause. Fenrah leads Laylan up the steps to the dais to take their places next to their family representatives. Sham hugs her. He sees Chance thump Laylan on the back.“You looked like you were coming back from the dead,” says someone with a purr, and Sham turns to see Shyshax. The cheetah dips his head. “Well done on your duet. That was impressive. I even managed not to twitch my tail!”“What an incredible accomplishment,” says Chance from behind Sham. He scowls at Shyshax. “Don’t you have something to do? Grooming Laylan’s hair or something? Shoo.”“See if you can work on his attitude,” Shyshax tells Sham. “Maybe you’ll even get it in the range of his violin-playing. Who knows? Miracles can happen.” He stalks away with a single twitch of his tail, to go and pester Ounce.Chance shakes his head. “That cheetah manages to get on my nerves every damn time.”Sham smiles. “Like you’re such a Monument,” he teases.“I can be monumental,” Chance returns. “I’ll be the most monumental member of the House of Windar Panamindorah has ever seen.”“You can’t be king, though,” Sham says softly. Even if all Chance’s brothers die or abdicate, a prince with a man as a mate will never legally be allowed to rule. Sham thinks it’s a stupid law, but Chance can’t challenge it.Chance sighs. “Maybe I don’t want to be king,” he says. “I mean, I’d like to make some difference in the world - a good difference.” He kicks at the wall behind the dais, then looks guilty. Sham wants to marry him. The thought is sudden, gone as swiftly as it came in, pushed out by Sham’s sense of self-preservation.They go back to the table, eat a while, Sham not eating meat out of respect for Chance’s sensitivities. The windows are dark now, and red moon is visible in the sky. Wolfling weddings traditionally last all night, with several hours of dancing and eating. It feels good to eat, good to dance, but the Raider in Sham still feels restless, still feels like he’s doing something wrong by being in a room with cats and fauns. There are felidae there, too, and Sham supposes they were worse off than he ever was, though he feels bad comparing their respective situations.When the meal part is over, they dance for a couple of hours. Laylan and Fenrah sit down and eat while an orchestra of woflings and fauns play music, and everyone else dances. The cats make circles and do their traditional dances, which is a somewhat strange sight, and the wolflings dance in fluid motions, while the fauns perform their hoof-clicking numbers. The felidae dance in wide circles, not having any remembrance of their own tradition. In the second half-watch, Laylan and Fenrah dance alone, then are joined by the guests in the last quarter-watch of the first half of the night. Laylan dances with Shyshax and Chance, Fenrah dances with Sham. Talis and Danzel dance the whole time together. Sham spots Syrill and Lexis moving to the music, Syrill’s ears flicking back, Lexis purring slightly. Capricia dances with her father, with Lexis, with Syrill. Archemais materializes and dances with a felidae woman Sham has never seen before, then with Corry, then with both of them together. Shyshax nudges Chance over to Sham, and they start dancing, too. Sham has honestly never been much for dancing, and his dance with Chance is nothing like their violin playing: it’s not aggressive, it’s not a give-and-take. It’s more of a figure this out as we go along, oh, shit, I stepped on your paw, but Sham tries his hardest. He can tell Chance is fighting back a smile at his non-skills.“Shut up,” he mutters, and Chance laughs.“Your ears are twitching madly,” says Chance.“I know.”“Relax. It’s not a competition. I’m not going to stab you.”“I know.”“What is it, then?” Chance looks genuinely concerned, as if he wants Sham to know that his intentions are good.“I just really hate dancing.”Chance blinks.“I’m a music person. I don’t dance; I don’t do social situations. Makes me nervous.” Sham's tail is twitching, and his claws are all the way out in his boots.“Then let’s stop,” Chance says. He leads Sham over to the faun table, pours them each some juice.“There you two lovebirds are,” Shyshax says behind them, and Chance rolls his eyes and curses under his breath.“Will you never go away?” he asks, but then he notices Lexis is behind Shyshax. They both incline their heads.“Please give my congratulations to Laylan and Fenrah,” says Lexis. “Pardon me, but I must go find my daughter. I believe she headed somewhere in the palace with the iteration Corellian.” Sham nods. He notices that Lexis leaves to go find Leesha with Syrill right behind him. He turns back to Chance, who is frowning at Syrill’s back.“That faun is the most sexual person I have ever met,” he says. “I’m pretty sure he’s been in bed with Jubal. And now Lexis.”“There seem to be a lot of inter-species relationships going on here,” murmurs Sham. He can feel Chance looking at him, at his face, at his shoulders, at his mouth. He flicks his ears.Chance leans over him to grab a pastry from the table. His mouth is close to Sham’s ear; his lips brush the outer rim of it. “You want to leave for a while?” he says in a low voice, and Sham wills himself not to shiver.They get out of the room, out of the palace, out into the maze of desolated city. Chance kisses him under an arch. Sham pushes him up against the side of the arch, Chance’s curls tickling his neck, then his lips. The arch crumbles, and they just barely manage to get out of the way. Chance laughs, breathlessly. It’s a sound Sham has never heard.“You know I have different biology than you,” Sham tells him abruptly, and Chance nods. Of course Chance nods. Sham thinks he probably has a whole collection of baculum bones in his bedside drawer or something.But Chance whispers, “I’ve only read about it,” and Sham kisses him fiercely, just because he can.They have sex on some long-gone noble’s bed, and Sham’s memories of it are filled with Chance’s hand around his knot, the smell of both of them, the smells of old blood and dust and wine, the smells of sweat and tears and old cat waste. It’s not his most pleasant memory, but it feels like he should build a Monument in this spot, like he could call down the Firebird and rival him with his heat.Chance touches his temple when they’re done, lying on top of the torn sheets. “Whose house are we in?” he asks. Sham doesn’t know. He stares at the ceiling for a time, wondering how many eighth-watches have gone by, wondering if Laylan and Fenrah are asking where they are. After a while, he notices that Chance is crying silently beside him.“What’s wrong?” he asks. Chance shakes his head. Sham pulls him close into a hug. He remembers the first time he did this, when they both thought Chance was going to die.“Firebird, but you’re protective,” Chance whispers, and now he’s truly let his guard down. He’s crying on Sham’s fancy wedding shirt. Sham is glad they managed to get their trousers off all the way, but he knows they’ll have a lot of cleaning up to do. Fauns may not smell the sex on them, but all the panauns and cats and wolves in there surely will. There’s no way nobody’s going to find out what they’ve done. Unless, of course, they don’t go back to the wedding. Them being the family representatives and all, that’s quite a challenge, and it will also cause a minor scandal. Sham knows the tiny, new wolfling kingdom can’t afford a scandal, however minor, and he knows he can’t stand up his best friend and her husband like that.Firebird, but a little rebellious portion of his mind tells him he wants to.“Forgive me?” Chance asks in the smallest voice Sham has ever heard. He wonders how many people have been privy to that voice. Laylan, probably. Probably not Chance’s mother or father. Definitely not Jubal. Sham suddenly feels the weight of their history lying on top of them.“We’re going to mess everything up,” he says instead of answering.“Give me this,” Chance says fiercely, sitting up. “Give me this one time, and, I swear, I’ll never mention it again.”But Sham shakes his head. “Won’t you?” he says. He smiles. “Won’t Shyshax?”Chance scowls. “Shyshax be damned.”Sham thinks about it for a while, then gets up and goes into the bathroom. He’s glad to be back in Sardor-de-lore, with water running through pipes and gas lamps and that music room. He washes himself up, uses some old perfume he finds in there, brings some out to Chance.“You’d better get cleaned up,” he says, “before every panaun and cat and wolf in a league’s distance recognizes you as mine.” Chance blushes a little, smiles a little. He cleans himself up.“You don’t need protection,” Sham says to him later, back at the wedding reception. Nobody’s looked at them any differently except Lexis and Laylan. Sham thinks they know. He doesn’t particularly care. “You’ve already made a huge difference. A good difference.” He gestures around him. “You made this happen,” he says. “Thank you.”Chance inclines his head. “Come play with me sometime,” he says, and he says it like it could be mundane, friendly talk about violins, or it could be an invitation. Sham rather thinks it’s both. He nods. Chance hesitates, then hugs him. “Thank you,” he whispers. Sham wants him to say it again. Sham wishes he were as young as Chance, as privileged, as bold, as bitterly rebellious.“I’m getting old, Chance,” he says, instead of whatever it is his brain’s urging him to say. “My bones ache.”“Any bones in particular?” Chance asks, like he’s asking the weather. Sham smacks him lightly, slightly awed even now that he can touch Chance like this, that he can playfully slap the cliff faun prince upside the head. How the tables have turned in the past two years.“Come on,” he says. “Let’s go dance with the newlyweds.”And they do, until the sun comes up in the morning.
10872918	Bubble	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "M/M", "Characters": "Merlin (Merlin), Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Gwaine (Merlin), Lancelot (Merlin), Percival (Merlin)", "Fandom": "Merlin (TV)", "Language": "English", "Rating": "General Audiences", "author": "by the_one_and_only_one", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-10T00:00:00", "words": "811", "Additional Tags": "Canon Era", "Relationship": "Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": "Camelot Drabbles", "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	“Merlin!” Arthur peered round the corner of the hallway of the East Tower. The castle was large, but that shouldn’t mean Merlin takes every opportunity to turn their lives into a game of hide and seek. “Merlimph” Arthur walked straight into Percival’s arm, not really paying attention to where he was going.“Arthur!” Percival turned to Arthur and Arthur noticed Gwaine and Lancelot behind him. “Sorry, it’s just the knights... we felt we should say. We know about… well, I mean, we know about Merlin.”Arthur paled. The knights couldn’t know, Merlin had made sure they were careful. Very careful. “Um, ahem, know what exactly? There’s nothing to know. We’re not doing anything. I mean, I know we have midnight poetry sessions in dark corners of the castle, but that’s a normal thing for a King and his manservant to do, right? I’m sure Father used to have late night history lessons with Geoffrey.” Arthur’s mouth had a mind of its own apparently.Percival’s face was marred with confusion. Gwaine however was grinning with delight. “Called it! I knew they were sleeping together. Hand over my winnings.” He held his hands out in front of Percival, Lancelot not even bothering to hide his laughter as Percival poured out what looked like a large sum of gold coins into the cup formed by Gwaine’s hands.“What Percival meant was Merlin’s magic.” Lancelot spoke, his voice hushed just in case anyone was passing by. “What you’ve just admitted is a story for another time I feel.”“Oh.” Arthur felt like an idiot. Of course they were talking about the magic. Merlin had told Arthur just this morning as they lay in the King’s bed in their own bubble, kissing lazily, that he would tell the knights about his powers today. “Oh.”“Another time?!” Gwaine had latched on to the end of Lancelot’s words. “What? No, I need a story now.” He waggled his eyebrows in Arthur’ direction, and really, why did Arthur even take Gwaine on a knight? Oh yes, his undeniable sword skills and loyalty, but really, where was the loyalty now?“Arthur! Have you seen Leon? I can’t find him!” Merlin called from the end of the corridor. Arthur put his head in his hands. This day had started off great. Really great. And suddenly it was all coming crashing down. He felt Merlin approach and took a deep breath. Perhaps this would all go fine and the Knights wouldn’t let on that they knew about them. “Gwaine are you alright?” Gwaine was starting to go a little blue from holding in his breath. He seemed to have about a thousand and one burning questions.“How long has it been? Who initiated the first time? Were you drunk? Where was I when you first kissed? Was it on patrol? Was it when we saved you from the wyvern in the Perilous Lands? Was it whe--” Percival had mercifully covered Gwaine’s mouth with his palm, but Gwaine didn’t stop. His hands were still moving around animatedly and his eyes asking more questions. There was a faint mumbling sound where his voice was muffled by Percival’s hand, but other than that it was suddenly very quiet.“Arthur.” Merlin turned; a fake grin plastered on his face, promising Arthur a whole world of pain later on. “Would you care to tell me exactly what Gwaine is talking about?”“Uh, well, ahem. You see,” Arthur glanced around, hoping Lancelot would generously save him. Alas, that traitor was too busy trying not to laugh. “Um. Well. I was looking for you.” He finished lamely.Merlin’s eyes narrowed and the fake smile turned straight into a frown. And not the pouty frown that Arthur liked. This frown was the one that told Arthur that Merlin was deeply unhappy. He gripped Arthur’s wrist (with a strength that Arthur should definitely not be finding attractive, not right now) and pulled him away from a still-mumbling Gwaine.“You told them.” He had his arms crossed with Arthur backed up against the wall. “I. Asked. For. One. Thing.” Merlin enunciated each word with a jab to Arthur’s shoulder. “And that was to let me tell them everything. Ev-e-ry-thing.” He jabbed Arthur a bit more, before turning around and walking off in the direction he came from, slamming the door (to what Arthur was sure was a broom cupboard) behind him.“Merlin! Half of the secret was mine to tell too, you can't live in your own bubble for your whole life. Merlin, wait!” Arthur called after him. He pulled, and wasn’t surprised when the door didn’t move. “Merlin, please, let me explain!” He pounded on the door and kept going, even while he heard his knights’ feet shuffle away. He carried on and on until it felt like his knuckles were raw. He sank to his knees at the door. “Merlin.”
10832064	Help Me Home	{ "Archive Warning": "Graphic Depictions Of Violence", "Category": "Gen", "Characters": "Penelope Creighton-Ward, Gordon Tracy, Scott Tracy, John Tracy, Virgil Tracy, Alan Tracy", "Fandom": "Thunderbirds Are Go (Cartoon 2015)", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Teen And Up Audiences", "author": "by space-baegel (carryonstarkid)", "chapters": "5/5", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-06T00:00:00", "words": "6,727", "Additional Tags": "Character Study, Relationship Study, I sure do love my girl, Discussion of PTSD", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": "Penelope Creighton-Ward/Gordon Tracy, Penelope Creighton-Ward & Scott Tracy, Penelope Creighton-Ward & John Tracy, Penelope Creighton-Ward & Virgil Tracy, Penelope Creighton-Ward & Alan Tracy", "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	It’s a Dom Perignon Vintage 1973, sold for roughly nineteen thousand dollars at a high-end New York City auction house just a week before her wedding. This sort of wine, she knows, is most often purchased for the investment. It is sold with the understanding that the owner will proudly display it somewhere between their Monet and their Rembrandt, because the quality of this century old, top standard wine can only be matched by that of the old masters. This bottle has traveled the world alongside first edition Hemingways and original Tiffany lamps, which means that it is absolutely, positively never meant to be opened.And yet.There’s a pop of the cork. Smoke curls over the lip of the bottle, catching the golden candlelight that cuts through the evening. Crystal pings as she pours, her hands shaky and her gaze unfocused, until she finally pulls herself back. Yes. This will do just fine. Bubbles in her wine, bubbles in her tub. So far, so good.She sets both the glass and the bottle among the candles and the rose petals, a study in relaxation perched at the corner of her stone tub. Everything is exactly as it should be and so she finally drops her towel, takes one step in, then another, until slowly she feels the heat soaking into every last muscle. Maybe it’s the warmth or maybe it's the aroma of fine French wine, but it feels like she’s bathing in liquid wealth. This must be what it’s like, she thinks, to swim in a tub of molten gold.Everything about the evening feels like home, from the smell of roses, to the fresh pink towel behind her neck, to the swim trunks hanging from the nearby bar. Everything about the evening feels familiar and peaceful and fine. Everything is fine, just as long as she doesn’t think too hard about it.She reaches for the glass, pulls the stem between her first and second fingers as she brings it to her lips. The trick with the expensive wine is that she has to work slowly. These are hundred dollar sips, after all, so one must take the time to really, properly enjoy them. That’s the idea. She can’t afford to down three, four, five glasses—not tonight. Not tonight.And so it’s a sip here. A sip there. Turns out that a century tastes how charcoal smells, each little sip of the past accompanied by a rebellious bite of flame. It only takes about half a glass for her to feel it, the warmth on the inside now matching that on the outside, and finally she can let her eyes fall shut. With her hair pulled back, her arm draped across the side of the tub, a wine glass in hand, it’s all perfectly fine.Except when she closes her eyes, she doesn’t smell the roses anymore. When she closes her eyes, it’s like all the bubbles have popped, and the candles have been blown out, and her water is ice cold.The man speaks at her in Farsi and although she understands most of it, it’s a local dialect. Some of it takes some translating, but by the time she can piece it together, he has already lost his patience with her. How many seconds—how many seconds has it been since she could last breathe? How many more seconds of air will he give her before he takes it away again? It’s hot. She doesn’t have the information he wants, and even if she does she won’t be giving it up.And she’s trained for this—she is—but that simply doesn’t make it any less terrifying. That doesn’t make it any less torturous. No matter how many hours she spends in training, she will never learn how to breathe underwater. How many days has it been? She’s tired. She’s hungry. Funny enough, she’s thirsty.Is this how she finally fails? How would Gordon handle it, if she were to drown?Crystal shatters. Two thousand dollars worth of Dom Perignon splashes dark against stone floors and she finally opens her eyes again. The water seems to rise by the second, up and up and up, until it’s wrapped around her neck and she can’t breathe anymore. Everything feels wrong—all wrong. There’s candlelight and roses and Gordon’s voice. Gordon’s voice. She’s home. “Penelope?” he calls. “Hey. Pen? Listen, I’m coming in, okay?”And she so desperately wants to scream out to him and tell him no. Tell him she’s fine, that he shouldn’t come in, that she doesn’t want him to watch her drown, but she can’t get a grip on her words and anyways, it wouldn’t stop him.He starts with a peek and whatever he sees elicits a full swing of the door. “Aw jeez,” he says, an eye towards the floor and, more specifically, the shattered crystal. When he looks up at her, his expression doesn’t change one bit. “Is it November again?”Of course it’s November. It’s always November. It’s been four months and she still can’t forget about the November op.“Hey now—hey. You’re home. We got you home, remember?” he says, and he picks up the larger pieces of glass, tosses them into the trash like they’re not worth their weight in old money. And now that they’re broken, she supposes they aren’t. “You’ve got to take your time with these things, Pen—hey, c’mon. Don’t cry. It’s okay. Really. It’s okay.”He lays a towel down over the rest of the shards, then pulls another from the rack and holds his hand out to her. “I wish you didn’t think you had to do this alone,” he says. “C’mon. Out of the water. It’s not gonna happen tonight.”She isn’t sure when she started shaking again, but it suddenly seems far too obvious when she stands. Maybe it’s just cold in here. Maybe there’s nothing wrong with her at all. Maybe Gordon’s the one overreacting, and she’s perfectly fine.She wraps the towel around herself and he helps her over the edge of the tub. Not even a single second passes before he pulls her in close and she realizes that, oh, yes. He had been right. She is crying. Imagine that. “Yeah, I know,” he says, an arm around her waist and a hand in her hair. “I know it’s not really okay.”And they just stand there. They stand there for a really long time, and even though she’s trained to count the seconds, she can’t help feeling like it’s been an eternity before he speaks again. “Is that the wine your father gave us for the wedding?” he asks. “You opened a ‘73 Dom Perignon? Pen, I don’t think I’ve ever been more in love with you than I am right now.”“It’s silly,” she spits. “Everything about this was a bad idea.”He squeezes her hips, then pulls her away. Maybe he wants to make sure she can really hear him when he says, “I have been waiting years to open that. I just never wanted to be the one who did it. I thought I was going to have to wait until I was a grumpy old man who didn’t care about anything anymore.”This, despite the evening, earns a laugh out of her. It’s a short thing—barely there—but it’s a laugh, nonetheless. “I’m sorry to waste it, then.”“Oh no, no, no,” he says. “We are not wasting it.”He lets her go, taking a seat with his back against the tub. It’s a swift scoop of the bottle before he takes a generous swig, and then he pats the space just next to him. Leave it to Gordon Tracy to swig an expensive wine straight from the bottle. “Do not let me drink this whole thing, Pen. Because I will. Happily.”She rolls her eyes, swipes her nose, slugs her way over to his side. She sees what he’s doing—it’s the very same thing he always does—but it’s working. She’s suddenly a lot warmer than she was before, now that he’s got his arm around her shoulders. It’s all just a little bit better when she knows she’s home. When he passes her a genuine antique and tells her to drink up. When he says, “Penelope?” like she isn’t already hooked on every word he has to say. “I know it doesn’t feel like it, but it really does get easier.”“I know,” she says, looking up at him. “I know it does.” ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- One one thousand.Hyperbole is the sort of thing she’s learned to forgive. She used to view it as some sort of betrayal, twisting words around until they no longer meant what they were supposed to. Language was supposed the be precise enough that it could be decoded halfway around the world, explicit enough to determine times and dates and destinations with utmost accuracy, efficient enough to build entire empires upon which the sun never set. Language was supposed to be the difference between man and animal, and to abuse such a gift— to exploit it—by way of egregious exaggeration was as foolish as it was dangerous.She had thought that. Once upon a time.One one thousand, two one thousand.Except there are times when hyperbole is necessary. There are times when the face value of language cannot possibly amount to the actual cost of a situation. She sees it in the boys—each one a hyperbole all his own—whenever they finish a hard day. She sees it in Alan when he “could literally eat an entire field of cows right now” and spots it in Virgil after he promises to sleep for centuries. Scott’s shoulders have always carried the weight of the world, John has always lived a million miles in the sky, and Gordon… well. What isn’t hyperbolic about Gordon?She’s learned to forgive hyperbole. Maybe she has even come to understand it, because sometimes language fails man. Sometimes a child dies, despite all the attempts to save them or a plane crashes, despite all the efforts to keep it flying. Sometimes terrible things happen, and there aren’t words that can describe the toll it takes on those who are left to feel it.One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand.But this is where they must be careful, because hyperbole doesn’t just enhance language. It also demeans it. A press that prints bills only devalues the currency. Too much growth will inevitably cause a decline. When hyperbole utilizes the big words for small inconveniences, words like millions and miles and forever are reduced to practically nothing. Words like torture suddenly become—for lack of a better phrase—watered down.One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand, four.There are ropes around her wrists and surprisingly that’s the worst part, because every time she struggles, she’s met with fire on her skin. Hot. Everything’s hot here. Is it always hot in November? The concrete at her back burns like the sun and the air is packed with pounds of sand. She sometimes makes the mistake of being thankful when the water hits her, but the relief doesn’t last long. With water comes fire. The breath of a dragon curls its way through her nose, her throat, her lungs. She pukes. How long has she been awake?One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand, four. Five one thousand.The voice is harsh. The words are Farsi. She wonders, briefly, if Farsi utilizes hyperbole to the same extent that English does. “I don’t know,” she says, and she’s not sure which language she uses. “I won’t tell you. I don’t know.”The ropes are frayed, a thousand needless wrapped around raw skin. There’s blood. There’s sweat. There’s a million different reasons for her to give an answer.One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand, four. Five one thousand, six one thousand.Breathe. She has to breathe.The voice is yelling at her again. Screaming at her. She’s so tired. She knows the language, but the words are failing her and all she wants is hyperbole. Somewhere in the mess, she hears English. “Have you had enough yet, or would you like more?”One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand, four. Five one thousand, six one thousand, seven one thousand—She spits. “More.”It’s not hyperbole—not even a little bit—to say that Scott Tracy is a hero. It’s not hyperbole to say that when he breaks into buildings, he does it by kicking down doors, shattering windows, tearing down the very walls. Scott is the sort of man for whom anger comes like poetry, smooth and easy, and he doesn’t need exaggeration to make his point known.Red stains her wrist. Black stains her line of sight. There’s a buzz in her ears until Scott’s voice takes everything over. “You don’t know how glad I am to see you.”“I think, perhaps,” she says, “that I am infinitely gladder to see you.”He nods, reaches out to her, and she flinches at his touch. How long has it been? How long has it been since someone has touched her without malicious hyperbole? It doesn’t go unnoticed. “I’m gonna help you up, Lady P,” he says. “Is that okay? Can I help you up?”Her laugh is little more than a huff. “Oh, I think you may have to do more than that, darling.”She is stripped of the frayed rope and before she’s entirely sure of what’s happening, the world is scooped out from under her. She’s tired. Maybe it’s a dream. Maybe she’s dead. “Come on,” he says. “Let’s get you home.” ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- It’s not a break.Gordon thinks it’s a break, but recently Gordon’s started to act like everything about her is broken. Stolen glances across the room, language padded at every corner, each and every one of his touches equal to that of a glassmaker—it’s a dance. Every move he makes is carefully choreographed.So it’s not a surprise—not really—that when Penelope insists on hosting Christmas dinner, Gordon suggests that maybe Scott should take care of it this year. It’s not a surprise that, when put to a vote, the brothers outnumber her five-to-one. Nothing too big, they had told her. Keep it small, like when we were kids. We’re just glad to have everyone home.In other words, Gordon is not the only one who’s dancing around her.“… you did to your hands?”Oh. Right. That would be John’s voice. She had been talking to John, sometime, about something, sitting across from him like she has so many times before. How many seconds has it been? How long has she been gone? “Hmm?”A low hum buzzes through the villa, conspiratorial whispers taking place just below the melody of Virgil’s piano. “Your hands,” he says. “I asked if you ever planned to tell me what happened to your hands.”His words bring back the throbbing, a steady one-two-three rhythm that waltzes across her knuckles in a deep purple gown. In one blood-splotched hand, she holds a slender champagne glass filled with sparkling cider. In the other, a pendant, flipping and twiddling through absent-minded fingers. It’s a birthday present from Gordon, far more modest than anything he’s given her in the past, as if her neck cannot possibly hold the weight of something more extravagant. Funnily enough, it is now the heaviest necklace she owns. She spares John a smile. “Oh, you mean Gordon didn’t tell you?” she tries.And for all his talent, John has never been a particularly graceful dancer. “I didn’t ask if he was going to tell me,” he says. “I asked if you would.”“Good, good,” she says. “Going straight to the source.”“Penelope.”“No, I applaud you for your effort, John.”“If you don’t want to tell me, then you don’t have—”“It’s a sprain.” She takes a smooth sip from her cider, desperately wishing for something stronger. There isn’t even any eggnog at this so-called Christmas dinner. No eggnog, no extravagance, and why is it so hot on this godforsaken island? It may as well not even be Christmas at all. “I was boxing and I sprained the second knuckle on my left hand—which, by the way, is something that happens quite frequently to boxers and has been happening to me since I was six years old.”“So you know what it feels like,” John offers.“Precisely,” she says. “I know when something is a sprain, and this is exactly that. Gordon is under the impression that I’ve fractured it, but Gordon happens to be wrong.”John’s retuning nod is slow and considerate and for the first time in a month, she feels like she’s finally speaking English again. “Okay,” he says. “Okay, I believe you.”“No you don’t.”“Sure I do.”“Do you want to go get drinks, John?” she says. Virgil’s piano plays on. Someone’s singing. How long has she been here? “What do you think? You. Me. We abscond from this Holly Jolly Joke and see what kind of real trouble we can get into, just like old times.”“No bars open on Christmas,” he says, not missing a beat.She shrugs. “The must be a Jewish barkeep somewhere.”“I don’t have a way off the island.”“Help me steal the keys from Gordon, and we have ourselves a flying car.”“Penelope…”“Let’s do it. Let’s leave.”“It’s not a good idea.”“Why?” she snaps, but she knows his answer. “Why not? What is the problem? Say it.”The music is low and she feels the throb of a fractured knuckle—sprained, dammit all, it’s sprained—but now even John looks at her like she’s just another one of their victims. “Your doctors said—”“I’m not broken, John!” The music halts and instead of Virgil’s melody, she now hears her own voice bouncing off tall glass walls and high glass ceilings. She suddenly feels too short, because when she shoots up, so does he, and it doesn’t escape her notice that she’s the smallest person in this room. “I am not just someone you boys saved from the desert—I’m fine. Everything is perfectly fine, and I know what I’m doing, and I am not about to crumble where I stand, so could we please stop pretending otherwise and—my god. What does someone have to do around here to get a decent drink?”The whole room has eyes locked on her. They don’t even do her the honor of dancing anymore. Suddenly everything is direct and clinical. Gordon won’t look away. She doesn’t meet his gaze.John takes her glass, sets it down, pulls her hand into his so that she’s forced to see the same thing as everyone else. Her knuckles are scabbed, bruises vining up and down her fingers. She feels her heartbeat in her deepest flaws and she wishes the music was still at her back. “We don’t think you’re broken, Penelope,” he says. “But we do think that it might be time to take a break.”We. So they’ve recruited John, then. Given him a mission statement and told him to convince her that the best way to get better is to stop working, sit down, relax. As if she could ever relax knowing that if she had just run a little faster, moved a little quieter, punched a little harder, then none of this would have happened. “Oh that’s what you think, is it?” she says, but she doesn’t wait for an answer. Instead she tears her hands away—a mistake, certainly, but not one that she plans on admitting to. “Gordon, I’d like to go home now.”And there he is, equally too close and not close enough, shooting up off the body of Virgil’s piano with the kind of fervent loyalty that only comes when someone you love suddenly becomes someone you no longer know. “Yeah. Yeah, sure thing, Pen. We’ll just say our goodbyes and—”“I’d like to leave now, please.”“Yeah,” he says one more time. “No, yeah, course you do. C’mon. S’been a long night. Merry Christmas, everyone. We’ll see you soon.”He puts a jacket over her shoulders, even though there’s really no need, and he walks her down the stairs. Apparently even walking is off limits now. More and more it seems like every case she makes for her sanity is just more evidence that can be used against her, so maybe it’s time to stop trying. Maybe she can’t convince them. Maybe she’s in this alone. As they walk away into Christmas night, the music begins to play again. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- She remembers these long days. Remembers standing backstage in some grand, historical London theatre, peaking out at the audience, lacing up her slippers, stretching herself into the most spectacular positions. She remembers taping her ankles and running through the show in her head, remembers stepping out on stage to the sound of a woman’s melody—something in a minor key, something in a language she hadn’t yet understood—as she discovered life through the eyes of her character.A fourth row ticket to the Bolshoi Theatre holiday ballet generally runs somewhere between eight thousand and ten thousand rubles. If they’re performing Tchaikovsky, ticket prices are nearly double that. Shows sell out months in advance, but the chances are that if you truly belong at the Bolshoi, then you do not have to buy your tickets to begin with. Virgil Tracy has somehow secured two. “You really do look lovely tonight.”And of course. Of course she looks lovely, because this dress is designer and the band in her hair is one step below a tiara and she’s always had a gift for being the prettiest ballerina in the room, except she isn’t dancing tonight. She doesn’t know the choreography. Gloves feel like rope burn around her wrists and her scars seem obvious beneath the sheer scarf. The bottom of her dress is made up of dull silver satin while her torso is covered in roughly half a million dollars worth of stitched-on diamonds. She can’t help but feel a bit unbalanced. How long has it been, since she was last home? “Did Gordon tell you to say that?”Because she suspects that this entire thing is Gordon’s idea. The past two weeks have been an endless strand of Let’s Dress Up and Let’s Go Out and You’re Beautiful, Pen. Now he’s gotten Virgil to do his dirty work. “Actually, Lady Penelope, I reached that conclusion on my own. Gordon had nothing to do with it,” he says. “And for the record, Gordon had nothing to do with my inviting you here either. Just so we’re clear.”“So you just happened upon two tickets to the finest production of the Nutcracker that the world of ballet has to offer, did you?”“No, I just happened to have saved the daughter of the Russian Prime Minister a few weeks ago and was offered these tickets as a sign of thanks.”“I thought you boys didn’t take gifts.”“To be honest, I was a little afraid not to.”Penelope grants him this much. “Mmm. Yes. The Prime Minister is a bit much at times,” she says. “Still doesn’t explain why you brought me.”“You’re the only person I know who wants to watch a ballet for three hours,” he says, which is also true, but it comes far too quickly. Like he’s rehearsed it, over and over, one plié at a time. He’s dancing again. She hates it when they dance. “Not to mention that it helps to have a beautiful woman on my arm for these sorts of events.”“He did tell you to say that.”“Okay, yeah, he told me to say that one,” Virgil admits. “The other one was all me though. Scout’s honor.”In her profession, it is crucial that she be able to spot a liar. Penelope is exceedingly talented in this respect, not because she is particularly perceptive when it comes to nervous ticks or racing heartbeats, but because she is capable of stepping into a role. She did it as a girl, dressed up in tights and a leotard, and she does it now, dressed up in wigs and cover legends. She knows when a person is lying, because she spends her whole life lying. She knows how to be someone else.Right now, she’s Virgil. She’s the brother-in-law who was always the middle ground, always responsible for keeping the peace. She’s the glamorous billionaire who is more than capable of finding a date that isn’t herself. She’s Gordon’s best friend, and she’s just trying to give everyone a night off. “I think you are lying to me, Mr. Tracy,” she says.“You’re free to think that,” he says. “Seats fourteen and fifteen. This is us.”He leaves the aisle seat to her, plush red velvet lined in gold. At her front sits a man with the largest bouquet of roses she’s ever seen. She can’t help it—can’t help but analyze the man’s every move—can’t help but become him. She’s the gentleman with a smile. The gentleman with flowers, sitting three rows in. She’s the gentleman without a date who waits rather impatiently for the curtain to open. “That young man is dating one of the dancers,” she tells Virgil. “Probably one of the ensemble members.”Virgil plays along. “How do you know?”“The larger the bouquet, the smaller the role.”“Noted.”“I still think you’re lying to me about your motives.”“Also noted. Program?”He hands her the booklet and she flips through with no great regard to what’s actually on the pages. Sometimes she will stumble upon a biography and she’ll become the theater director, the spotlight technician, the prima ballerina herself. She dances through all these different roles, seeing the world through the eyes of others so that their actions finally make sense. There’s a minor melody in her ears that she can’t ignore. It’s the sort of thing that bleeds through from her work, the sort of thing she’s been doing since her very first recital, the sort of thing that’s programmed into her. It’s easier than being herself.Maybe that’s why she can’t ignore the most obvious of them all.She’s Gordon. She’s Gordon, and she’s back home, finally enjoying a night off from the nightmares and the scars and the silence. She’s Gordon, and she’s glad she called Virgil—glad that, at least for a few hours, she won’t have to worry about her wife throwing a tantrum or breaking her hands or crying. Just crying. She’s Gordon, and she needs Penelope out of the house for a night, because it’s too much.She’s too much.“So what did he offer you?” she asks. “He takes ‘Two out for rescues for a day, if you take his wife off his hands for the evening?”There’s an uncomfortable shift on Virgil’s part, and she knows that she’s caught him on an off note. “That’s not it at all.”“Something with Scott then, no doubt,” she says. “So Gordon’s the one who has to fly to New York with him next time he wants to—”“There wasn’t a deal,” Virgil says. “None of this is part of a deal, Penelope. Believe it or not this actually was my idea and, by the way, I practically had to peel him off of you. He doesn’t want anyone taking you of his hands—he doesn’t even want you out of his sight.”She stumbles. “I’m not really sure what you mean.”The program is now a tube, twisted up in her palms, and Virgil eyes it before he looks up at her. “I noticed it at Christmas,” he says. “Gordon means well—Gordon usually does—but he’s hanging all over you. He only remembers what it’s like to be a trauma victim, but I remember what it’s like to be a trauma victim’s brother.”“I still don’t—”“He’s not trying to get you out of the house,” Virgil says. “I am. You need time to think about things without Gordon. You need times to go out and put on a nice dress and feel like you’re normal. As it so happens, the Bolshoi Theatre is normalcy for you—which is kind of ridiculous, by the way, if you think about it.”This earns a laugh, because it is a bit silly to think that such elegance could possibly be an average Saturday evening, and yet, here they are. The realization feels like a fresh breath of air. “I thought he was just getting tired of me.”“You were gone for eleven days,” says Virgil, and it’s the first time anyone’s ever really been so direct about it. “And we thought you were dead for about seven of them. If Gordon had his way, you’d never leave the house again.”Once—only once, when she was a very little girl—she fell on stage. She had jumped into the air and missed her plié. It was after a long week of practices, in front of an audience that included her entire family, and it had been the worst feeling she’d ever known. That’s what it feels like, to hear Virgil’s words. To have him speak to her in such a way that he might have lost her. That they all might have. She hears that minor melody in her ears once more and feels the holes in her tights, ripping and shredding all along her leg. “I didn’t know,” she says. “I just assumed—”“Yeah, here’s the thing, Lady Penelope,” he says. “I’m not sure what it is you do for a living, exactly, and I know I never will, but let me just say that when it comes to trauma, it usually doesn’t help much to try and guess what other people are thinking.” He looks at her, long and hard. “In my professional opinion, you need to drop your cover and figure out what you’re thinking, first.”And with that, the orchestra begins to tune, dragging their bows against all the wrong notes, horns blowing hot air through their instruments. It’s a twinkling sound of excitement for all the things yet to come, and as the lights dim down on the house, Penelope watches the stage and reminds herself that she is no longer a ballerina who falls. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- It’s the day after that Dom Perignon, and Penelope has been cleaning. She’s cleaned up November, found it at the bottom of all those empty brown bottles and in the strands of crimson string that link her picture to a wall of others. She’s cleaned up December, thrown away that ratty old punching bag and packed up all the tapes and bandages she no longer needs. January had been hidden under piles of undone laundry, unwashed sheets, comforters smelling of long, lazy Sundays and soaking wet nightmares. February had been the uneaten chocolates, the uneaten dinners, the uneaten everything, spoiled food on every last shelf of the refrigerator, and now: March. It’s a very happy birthday for the youngest—no longer the smallest—brother of five. These days Alan is the sort of uncomfortably lean boy that John had been before he’d fully grown into himself. Everything about him is too long, too thin, and it’s all happening so fast that he seems to have lost track of his own limbs. He’s taller than she is, although that has been true for a while, but the full inch of height over Virgil is a bit of a new development.This is among the things that go unmentioned over dinner.And in fact, there are a number of things that go unmentioned over dinner, not the least of which being that this is Penelope’s first time hosting dinner in a very long time. There are a lot of compliments on her roast, plenty of politesse regarding her outfit, her hair, how the cinnamon scent of apple pie is the best thing they’ve smelled all week, but no one mentions how ridged she is. No one mentions how clean everything feels It’s possible that they just don’t notice, but that seems unlikely. This particular group of people tend to notice far more than they are given credit for.“Okay, well, to be fair, it was a huge goose,” says Gordon. “Those things are terrifying, man. Have you seen how many teeth they have?”“Are you saying you couldn’t take on a goose if the situation called for it?” says John, long arms reaching across Penelope as if she hosts a boarding house exclusively for Tracy brothers and if he doesn’t grab a dinner roll right this second, he never will.Gordon’s reply is accompanied with a point of his fork. “I’m saying that no one can take on a goose, because they’re brutal, and they’re mean, and their greatest evolutionary trait is that they’re angry at the whole world.”“Well by that definition, you can’t take on a badger either,” says Virgil.“Or fire ants,” says Scott.“Pass the potatoes,” says Gordon.“Or Barracudas.”“Ooh, barracuda. Good one.”“The potatoes.”Scott, always with the manners, “Say please, you heathen.”Gordon stuffs his cheek full of roasted carrot. “Pass the potatoes, or you can kiss your slice of apple pie goodbye.”Scott passes the potatoes.Gordon scoops a couple of mounds onto the corner of his plate, licking his hand clean before he passes the dish off to the next in line. Alan’s already had about four servings of potato and he shows no sign of yielding. She swears these boys would starve without her dinners. How did they make it through the last four months? How did they survive those eleven days? How long has it been, since they were last at this table together?“I hope that’s okay, Alan,” she says instead. “Pie instead of cake. I really should have asked first.”Alan, who has already shoved the entirety of his potato volcano into his mouth, waves her off and shakes his head. John translates. “Honestly, Penelope. It’s fine. Alan would eat goose feathers if they were served a la mode.”Gordon’s fork clatters against the rim of his plate. “I’m never living the goose thing down, am I?”He’s met with a chorus of various nos before Scott attempts to further translate Alan’s puffed cheeks. “Really, Lady P. He’s thankful for whatever you’ve got. We all are. Dinner is great, dessert smells delicious. Everything’s just great. Don’t worry too much on our account.”“We’re just glad everyone’s home,” says Virgil.She wonders how much money she could accumulate if she collected a dollar every time one of them said those exact words. Would it be closer to double her current fortune, or triple? “Mmm. Yes. Well.” She stands. “If anyone needs me, I’ll just be cutting the pie. Won’t be a moment.”And it’s true that sometimes—sometimes she just needs to step away. To catch her breath. Sometimes they suffocate her and she just needs to come up for air. She hates this. She hates that she gets so angry with them—hates that she’s angry with the entire world, all of the time.One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand, four. Five one thousand, six one thousand—“Uhh. Um, hey.” Her breathing stops. She has to check her hands, make sure they’re no longer stained by twists of red and purple. “Hey, uh, Lady P—Penelope? Penny? Aww jeez, I never know what to call you anymore. Do you want help with that pie?”She’s got a knife in her hand, and it’s maybe a little bit concerning that she can’t actually remember grabbing it. “Hmm?” she says. “Sorry, what was that? Help? Help with what.”Alan creeps his way through the kitchen’s arch, sending a shrug through his shoulders. “I dunno,” he says. “Thought maybe you could use some help cutting it or something.”“I know how to use a knife.”“Sure. Maybe I could scoop some ice cream, though?”“Alan—”“It’s just that I’m pretty sure I know what you’re thinking, is all,” he says, and any debate she had lined up is suddenly stuck on her tongue. “I mean, tell me if I’m wrong. I don’t wanna make assumptions, but they do kinda drown people in affection sometimes—oh shit. Sorry. Not my best choice of words.”“It’s fine.” It’s not, but she’s been cleaning up the past four months from top to bottom, so it’s not as bad as it used to be. She’s mostly focused on what he means, more so than what he’s actually said. “Sorry. Who?”“The brothers,” says Alan, pulling fresh vanilla bean ice cream out of the freezer. “Sometimes they’re a lot to handle, but they mean well. You know that.”She does, in fact, know that. It’s the thing that makes her skin curl. Their good intentions are only ever met with ugly, irrational rage. “Yes,” she says. “You’ve all been very patient with me, and I really do appreciate it.”“Oh come on,” he whines. “Sorry, Lady P, but they’re killing you with kindness and we both know it. I’ve spent the majority of my life as a member of a private rescue squad led by my older brothers, facing fatality every other Tuesday. I know fed up with Scott when I see it, except you’re fed up with all of us—”“It’s really—”“—and that’s totally fine.”And it’s a beat. A pause. A static charge in the air as she waits for him to finish what he has to say, because as far as she can tell, Alan Tracy is a liar. “Come again?”“It’s real nice to have family around,” he says, rummaging through the drawers, searching for the scoop. “But sometimes it’s not. And that’s okay. It’s okay to want to punch Scott in the face sometimes. It’s okay to want to kick Gordon right in the shins. I’m no expert in post trauma or anything, but I have picked up a thing or two, and I know that you’re supposed to be mad.”“It’s not post trauma.”“It is though, but that’s totally not my point.” He’s finally found the scoop, just in time to start loading the warm apple pie up with cream. “I know you didn’t ask for my advice, but can I just say that it doesn’t matter? Not for this, anyways. Take it from me, Lady P. They were gonna baby you either way. They did it to me, they did it to Kayo, they did it to Gordon, and they’ll do it to you.”“I do hope you get to the point before all of this ice cream melts.”He shrugs once more. “They’re not babying you because you’re a trauma victim. They’re babying you because you’re family, and that’s just what happens. Sometimes you might like it. Sometimes you might not. Either way, you’re stuck with us—name change or not, you’re a Tracy, and believe me when I say it comes with Terms and Conditions.” He smiles at her, gentle. Wide. That much hasn’t changed with age. “We love you, Penelope. And in this family, love generally means dealing with everyone’s traumas. Together. I’m not saying it’s ideal, or whatever. It’s definitely not normal, but that’s just… what it means for us. Always has.” It’s hard to imagine—the concept of shared trauma. She doesn’t share missions, doesn’t share mistakes, so it seems like the aftermath should be just as isolated. Just as confined. But then, of course, it’s easier to clean when the duties are split. It’s easier to serve pie when there’s another pair of hands scooping the ice cream. They lighten the load, these Tracy boys, these brothers, and she starts to feel the weight of an ocean draining at her feet. “I’ll keep that in mind,” she says, looking up at the boy, no longer a teenager. “Thank you, Alan.”He takes a few plates, grabs a handful of forks. “No problem, Lady P,” he says. “I’ll save this big piece for you—and, uh, well. I really am glad you’re home.”Penelope smiles. “Me too.”
10811928	Permanent lines	{ "Archive Warning": "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings", "Category": "Other", "Characters": "Josh Dun, Tyler Joseph, tyler's daughter - Character", "Fandom": "Twenty One Pilots", "Language": "English", "Rating": "General Audiences", "author": "by creativwritingmind", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-03T00:00:00", "words": "988", "Additional Tags": null, "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": "Ella", "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	"Uncle Josh? Joshua! Joshiiieeeeeee! Jishwa! Spooooooky!" Trying hard not to give away that he had been awake from the first adressing on Josh squirmed his eyes shut and hoped that Ella would lay off her constant try to get him to stand up. "Jash! Joshiwoshi! Jaaaaaawsh!" Hoping on his back and bouncing up and down there the 5 year old finally suceeded as her uncle grunted and turned around, throwing her off of him and pinning her with one hand beside him. "Babe, it's fricking seven o clock in the morning! Can't you just lay down and sleep another round?" Giggling the girl wriggled herself closer instead of out of his grip and snuggled up to his chest. "But Joshie, I'm up for an hour now!" "Tried Mario Cart?" Scoffing Ella blew a strand of blonde hair out of her eyes. "It's boring, I play Mario Cart with Daddy all the time!" Opening one eye to get himself used to the light of the day slowly the drummer glimpsed down at the girl. "And who's winning?" "Me of course!" Smiling on the proove of love Tyler gave his kid by overcoming his competative nature and letting her be first Josh stretched. "Nice...still...I get you're full of energy and ready to start the day, but your old uncle needs at least one hour of sleep more before he's functioning! How the heck do your parents manage to get through the weekends?" Grinning Ella sat up. "They kick each other out of bed randomly." The following minutes consisted of mutual laughter, the girl enjoying the effect she had on her uncle, Josh dying on the vision of Tyler and Jenna wrestling over who had to get up to please their little princess wishes. After they calmed down again the little girl padded the mans shoulder gracefully and stated: "Ok, I let you sleep another hour if you promise me we do something super-duper-sick-funny later!" Shoving his face into the pillow again the drummer reached out his hand to her, his little finger sticking out. "Pinky promise!"xxxxxxxxxxxxxAbout eighty minutes later Josh stumbled out of his room with a comfortable yawn, expecting to find the girl watching TV, but was surprised with a whole new artform, that profilarated all over the former white wall of his livingroom. Beside a very detailed painting of what he supposed to be unicorns in a wood, there were dozens of different names, the one reoccuring over and over Ellanas full one. The girl sat at a corner, just finishing a flower as she rushed around when he had to sneeze. Unsure, with childish enthusiasm in her face she grinned at him. "I made you a painting Joshie, so you can never forget me even when I'm back in Ohio!" Licking her lips and looking to the ground she added with a small voice: "Do you like it?" Still slightly asleep Josh tapped closer and let himself fall on the couch, took in the whole dimension of her talent. "That's...amazing Ella! And the way you write your name...who has shown you that?" Shrugging the girl gripped another pen to give the flowers petals more depth. "No one...I just...like painting. So...will you keep it?" Giving her a surprised glance the drummer huffed. "Of course! How could someone not keep such a great present! But..." absently stroking his wrist a smile grew on Joshs face, "I think I got an even better idea!" xxxxxxxxxx"Ok, concentrate now, this is important, Ella! You got only this one try and I will have this forever, so be careful babe, alright?" Looking deep into the little girls eyes Josh added an soft "I trust you!" on which he could see her eyes lighten up. Without a single twitch, without trembling, Ella brought the tattoo machine down on his skin and started to carve her name into him. Josh watched her serious little face, biting his lip to not cry on the beauty of this moment. When she were finished Ella handed the tool back to the tattoo guy and turned in the stool, proudly grinning down at her work. "So, now I got your name on me I'm bound to be there for you all your life...and I can never, ever forget you." The drummer gave, cautiously holding the fresh tattood hand up as the girl collided with him with force. "I love you, Joshie!" she squeeled. "I love you too, babe!" the drummer whispered in her hair. XxxxxxxxxxxxxxTyler hadn't looked that relaxed in ages as when he picked his daughter up at the airport after a weekend of staying with her uncle. "Hey man, got time for dinner?" he asked the after greeting them hallo. "Nah, gotta take the next plane back." "Can't say I like that. I miss you." Smiling at each other they silently overcame to spent some time alone together in nearer future. "Well...I can't say I did, your little lady here made my time worth!" Practically bouncing on her fathers arm Ella grabbed the drummers Hoodie then and tugged on it. "Can we show him now? Please, please, let me show him!" Tilting his head the singers gaze went from melancholic to suspicious. "What on earth were the two of you getting up to this time?" he growled, hoping that whatever it was did get off lightly. Reaching Ella his hand Josh let her tug back his sleeve cautiously to reveal the fresh tattoed lines of her full name on his wrist, packed under plastic wrap and slowly starting to crust. Facepalming Tyler turned to his daughter then: "Don't even think of getting a tattoo before you're twentyone!" "'Ähm...daddy...." And if Tyler yelled a little at the sight of her fake tattoo and needed to be calmed with Joshs promise to stay for dinner no one was really mad at him in the end.
10850634	Put your hands all over	{ "Archive Warning": "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings", "Category": "M/M", "Characters": "Clay Jensen, Tony Padilla", "Fandom": null, "Language": "English", "Rating": "Explicit", "author": "by nobetterlove", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-08T00:00:00", "words": "2,847", "Additional Tags": "Smut, Shameless Smut, Porn Without Plot, the plot was the other two parts, First Time, Backseat sex, Car Sex", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": "Clay Jensen/Tony Padilla, Clay Jensen & Tony Padilla", "Series": "Casual Party", "Collections": "13 reasons why/the rookie", "Fandoms": "13 Reasons Why (TV), Thirteen Reasons Why - Jay Asher", "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	The tension in the air was palpable, Tony feeling like his breaths were heavy with it. The mood hadn't changed between them, despite the interlude that driving afforded them. Tony needed the few minutes it was taking them to get to the cliffs. He wanted to be thinking clearly before they both made a mistake they and their friendship wouldn't recover from. Clay's eagerness earlier told him that probably wasn't the case. He'd felt the hard erection pressing against him, matching his own. The boy's tongue roamed his mouth like Tony was the source of sustenance after several days of nothing. That spoke volumes and with anyone else, he would've taken that as a signal, the go ahead. With Clay, however, Tony wanted to be completely sure. No one had ever meant to him what Clay did. Best friends wasn't just a bull shit title. For so many years, they were each other's go to. Pulling away the first time felt like torture. Tony didn't want to imagine if things became irreparable between them. Flicking his blinker, Tony shoved those thoughts away. Clay looked at him anxiously, excitement and impatience written all over the taller boy's face. He reached across the console, Clay's hand falling against Tony's thigh and squeezing. The touch both for him and Tony. A small smile played over the tan boy's lips, his own hand moving to grab Clay's after completing the turn. Another couple minutes and they'd be there. "We'll take this at your pace, okay?" Tony said softly, gripping the hand in his. "You just say the word." He accompanied his words with a reassuring smile, though knowing keeping his control would be a hard task. It looked like Clay rolled his eyes, the little bit of light coming into the car making it hard to tell. The hand on his thigh moved lower, slipping across the fabric of the denim until it reached the bulge in his pants. The erection trapped inside pulsed with more life, Tony feeling himself harden almost instantly. His foot pressed against the gas hard, arousal washing over him fast before he came to himself. As he slowed down and made another turn, finally pulling onto the road of the cliff, Tony pressed his hips up. The slight raise of them had him pressing into Clay's hand more. Two could play that game. Getting to the edge of the bluff, Tony pushed the car into park, flipping the lights off after. He turned to Clay, using the boy's distractedness to pull him in. When he pressed his lips against Clay's, Tony felt a ton of self control slip from the back of his mind. Want and need overtook him, his exploration of lips turning from soft to hard, greedy. He pulled back to unbuckle his seat belt and pull the leather jacket from his shoulders, wanting more ability to move. Clay matched his movements a moment later, adding the tie, a smirk on the boy's lips. Tony could tell Clay was just as worked up and into this as he was. His insistence to go at Clay's speed wasn't necessary, he thought, enjoying ever second of the burning look in Clay's eye. The other boy wanted this just as much as he did. Tony surged across and captured Clay's lips again, one hand on the back of the taller guy's head, the other fumbling with his belt. A soft sigh escape his lips when he managed to get it undone. Clay's kisses became harder when Tony undid his button. The fly lowered with the slightest touch from Tony, his hand coming into contact with soft boxer briefs. Tan fingers searched until they found fabric covered hardness, the littlest wet spot starting to develop there. He let them tease over the spot, the breathy pants coming from Clays lips spurring him on. Tony slipped his tongue alongside Clay's while his fingers played. The boy seemed to harden under his touch, the desperation in his kiss growing. Tony reveled in it, his own erection starting to press uncomfortably about the seam of his jeans. He thrusted up, both of them forgetting where Clay's hand was to begin with. Shaky fingers moved up to his button, managing to get it undone after a few attempts. Tony couldn't blame him, his own fingers moving over Clay's dick distracting enough for the both of them. When he finally managed to get Tony's buttons undone, Clay let out a sigh, pulling away from the others lips. "A more optimal position would be good here," the taller guy mumbled, already moving over the seat. His ass got in Tony's face as he moved, Tony reaching to grab it, giving Clay a little push. "Too right, dude," Tony breathed out in reply, following Clay closely. Before he settled on the pale kid below him, Tony wiggled out of his boots, jeans following closely behind. He felt a little silly in just his shirt, underwear and socks, but some more skin on skin contact needed to happen. Easy access to his wallet was a must, too. Looking down, Tony took in a lust filled Clay Jensen. He was dragging his tongue across his bottom lip, pupils blown open wide, blue eyes darkened considerably. Long fingers grabbed for his shirt, Tony avoiding them, instead moving just out of their reach. Tan, greedy fingers moved to the waistband of Clay's pants, tugging until the boy got the hint and pulled his hips up, allowing Tony to slip them off. He had to duck his head to pull them from Clay's long legs. Then he setttled between the v of the other' legs, sighing at the feel of skin against skin. He attacked Clay's lips with intensity, Tony thrusting his tongue against his, hips moving in time with the swift tangle. Clay let out little pants and gasps whenever Tony pulled back enough for the two of them to catch some air. Both of them could feel the need for more. Hands were running wherever they could reach, Tony slipping his palm under Clay's still buttoned up shirt. Fingers roved over skin, mapping out planes and lines of muscle. Lips stayed locked, but Tony focused more of his attention on the open, smoothness of Clay's chest. Calloused fingertips rubbed a nipple, pulling it to hardness before moving onto the next one. Goose flesh covering the skin made him pull back, the want to see it in person making Tony break the kiss finally. His hand pulled out of the shirt, only for it to find its way to the buttons. As nimbly as he could, the buttons were undone, Tony spending a little extra time on the newly exposed flesh before moving onto the next one. After what felt like eternity, he finally managed to get the shirt open, what seemed like miles of pale skin on display. Tony felt his mouth run dry at the sight. A bit of fine hair covered both Clay's pecks, the muscle just barely defined. Boxer briefs covered narrow hips, his stomach sloping deliciously, disappearing when muscle turned to something else so insanely tasty. "Tony," Clay panted, lust blown eyes connecting with brown. The single utterance of his name told him it was time to continue moving things forward.Leaning down, Tony's lips sealed themselves to the salty skin of Clay's neck while his hand slipped between them again, this time, crawling under the waistband of boxers. He took the length of Clay's dick in his hand, giving it a squeeze before letting it slide to the base, then back up again. The motion repeated, over and over. Being close to Clay's face, Tony heard every panted moan, every breathy word. His own cock pulsed from neglect and the never ending course of arousal. "Lift up," Tony mumbled after a while, his wrist straining from the awkward angle the waistband forced it into. Clay obliged quickly, hips coming up so Tony could pull his underwear down, too. There was no stopping to look this time, Tony mesmerized by the smooth texture of Clay's dick in his hand to stop for too long. He kept his strokes light, fingers greedy to take in as much of the length as they could each pass across it. Tony could tell Clay was getting close, which was perfect. The best distraction for what might be a little painful later. A hand pushing on his chest stopped his movements all together. Tony squashed the panic in his chest, raising his eyes to meet Clay's. "Too close," the boy mumbled, his head tossed back as he spoke. The goose flesh on Clay's skin seemed to pebble further, his body reacting to so many different stimuli all at one time. Giving Clay a second to settle down, Tony moved his fingers over his own shirt, undoing the buttons swiftly. He stripped it from his arms, glad to have the thing out of the way. "Love your tattoos," he heard Clay babble. A soft smirk pulled on Tony's lips. He grabbed Clay's hand, pulling it to his chest. The boy immediately started tracing the ink lines, each caress sending more and more heat to the already boiling knot of it in his stomach. It continued until Tony's skin caught fire, nerve endings tingling. Tan fingers wrapped around Clay's wrist after a while. He brought long fingers to his mouth, placing a kiss on each one. Tony looked up then, the two at the precipice of it being to late to turn back. "I want you," Clay said, his voice shaky, the arousal taking him over completely. "Are you sure?" Tony asked softly, rebutting, just to make sure they'd be okay on the other side of this. "We could-" he started, only to be cut off by one of Clay's fingers against his lips. "Yes. I'm really fucking sure." Clay smiled sloppily as he said it, the grin splitting his face. Tony surged forward, sealing their lips together for another hot kiss. He couldn't believe this was really happening. Taking advantage of every second would be the easiest thing he'd ever had to do. The need for supplies had him pulling back, digging in his pants. He managed to get his wallet out, the condom and lube easily accessible in the closest fold. Tony let the wallet drop, mouth suddenly dry. They were really about to do this, he thought, his grip on the condom tightening. Excitement, nerves, and a billion other things pulsed in his brain, Clay overwhelming him completely. He shook the feeling off quickly, the rub of Clay's hand on his chest again bringing him out of it. "This might be easier if you flip over," Tony babbled, voice thick with lust. There was limited space in the small back seat. Clay's legs were already bunched up around him. If they could manage the position, Tony would have the most room available to really capitalize on the shared activity. They struggled for a couple minutes, trying to find a comfortable way to fit both practically full grown boys on the seat. Clay seemed to be hanging half over the front part of the seat, but they were finally in an okay position. Tony grabbed the supplies with impatient hands. Using Clay's back as a resting place, Tony propped the condom there. His fingers tore at the packet of lube swiftly, any nerves from before now fueling the want, driving the need. Tony spread a bit of the stuff on two of his fingers. His nose nuzzled what he could reach of the taller kids back while his hand slipped between pert, white butt cheeks. The tip of his pointer finger circled Clay's rim, pressing gently every couple passes. He felt Clay relax more each time until finally, he let the tip of his finger slid in. Hot tightness surrounded the digit, pulling it in naturally against the intrusion. Tony sat still for a moment, then pressed his finger in until the knuckle hit Clay's tailbone. He forced himself to remain still until an impatient noise left the other's lips. Slowly, Tony pulled back until only the tip remained again. Clay clenched, dragging the length of his finger back inside. Tony did that a few more times, his finger thrusting in a little bit harder with the clench every time. When he finally managed to hit the boy's prostate, Tony smiled at the yelp sounding in the car. "Holy fuck! More of that, dude," Clay exclaimed, voice breathless. Merely following orders, Tony dragged the one finger out, replacing it with two instead. They played the same game, Tony teasing with just the tips of his fingers, Clay pulling him back in, flexing and relaxing around his fingers. Tony felt himself lose a bit of control as Clay started to pant. His cock bobbed between them, each movement sending it up, the tip barely scraping his stomach. Pre come leaked from the tip, cool breeze hitting it every so often told him so. Finally, Tony felt comfortable enough to pull his fingers out. The third slid in so easily a couple minutes before, Clay seemingly lost in all things sensation to truly register the burn. Slippery fingers felt for the condom, Tony grabbing it, getting it open in record speed. He leaned forward as Clay turned his head, their lips meeting as Tony fumbled to roll the rubber down his length at the same time. The little touch made Tony's dick spring even more to life, the boy having to take a second to calm himself because of it. He emptied the rest of the lube into the palm of his right hand, using it to slick the rubber, and ever so slightly around Clay's already loosened hole. "Beautiful like this, Carino," Tony mumbled, taking position at Clay's entrance, the tip pressing against it lightly. Tony heard Clay mutter a fuck at the Spanish pet name. His lips slipped into a soft smile, the smaller guy pressing approving kisses against Clay's spine. Impatient hips were pressing forward before he could control it, the tip slipping in against the resistance. "Relax. You're so fucking tight," Tony babbled, words pinched from his own strain not to just take, take, take. In little bursts, Clay let him slid in more and more until he was finally buried completely, his hips against the soft skin of milky white ass cheeks. "Holy fuck. Tony. Oh, fuck," Clay muttered, his hand reaching down to what looked like palm his own erection. Tony groaned at the sight and feel, everything overwhelming him in the best of ways. He drew back, thrusting in again slowly. The pace stayed even like that, Tony pulling back enough to spur Clay on into meeting him as he thrust back in to the hilt. Rhythmic squeezing around his cock had Tony picking up the pace, the entire thing becoming all about heat and Clay and tightness. Control didn't seem to be staying around much longer. "Fuck, I'm so close. Please. Harder. Anything," Clay muttered, his words spluttered out, almost like it was done unconsciously. Tony couldn't help but abide by the request. His hips snapped forward hard, the pace bruising now that all semblance of self control was gone. A jumble of Tony and Clay and fucks chorused in the car as they both found the peak, Clay stroking himself through it, Tony buried to the hilt- riding it out. When the tingles stopped, Tony straightened up, pulling out as softly as he could. Disposing of the condom and getting Clay cleaned up filled the next couple of minutes. Both boys were silent, shooting each other beaming smiles, the quiet enhancing the mood. Tony finally collapsed against the door, wrapping an arm around Clay's shoulders as he did. The boy lay on top of him, snuggling against Tony's still exertion warm skin. "Wow." Clay said through the silence. "Going was totally worth it." Tony grinned, tightening his arm around Clay's shoulders. "Took the words right from my mouth. Thank you," Tony replied, placing a kiss against the top of Clay's head. "Let me not have jelly legs and I'll drive us back for the after party. I could spend more time showing off how hot my date is." Clay didn't reply, the boy simply nodding against him. Tony couldn't say he liked the guilty feeling of how they ended up at this point. He'd probably always feel a bit bad about it, striving to make it up to claim in some unnamable way. That thought made him warm. The fact that he could think about doing this again and the likelihood of an always made his head spin. The already there post orgasm feeling combined with it was blissful. Clay nuzzled in closer, obviously feeling the same way. Though they would never find themselves at the after party, the two instead getting back in the front seat to drive back to Clay's house, no one forgot how amazing Tony's date was. The two together from that point in would never let them.
10846620	Just Happy	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "F/M", "Characters": "Alec Hardy, Ellie Miller (Broadchurch)", "Fandom": "Broadchurch", "Language": "English", "Rating": "General Audiences", "author": "by HalfASlug", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-07T00:00:00", "words": "1,342", "Additional Tags": "Alcohol", "Relationship": "Alec Hardy/Ellie Miller", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	The barbecue had been put out hours ago but the smell of overcooked sausages still lingered on Hardy’s decking. Daisy’s birthday had been a success as far as Ellie could tell. After her rocky start in Broadchurch, she’d managed to make a few good friends and seemed a lot happier than when Ellie had first met the girl.Leaning on the fence and watching the majority of the party laughing on the beach, Ellie dropped the bin bag she had been using to clean up to enjoy the last light of the day. The breeze whipped her hair off her face and she exhaled a sigh of contentment. From what she could gather from the excited chatter, the plan was to gather a few tents and for the teens to sleep on the beach.Daisy had told Hardy they wouldn’t be drinking and he’d told her there was no point in lying and to just be sensible.“I was your age, darlin’,” he had pointed out over her protests. “I know what happens.”She had caught him ten minutes later texting PC Bob about making sure the night patrols including that section of the beach.A pair of arms slipped around her waist and Ellie leant back, recognising the faint smell of Hardy’s shampoo. He buried his face into her neck and placed a string of scratchy kisses leading up to her cheek.Since that fateful night at the pub when he had clumsily asked her out, Ellie had learnt that Alec Hardy craved affectionate touches as much as he detested social interaction. It had taken her nearly a month of him casually touching her arm or back for her to stop jumping. It was rare, however, for him to slip into full PDA.She squirmed away from him to look over her shoulder. His cheeks were flushed and there was lazy almost-smile playing about his lips.“What’s got into you?”He shrugged. “‘M’just happy.”“Sure it’s not all that wine?”“Maybe.” He grinned and Ellie mirrored it. Seeing him completely relaxed was a recent luxury that she had only recently been exposed to. There was nothing quite like seeing the usually uptight and grumpy Hardy stretching out like a cat in her bed and even laughing.(Not that he ever succumbed to all-out belly laughs that left him crying. It was more of a silent chuckle that light up his face like nothing she had ever known. It was still incredible, as far as Ellie was concerned.)Hardy sighed and rested his chin on her shoulder. “My wee bairn’s all grown,” he mumbled into her ear.“Love it when you talk Scottish.”“She was so tiny,” he continued, his accent, thicker than normal, rumbling in his chest so she could feel it against her back. “Now look at her.”Ellie looked out across the beach and could just make out the flowing blonde hair of the girl in question.“She’s a bit tipsy and trying to build a sandcastle.”She felt him chuckle and burrowed further into her Hardy cocoon.“Aye. I’m proud of her. So proud,” he finished at a whisper.“I know. You should be.”“Best thing I ever did. That girl.”Ellie squeezed his arm. The warmth from the wine she had drank herself was still making her head fuzzy. She had seen him slip into his more melancholy moods enough times to spot the signs and had no desire to go there now. The whole day had been wonderful. Even when Tess had dropped Daisy off that afternoon, the three of them had managed to be civil to each other.All she had to do was keep Hardy from being a bloody misery for a couple more hours and it would be perfect.“Look at you,” she said peering back at him, “going for father of the year!”He scowled. “Nah. ‘M’not.”“No. You’re pretty close though.”He glanced at her smile before looking away again. “Shut up.”“No. You’re an amazing dad! And not just to her.”Ellie had said the last part without meaning to and hated how her voice had cracked on the last word. She hastily looked back at the beach and hoped he hadn’t heard her or was too lost in his own thoughts to comment.None of it, not her avoidance or his possible reaction, could stop the statement being true though.Tom had been behaving better at school. It hadn’t passed her notice that it took Hardy an extra hour to pick Tom up from football on Sundays than it should have done. She wondered where the pair of them went; if Hardy took him to the new ice cream parlour by the harbour or if they just drove around talking. It made her wonder if it was part of the reason Hardy volunteered for the job in the first place.As for Fred, he couldn’t get enough of his Uncle Alec. The fridge was littered with scribbled stick figures he insisted were the man who once couldn’t remember the boy’s name. When they started appearing on Hardy’s fridge, Ellie had nearly dropped the cup of tea she’d been holding at the time.It wasn’t as though Hardy had been making a point of being a father figure for her boys to try and win her over either. It was like he accepted them as part of being with her. Like he genuinely enjoyed the time he spent with them.Ellie hoped she was developing a similar relationship with Daisy. It was hard to get a read off the girl who could be just as taciturn as her father, but she had hugged her earlier when she had given her a birthday present. She supposed that was progress of some sort.She closed her eyes, safe in his arms, and listened to distant waves. It had been so long since she had been so content. Hardy pressed a kiss just under her ear. It was as close to a perfect moment as she could have hoped for.Hardy mumbled something against her skin before pulling back to speak more clearly.“I love you.”Ellie’s eyes snapped open.“What?”Hardy groaned. “Don’t make me say it again.”Whereas before, they had both been relaxed, relying on the other to hold them up, now they were both tense. Ellie had forgotten how to breath as her mind raced to make sense of the simple sentence Hardy had just breathed into her ear.“But…” She cleared her throat. “But you meant it?”She felt him nod against her neck where he was still hiding his face like a child admitting to wrongdoing. It made her glad he couldn’t see the blind shock on her face. He deserved better. He deserved someone who would throw themselves at him, shower him in affection and never let him forget just how special he was.That wasn’t her.She was hesitant to tell him how she felt about him even when he laid himself bare to her. She awkwardly joked her way through their first date, first kiss and first time, terrified to admit how far she had already fallen. She was so broken from her last marriage that trusting him, the most honourable man she had probably ever known, took every ounce of strength she possessed.And yet, he loved her.Broken, angry and scared Ellie Miller.He hugged her tighter for a moment, kissed her shoulder and sighed. Without a comment on her lack of response, he went back to watching the horizon with her. She felt him smile against her skin and wondered if he felt lighter than he did before.Perhaps she wasn’t the only one anxious to open themselves up to another person.Perhaps he wondered every night what the hell she was doing with him.Perhaps together they could find a way through the darkness and heal.“Okay,” she said, her voice barely there over the tears that had began to fall. She lifted his arm and kissed his hand. “Okay.”
10971438	Rock and Roll my Angel	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "M/M", "Characters": "Castiel (Supernatural), Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Chuck (Supernatural), Gabriel (Supernatural)", "Fandom": "Supernatural", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Not Rated", "author": "by Gravytrain101", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-22T00:00:00", "words": "4,257", "Additional Tags": null, "Relationship": "Castiel/Dean Winchester", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": "Supernatural Oneshots", "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	Rock and Roll my AngelSummary: Dean is a singer and Cas is a reporter. When Dean comes to town Cas’ boss (John) is making him do an interview with him or else he is fired. Sparks fly when they meet and they develop feelings for one another. Cas yelled in frustration, “How the hell am I supposed to get an interview with Dean Winchester! He’s a mega superstar there is no way he would want to talk to me.”His boss John said, “You either get the interview or get fired. I want it by tomorrow.”Cas asked, “How am I supposed to meet him tonight?”John held out a backstage pass, “You have to go to his concert,” He said. Sighing, Cas took the tickets and said, “I hope this guy will talk to me.”John said, “That’s not my problem, that’s yours. Bye bye Castiel.” :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Dean groaned in irritation as he got told that their drummer Chuck was stuck in traffic. Him and his brother Sam (bassist) waited patiently until Chuck arrived and they could finally get the show on the road. The three of them watched as the fans started to file in and they started to get ready for the show. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Cas rested his head and the steering wheel trying to calm himself down before going into the crowd full of people. He doesn’t do that well in a crowded place, especially concerts filled with random people he doesn’t know. He drew a deep breath and stepped out of the car. He pushed his way through the crowd to get as close as he could. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Dean and the band took their places on stage and began the first song. It was a cover but it was one of Dean’s favorites. (Need To Breathe: Brother)Ramblers in the wilderness we can’t find what we need We get a little restless from the searching Get a little worn down in between Like a bull chasing the matador is the man left to his own schemes Everybody needs someone beside em’ shining like a lighthouse from the seaDean scanned the crowd and his eyes fell on a man towards the front. He doesn’t know why but he couldn’t stop looking at him. Brother let me be your shelter Never leave you all alone I can be the one you call When you’re low Brother let me be your fortress When the night winds are driving on Be the one to light the way Bring you home :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Once the concert was over Cas slipped backstage and found Dean’s room. Cas said, “Mr. Winchester?”Dean turned around and said, “Hello cutie,” he walked to the door, “What can I help you with?”Cas cleared his throat and said, “I am a reporter and I got assigned to do an interview with you.”Dean rolled his eyes and said, “I don’t like talking to reporters.”Cas pleaded, “Please? If I don’t get this, then I will get fired.”Sighing Dean said, “Fine doll face, I will make an exception for you. How many questions do you need?”Cas said, “Minimum of 5,” as he walked into the room, “Please just call me Casitel.”Dean said, “I like Cas better. Okay, first question.”Cas asked him what his music influences were, why he started singing, if he didn’t wasn’t in the music business what would he do, what else does he do to relax, and his advice to anyone who would want to be in the music business. Getting up Cas said, “Okay. Thank you Mr. Winchester.”Dean said, “Please call me Dean.”Cas nodded and said, “Thank you Dean.”Dean said, “See you around hotstuff.”Cas said, “Bye Dean.”Cas all but ran out of the building, wanting to be home as Dean bragged to Sam about meeting the cutest guy. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Cas walked into John’s office as John asked, “Did you get the interview? Or will I have to fire your sorry ass?”He slammed it on the table and said, “I got your stupid interview. You’re welcome.”He read it over and said, “This is actually a really great interview,” he set it aside, “Now, you have to get a picture of him to go with this.”Cas groaned but obeyed and left to get lunch. He went into the local Jimmy Johns they have there, placed his order, and stood to get it until there was a tap on his shoulder. He turned and said, “Dean!”Dean said, “Hey hotstuff, told ya I’d see you again.”Cas said, “Hi.”Dean asked, “You need a picture to go with your interview, don’t you?”Cas asked, “How’d you know?”Dean said, “Every interview I have will most likely require a picture. So, do you want to have my picture or not,” Cas nodded, “Okay. There is three things I want you to do first.”“What,” Cas asked. Dean said, “I need you to let me walk you to your car, you give me your number, and tell your boss that I will only talk to you.”“My number,” Cas asked, “Why do you want my number?”Dean said, “So we can keep in touch baby.”Cas gave him his number and let him walk him to his car after they got the pictures taken. Once he got back to work Cas gave his boss the news and the pictures so he gave Cas a new assignment, doing an exclusive interview with Dean Winchester. He sat at his desk and put his head in his hands for a while until he felt a hand on his shoulder and a voice saying, “Hey Cas! What’s up?”Cas said, “Hey Gabriel. I have to do an exclusive interview with Dean Winchester.”Gabriel said, “Dean Winchester! My daughter loves him. Do you think you can get him to sign something for her?”Cas said, “Yeah.”Gabriel said, “Thank you,” as he walked back to his desk. Cas was making a list of things that he should ask Dean for the exclusive interview when his phone rang. “Hello,” he asked. “Hey hotstuff,” Dean said. “Dean,” he whispered, “Why are you calling me?”“Because,” he said, “I wanted to know if you want to go out to lunch with me.”“Are you asking me out on a date,” Cas asked. “Possibly,” he replied, “Why do you want me to?”“Possibly,” Cas said, “Where do you want me to meet you?”“How about I pick you up and we go to my house,” he asked.“Okay,” Cas said, “That can work. When are you coming.”“I’m already here,” he said. “Alright,” Cas said, “Give me a minute to tell my boss where I’m going then I will be down.”“See ya hotstuff,” Dean said before he hung up. Cas told his boss that he was leaving even though it took a bit of convincing for him but he gave up and left. Cas said, “Hey Dean, sorry I’m late.”Dean said, “No worries hotstuff.”Cas nodded his thanks as Dean got the door for him and closed it once he was in. Dean got in the car and drove to his house where they ate pizza and got to know one another better. “So,” Dean asked, “Do you have a boyfriend?”“No,” Cas said, “Haven’t had one in a while.”Dean asked, “Why? What happened?”“Boring stuff,” he said, “I don’t think you would want to hear it.”“Please,” Dean asked, “Pretty please?”Sighing Cas explained his last relationship that was with a guy named Scott and he was a bit of an alcoholic and would hit him sometimes. Dean said, “I’m sorry.”Cas said, “It’s okay, it’s not your fault.”Dean said, “It’s not yours either.”Cas smiled and looked at his hands. Dean scooted closer and lifted Cas’ chin up and said, “I mean it. It was never your fault.”They stared into each other’s eyes until Dean moved in and kissed Cas’ lips. Forgetting about the little heart to heart conversation Dean picked up Cas and carried him to the bedroom. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Cas woke up with Dean’s arms around him as he reached for his phone and discovered he was late for work, but he didn’t care, he was extremely happy right now so he fell back to sleep. He woke up again but to an empty bed so he got dressed and went downstairs. Dean said, “Hey sleepyhead,” as he went and kissed Cas. Cas then realized there were 2 other people in the room with them and asked, “Who are they?”Dean said, “Oh, this is my brother and bassist Sam and that is my drummer Chuck. Guys this is Castiel.”Cas shook both of their hands and sat down on the couch. Dean asked, “Don’t you have to be at work by now baby?”Cas nodded and said, “Yeah, but I don’t want to, if I go in then my boss will fire me.”Dean said, “I can come in and explain that you were doing an interview with me.”Cas said, “Thanks but I will just own up to my mistakes and get fired.”Sam asked, “Then what will you do?”Cas said, “I don’t know. I’m going to have to find another job quickly.”Dean said, “You can stay with me for a while if you want.”Cas said, “No thanks.”Dean asked, “Why?”Cas answered, “Because you will be busy. And what if the paparazzi or someone important catches us together, I don’t want to ruin your career.”Dean cupped Cas’ face in his hands and said, “You won’t ruin my career. I wouldn’t care about it if I had you. You matter way more than my job.”Sam said, “Yeah, Dean’s right. I’m even openly gay and I have a boyfriend named Gabriel and the public know that. I’m still in the band and I’m fine.”Dean said, “It won’t ruin my job,” as he kissed Cas’ forehead, “Now, go and yell at the boss of yours for me. You can get some stuff from your apartment it you want and when you come back I will be here.”:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Cas closed the door to his boss’ office as he yelled, “Where were you?”Cas said, “I slept in late. I’m sorry.”John said, “You’re always sorry. That’s always your excuse. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Well I’m not sorry for telling you that you are fired, no one will ever hire you again, and get you pathetic sorry ass out of my building!”Cas said, “Yes sir.”He left and gathered some clothes and personal things from his apartment and drove back to Dean’s house.:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Dean helped Cas set up his stuff and afterwards they relaxed on the couch with Cas’ head in Dean’s lap as they watched Doctor Who. Dean asked, “Are you okay honey?”Cas looked up at Dean and said, “Yeah, I just need something to take my mind off it.”Dean nodded and began to run his fingers through Cas’ hair hoping that will help, “Sam and Gabriel wanted to know if you want to go on a double date with them sometime,” he said. “Sure,” Cas murmured, “Sounds like fun.”“Good,” Dean said as he saw Cas starting to fall asleep. He laid down himself with Cas’ head in the crook of his neck as he continued to play with his hair until he fell asleep himself. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Dean woke up to Cas yelling at someone on the phone. “No. Stop calling me,” he yelled, “You were the one that broke up with me! Don’t tell me that. Don’t say that. You don’t mean it. Stop calling me or I will report you to the cops.”He watched as Cas sat at the counter with his head in his hands dealing with tears that were now threatening to fall. Dean asked, “Who was that?” as he rubbed Cas’ back. “Oh,” he replied, “It was nothing. Sorry if I woke you.”“No, no you didn’t,” Dean said, “Who was on the phone baby?”“My ex,” he sobbed.“Scott,” Dean asked just to be sure, “What’s he doing calling you?”“He wants me back,” Cas said, “He’s willing to do anything to get me back. Dean, I don’t want to go back there. I can’t.”Hugging Cas to him Dean said, “It’s okay. I won’t let him get you.”“Are you sure,” Cas asked. “Yes,” he said, “We can put a restraining order on him, get him arrested, or beat the shit out of him. Just anything to get him away from you.”Cas said, “I’m sorry.”“Sorry?” he asked, “Why are you sorry? You have nothing to apologize for.”“Bringing all of this onto you,” Cas said in Dean’s shirt, “This is my burden to carry and I shouldn’t have told you.”“Hey,” Dean said as he brought Cas’ face away from him so he can look him in the eyes, “You can tell me anything you want. Anything at all and I will listen. Your burdens are now mine. I will help you with this, we will get through this. If you need help just ask.”“Thank you so much,” Cas cried, “Thank you!”“You’re welcome baby,” Dean replied, “We’ll get through this.”:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Together the two love birds laid down on their bed facing each other. Cas had one hand on Dean’s waist and the other was holding Dean’s hand as Dean was running his fingers through Cas’ hair. A few more minutes of this was used until Cas sat up and looked at his hands. Dean followed suit and asked, “What is it?”“Can I tell you something,” Cas asked. “Of course,” Dean replied as he moved the hair out of Cas’ eyes.“It might sound weird,” Cas said, “But I have never been in a relationship that was like this. I never had someone as nice as you in my life. I had no idea this is how it was supposed to go and this is how I was supposed to be treated. The reason why I’m telling you these things is because I trust you….and…I love you.”“Cas,” Dean said softly, “I love you too.”“Really,” Cas said looked up with a huge grin on his face. “Yes,” Dean said, “I loved you ever since you walked into my dressing room that night.”“I love you,” Cas said as he hugged Dean, “I love you. I love you. I love you.”Dean said, “I love you too. I love you too.”:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: It’s been a week since Cas’ threat call from Scott and he is doing much better than before, he is more relaxed and happy which Dean enjoys. “Come on,” Cas yelled, “We’re going to be late! Sam and Gabriel will be mad.”“They won’t be mad,” Dean said as he came down the stairs, “Out of all three of us I am most likely always late. Come on, baby, let’s go!”Hand in hand they walked out to their car with some food and a bottle of wine. Dean started to drive to a park where they met Sam and Gabriel to have a picnic. Cas said, “Hey guys.”Sam said, “Hey Cas! How are you?”“Good,” he replied, “What about you?”“Good,” Sam answered, “I’m good.”Dean said, “Enough with the chit chat, let’s eat!”Gabriel said, “You don’t have to tell me twice.”They all sat and began to eat and Sam got to know more about Cas. “So,” Sam started, “Where are you from?”“Saukville, Wisconsin,” Cas answered. Gabriel asked, “What made you move here?”“A guy,” he started, “His name was Scott. He lived here and I loved him so I followed him.”Sam asked, “What happened?”Cas said, “We didn’t always meet eye to eye on everything, so we broke up.”“Oh,” Sam said, “I’m sorry man.”“It’s okay,” Cas replied, “It’s in the past.”Dean asked, “Can you get my jacket from the car honey?”“Sure,” Cas obeyed, “I’ll be right back.” He gave Dean a quick kiss and started to the car. “Guys,” Dean said, “Please don’t ask him about Scott or past relationships.”“Why,” Gabriel asked, “Did the guy die or something?”“No,” Dean started, “Scott was in love with Cas in the beginning but he was an alcoholic and would abuse him. It’s a touchy subject for him.”“Oh god,” Sam said, “Now I feel awful. Would it be okay if I told him I’m sorry?” “I think it might be okay,” Dean responded. “Hey,” Cas said, “Here’s your jacket.”Dean said, “Thank you baby.”“Cas,” Sam said, “We’re sorry.”“What for,” Cas asked. “About Scott,” Sam said, “We didn’t know. We’re sorry. If we would have known-““Sam,” Cas cut in, “It’s okay. You didn’t know, it’s not your fault.”“Thanks,” Sam said. It was a bit awkward after the apology and Cas came up with a great idea to get rid of that, reaching over he touched Dean’s shoulder and said, “Tag. You’re it,” and ran off. “Hey that’s not fair,” Dean whined.“Run! Run!” Sam and Gabriel yelled while laughing. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Cas is on his way home after getting Dean a few things he needed for his big tour. He would have gotten home if a car hadn’t come and hit him head on. “Hello,” Dean said. “Hi,” the women said on the other line, “Is this Dean Winchester?”“Yes,” Dean answered, “Who’s asking?”“My name is Caroline,” she said, “I am sorry to inform you but Castiel has been in a head on collision with another vehicle. We would like you to come down to the local hospital here in town to say your goodbyes. He might not make it.”“What,” Dean said completely in shock, “Cas. No. No, he’s not dying. He’s fine. This is some kind of joke.”“I’m sorry Mr. Winchester,” Caroline said, “He is in a coma and might not show any signs of waking up due to his injuries.”Dean said, “Okay. Thank you, I will be right there.”As soon as he hung up he couldn’t hold the tears in anymore and they were rolling down his cheeks fast. He grabbed his phone and looked for a contact that looked like the name Sam, because it was hard to see through the tears. “Hey man,” Sam said, “What’s up?”“Sam,” Dean sobbed. “Dean,” Sam asked immediately alarmed, “What’s wrong?”“Cas. Accident. Hospital. Coma,” was all Dean was able to get out without breaking even further. “Stay where you are,” Sam instructed, “I am coming to get you right now.”“Thank you Sammy,” Dean said. “Don’t mention it,” he said before he hung up. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Sam had to help Dean walk up to the desk because he was shaking so bad. “Castiel Novak please,” Sam asked, “What room is he in?”Caroline said, “204.”“Thank you,” Sam said as he walked Dean to room 204 before informing Gabriel as to why he ran off. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: When Dean saw Cas he couldn’t help but cry. He had a neck brace on, breathing tube, bandages wrapped around his chest and head, and he had a black eye. At least his legs were fine so he could somewhat do something. “Oh Cas,” Dean sobbed as he took his hand, “Please wake up. Please wake up baby.”Sam and Gabriel tried their best to comfort him but an officer came and kicked them out. “I am officer Justin Hobbs,” he stated, “And I have a few questions for you, if you don’t mind.”“No,” Dean sniffled, “Ask away.”“Was your boyfriend drinking before he left? Was he acting weird before he went to the store?” Justin asked. “No and no,” Dean said. He asked a couple more questions and said, “One more. Do you have any idea who would have done this?”“Yes,” Dean answered, “Before Cas was with me he was with a guy named Scott Johnson. Cas really loved him but Scott was an alcoholic and he would abuse Cas.”“Any idea why he would go after him again,” the officer asked. “Yeah,” Dean said, “A while after we got together Cas got a phone call from him. Scott said that he wanted him back and he would do anything to get him back and away from me. Cas was terrified and didn’t want to leave the house until I said that we would put a restraining order on him or something. That’s the only guy that I know would do it.”“Thank you for your time, this was really helpful,” Justin said, “I am sorry for what you are going through, I had a loved one like this too.”“What happened,” Dean asked. “It was a case like yours and a wild boyfriend out to get him again. My boyfriend died an hour after the crash,” Justin said sadly, “I will get this guy. I promise.”“Thank you,” Dean said as he watched him leave and Sam and Gabriel came back.“How are you holding up,” Sam asked. “I have no doubt in my mind that Scott did this,” he said, not even acknowledging his brother’s question. “Don’t worry,” Gabriel said, “The cops are doing everything they can do catch him.”“I hope they catch him and he rots in jail for what he’s done to Cas,” Dean snarled. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: It’s been a week and it took a while to convince Dean to shower and eat something so he doesn’t kill himself while waiting for Cas to wake up. That didn’t bother Dean, what bothered him was the fact that the Doctors were trying to talk him into pulling the plug on Cas. So, whenever he was forced to leave the room he wouldn’t leave until Sam got here to make sure they didn’t do anything. “Please,” Dean pleaded, “Wake up Cas. I’m right here. No one’s going to hurt you.”No answer. “Cas,” Dean said, “I know you sleep a lot but they are talking about pulling the plug, so I need you to wake up.”Nothing. “Please, I won’t be able to go on,” Dean sobbed, “I can’t keep touring knowing that you aren’t with me or even safe at home. If you die I will quit my job.”“Don’t,” a raspy voice said. “Cas,” Dean asked. “Don’t…..quit,” Cas pleaded. “Okay, I won’t,” Dean said as he held Cas’ hands, “How are you feeling my little blue-eyed cutie patotie?”“Fine now that my green-eyed grasshopper is here,” Cas said as he smiled. “Oh Cas,” Dean laughed, “You just come out of a coma and you are already back to your sassy, sarcastic, normal self. I will be right back, I have to get the doctor. Stay here.”“Where else was I going to go,” Cas asked, “Actually on second thought I think I might go and get some ice cream. So, see ya later.”“We can get ice cream if the doctor says you can have some,” Dean instructed, “Stay here.”“Eye eye captain,” Cas said along with a sloppy salute. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Three days later Cas left the hospital and stayed at home with Dean and an occasional visit from Sam and Gabriel. He was improving faster than the doctors expected thanks to Dean’s constant mothering and nagging to stay in bed. “So,” Cas said, “When are you going to start touring again?” as Dean fixed the covers and laid down beside him.“When you’re back on your feet,” Dean said. “I’m fine,” Cas said, “You can start touring if you want.”“Shh,” Dean soothed, “I’m not going to leave you, remember, I promised.”“Thank you,” Cas said exhaustingly, “Thank you for staying.”“Of course I would stay,” Dean said as he ran his fingers through Cas’ hair, “Get some sleep baby. I’ll be right here when you wake up.”Cas nodded and drifted off. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: It took a while but Cas is finally healed and back to normal, and Dean started to get ready to tour again. “Hey,” Cas asked, “Can I ask you something?”“Yeah,” Dean answered as he stopped packing, “What is it?”“Um,” Cas said, “Would you mind if I came with you on your tour. I don’t like being alone you know with the risk of Scott-““Hey. Hey. Hey,” Dean said as he hugged Cas, “You can come with me. Absolutely. It will be so much fun with you there. And with Scott, don’t worry about him, he’s long gone. Okay honey.”“Yeah,” Cas said, “Thank you.”“No problem baby,” Dean said before he kissed him. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: It’s been a month on tour and everyone is having a blast, but Dean has one more thing for Cas. Dean brought Cas to a fancy restaurant and after they ate they took a walk in the park.“Oh, wait,” Dean said as he let go of Cas’ hand, “Close your eyes.”“Why,” Cas asked. “Please,” Dean pleaded.Cas nodded and closed his eyes, so Dean got behind him and told Cas to open them. Cas turned around and gasped as he saw Dean, who was down on one knee saying, “Cas, I love you with all my heart. We’ve been through good and bad times together. We’ve had countless of memories. So, I was wondering if you’d want to spend the rest of your life with me. Will you marry me?”“Yes,” Cas shouted, “A million times yes!”Dean put the ring on and kissed Cas when Sam, Gabriel, and the rest of the touring company, along with some other friends came out from their hiding spots cheering.
10908816	Moving In To Every	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "M/M", "Characters": "Steve McGarrett, Danny \"Danno\" Williams, Grace Williams, Kono Kalakaua, Chin Ho Kelly, Rachel Edwards, Stan Edwards", "Fandom": "Hawaii Five-0 (2010)", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Teen And Up Audiences", "author": "by librarychick_94", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-15T00:00:00", "words": "28", "Additional Tags": "Romance, First Time, Steve is an emotional octopus, Marriage Proposal, Humor, Podfic & Podficced Works, Podfic, Podfic Length: 45-60 Minutes", "Relationship": "Steve McGarrett/Danny \"Danno\" Williams", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	Length: 00:52:01File size: 51.7 MBDownload:Link to download page (Right-click and save link as) Link to download and streaming options at Audiofic Archive
10902432	Lai Zi Yuan Fang	{ "Archive Warning": "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings", "Category": "M/M", "Characters": null, "Fandom": "全职高手 - 蝴蝶蓝 \| Quánzhí Gāoshǒu - Húdié Lán", "Language": "中文-普通话國語", "Rating": "General Audiences", "author": "by surts", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-14T00:00:00", "words": "20,273", "Additional Tags": null, "Relationship": "叶修/王杰希", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	一王杰希开门看见那张熟悉的嘲讽脸的时候差点惯性地直接阖上——如果不是因为对方明显不太一样的气质与更成熟的长相——他几乎要将对方以为是叶秋。大概是叶秋的亲人或是什么，太像了，他在心底想，良好修养则让他口中说出的只是平淡的问句“您是？” 用的还是敬称。这个在晚间九点不请自来的客人朝他笑了笑——连微笑中不自觉带着的一点欠都和他认识的叶秋有几成神似，“我是荣耀之神。”——神？神经病还差不多。王杰希在听见这答案的同时沉下脸，直接关上门，却未料对方眼明手更快地挡住了门板，“大眼儿，怎么还是这么开不起玩笑？”王杰希没理他，倒是精确地捕捉到对方语气中自来熟的意味。他不由自主皱起眉，即使是叶秋他都没有多熟，“您有何贵干？”“能进去谈吗？”不速之客说，“我不是坏人，只是故事比较长，既然你拒绝接受荣耀之神这个说法，那我很难在几句话内说完。”王杰希扫了他一眼，意识到对方捏准自己的好奇心而有恃无恐地等待着回应，这种仿佛对他聊若指掌、又游刃有余的态度让他分外不爽，原本就很阴沈的脸色更加难看。他转过头去，没关门，对方知趣地跟上，在门口还轻快地说了一声“打扰了”——王杰希拒绝去看那人此刻脸上的得色。 “那么⋯⋯我应该从哪里开始说起呢？”不速之客坐在沙发上，手上捧着王杰希刚泡好的乌龙茶，舒坦的模样像是回到自己家。他说话的语速拉得很慢，不自觉的慵懒跟熟稔让王杰希无语的同时却又觉得讨厌不起来。“你是谁？”王杰希问。“名字、年龄、为什么在这里？”“你这是盘查啊。”不速之客笑，王杰希只是冷冷地看着他，“我没说不说啊，大眼儿你这么看我我真的心慌⋯⋯”“名字。”“我叫叶修。”叶修说，“叶秋的那个叶，修理的修。”“你和叶秋什么关系？”“兄弟，长得不像吗？”“你是他哥？”叶修笑了，“是。”“⋯⋯你来找我做什么？”王杰希问，“我和他并不熟。”“其实我并不是这个世界的人。”叶修说。王杰希继续用看神经病一样的眼神看他。“我是说真的。”“继续。”“我一觉醒来发现到了这里，口袋只有钱包跟半包烟。”叶修说，“我能分辨出这边是北京，身上剩下一百多块钱，凭着记忆摸到你家来了。杰希大大，求收留。”这故事比扯铃还扯。王杰希看着对方那张熟悉中带着陌生的嘲讽脸却又觉得有种古怪的可信度——说谎说得不靠谱到这种程度倒像是真的了，他在心底自嘲，“你说你口袋就只有钱包跟烟？”“是啊。”“那有证件吧？”“您真是警察啊。”叶修夸张地叹口气，倒是很顺手地从后面摸出钱包来，也没拿出证件，直接把整个包上缴给王杰希，“给您了。”这人用的居然还是布兰施。王杰希意外。也不怎么推托地打开了皮夹，里面的风格倒是和叶修本人很一致：只有一张身分证、一张银联卡、几张证件照——王杰希拿出那张身分证看，写的确实是叶修两个字，照片也相符，但他看到出生年份倒是意外了，“97年？”叶修笑，“怎么样，看不出来吧。”王杰希看了他一眼，忽然想到，“等等，那叶秋现在几岁？”叶修耸肩，“我不知道，毕竟我还没有见过这个世界的叶秋。”“你怎么不去找他？”“谁？”“叶秋。”“他在杭州吧。”叶修说，“别说没钱的问题，我这身份证也不知道在这世界通不通用。”“我看你有银联卡，试过了么？”“试了，读不到。”叶修摊手，“您乐意的话也能试试，密码是⋯⋯唉，密码能不跟你说吗？”“行了。”王杰希打断他，“你要我做什么？”“刚刚说过了，求收留啊。”叶修说，“我挺好用的，真的，你就当请个包吃住的打工仔，不支薪的那种，特别划算。”王杰希冷冷地看他。“真的，我荣耀打得特别好。”叶修继续毛遂自荐，“比叶秋好。”王杰希很不乐意地承认他确实被这句话勾起了兴趣，“你玩什么？”叶修很自信，“都行。”王杰希想了想，朝他比了比一旁的桌机，又兀自进去房间里抱出一台笔电跟两张帐号卡出来，一张给了叶修，“叶秋玩的是战斗法师，我估计你也差不多。”叶修把帐号卡放进去，是个叫做“抱朴子”的战斗法师，七十等。他调整了一下键位，又打开角色看了一下技能树。王杰希默默地看着他的动作，然后也打开自己的帐号，开了平衡场。——然后，他不得不承认，这个叫做叶修的人真的非常强。十分钟。王杰希想。这十分钟的时间，自己的魔道总有种施展不开的感觉，他一向以多变奇诡的打法著称，甚至被封为“魔术师”。但这是第一次，他在一对一的PK中感觉到自己的所有打法都被看破手脚。对面的战斗法师并没有任何特殊的打法，几乎是最土的方式，但是每一个时机都很精准，掌握到自己的每一个破绽——他什么时候这么狼狈过？几乎感觉自己的所有招式都只是花拳绣腿——王杰希想，即使在叶秋身上他都不曾感受过这种压力——他没有在任何人身上感受过这种压力。他在荣耀两个字出现的时候，深深地吸一口气，回过头却看见那个人轻松地伸了个懒腰，发现王杰希看过去的眼神，笑了笑，“怎么样，合格吗？”“你很强。”王杰希说。“做个打工的是挺足够的了。”“你⋯⋯”王杰希又开口，却在思考了一阵子以后摇头。叶修倒像是看穿了他的未尽之言，“我没有合格身份。”王杰希在那短短几秒间想通了这个关节，并不强求，“罢了，那张帐号卡和笔记本给你。我这儿是有间空房，你就住着吧。没事就帮中草堂打打下手什么的。”他这时候起却并不怀疑叶修的身份了。要说荣耀打得好的人，王杰希并不是没有遇到过，顶尖的选手在他出道的这两年间也都遇了一圈，但要说强的这么夸张的人，他竟然完全想不到任何可以匹敌的对象——即使他们不过交手了一次，而叶修看起来对自己十分了解。王杰希心底已经多少相信了叶修那个荒谬的说法，毕竟这样的实力在荣耀这不大的圈子里很难藏的了多久。他领着叶修去后面的客房。原本他拿来做杂物间用，除了床垫以外其他东西也堆了不少。叶修并不是很在意的样子，倒是王杰希自己看见床铺上积了薄薄一层灰，有些不好意思的从后面拿出了新的床单给他换上。他离开前把干净的衣服、浴巾、洗漱用具一并放在叶修床边，叶修从头到尾都站在一旁看着，只在他离开前笑了一下，说了声谢。而王杰希想，这个人身上的秘密，至少之后他们有的是时间可以厘清。二叶修隔天十点多才从房间出来。王杰希坐在客厅拿桌机看上一赛季霸图对嘉世总冠军赛的VOD，见到他拉下耳机，朝厨房比了比。餐桌上摆着两片烤过又冷掉的吐司，旁边摆着巧克力酱、花生酱和加盐奶油，“土司机在后面，冰箱有橙汁跟牛奶，你随意。”叶修嗯了一声，倒了一杯橙汁，端着凉了的吐司走回客厅，站到王杰希后方看比赛。王杰希见他也盯着荧幕看，索性拔掉了耳机。他没摁掉主播的声音，手边是针对他这场比赛写的笔记——他侧过头去看了叶修一眼，叶修专心咬着吐司，没有多做评论。叶修吃完早点的时候，比赛还没播完。他倒是果断，直接转进去冲洗碗盘。“你不看了？”王杰希问他。那厢刚刚擦干手走出来的叶修说，“不用了。”于是王杰希重新戴上耳机，仔仔细细地做完了一整场的笔记。他弄完回头，叶修正低头操作昨天他给他的那台笔记本，旁边连着帐号卡，估计是在打副本之类的，看上去挺认真。王杰希想了想，也把视频关掉，换上自己小号打开荣耀。“抱朴子”的名字亮着，显示的果真是一个六十级副本。王杰希把好友名单往下拉，找到“车前子”这个名字，便PM抱朴子的资料过去。车前子回的很快：“大神有什么指教吗？这一位是？” “帮手。”王杰希打上，又补上一句，“他有上线的话，你们就拉他看该做什么做什么吧。”“谢谢大神！”车前子很快地回，“我们下午会带菁英团刷一次六十级最近开的五人副本。”“几点？”“现在是约了兄弟们下午三点半在寒冰深渊前集合，我晚一点也通知这位高手大哥一起。”“给我留个空。我也一起。”“大神亲自来吗？一定一定！”车前子马上回覆，“大神你这时间还方便吗？对队伍配置有什么要求么？”“按你们平时来就行。”王杰希回，“下了。”他说下了，其实没真下。却是点开看抱朴子的状态。他上一个副本这才结束，不知道开始的时间，但以王杰希对这个副本的了解实在不该花上这么多时间。在测试？在熟悉？在练习什么？抱朴子：这是你给我发的工作啊？王杰希还在思考，却不意看见跳出来的私聊。他觉得这人有点无聊，只能向不远处的叶修发话，“为什么不用说的？”叶修抬头朝他无辜的说，“刚刚收到车前子的讯息呢。说下午打副本？”“嗯，寒冰深渊，五人的。”“还说你也一起？”叶修说，“试探我？”“是。”王杰希很坦然，“下午给你指挥了。”“你可以跟我本人说嘛。”叶修说，又问，“这边车前子忐忑地想询问我和你什么关系呢，我怎么回？”王杰希不信他不知道怎么应付这种问题，有点懒得理他，“你说亲戚之类就行了吧。”“杰希大神的亲戚长得真像叶秋啊。”垃圾话。王杰希这次拒绝回应。“我说大眼，你要试探我，跟我竞技场不就行了？做什么这么弯弯绕？”因为有些东西非团战看不出来。王杰希想。还是顺手丢了个竞技房号码给叶修。昨天晚上，王杰希想叶修、想那场竞技场想了一夜。他总觉得自己遗漏了某个至关重要的东西，却一时无法抓到——对战过程中被看透的感觉太过深刻，导致于他的判断有些失准——然而他回头仔细思考当时抱朴子每一个操作，思考他对于基本功的掌握、精准的走位，甚至是有些土的打法，他忽然意识到，这个人很叶秋——或许是更强的叶秋。他想要证实自己的猜想。花了一早上的时间复习的叶秋的打法。而现在，他开启竞技场的录像，一来一往的交锋中，比起自己的操作精度，他更格外注意叶修的动作——确实很像叶秋。只是更成熟，更洗练。这一次的PK因为王杰希的有意拖延，时间比昨天那一场更长。叶修明知道他的试探，却很配合。这个人为什么保有这样的从容？这是王杰希的另外一个疑惑，但他没有过分纠结于此，转而思考的是他能利用叶修做些什么。——但是在那之前。王杰希看叶修的表情，他依然是那样，一派轻松，正做着简单的手操。“再一局吗？”叶修问。而王杰希摇头，开口却是个问句，“你那个世界的叶秋打荣耀吗？”叶修愣了愣，却很快笑了，“不，不打。”“他做什么的？”“商界精英。”叶修知无不言，“特别有范儿的那种。”“你在那里玩的是战斗法师？”“我什么都能玩。”“玩最久的？”“那是战斗法师。”王杰希觉得他要接近那个答案了，“叶修，你今年几岁？”然后叶修不说话，就几秒钟，才笑出声音来。“我还以为能瞒你更久一些——我二十九了。”“那说得通了。”王杰希并不意外。“所以，你那边也有一个王杰希？”“嗯，跟你差不多。”叶修说，“所以你这打法我很熟悉了。”叶修说完这句话，也不知道有没有一点安慰王杰希的意思。王杰希却觉得自己即使被这个叶修打得落花流水也很难有什么特别深刻的挫折感——二十九岁。年龄是所有选手都共同面对的客观困境。这意味着即使叶修有着惊人的意识与精确的操作，却也无法长时间保持下去。他这样想，也就没有问最后那个问题。毕竟身为选手都知道那是多么难受的两个字。“再来一场吧。”“不问了？”却是叶修说，他还是那样挂着笑，似乎并不能被任何事冒犯的样子，“不好奇吗？我们那个世界的未来。”“你们那个世界从根本上来说和我们这个世界并不相同吧。”“哦？”“见到你之前，我没有听过叶修，叶秋是我们这里最强的选手。”王杰希耐心地解释，补上一句，“——最强的选手之一。”“但也有类似的地方？”“就算你那个世界的未来与我们这边一致，我也不想听。”王杰希却笑了， “知道结局的小说多无趣。”“王大眼啊。”叶修说，“来房间。”王杰希和叶修又打了三场竞技，之后又跟叶修一起下了两场副本。回过神来的时候已经下午一点多——他先退出了游戏，叶修倒觉得奇怪地看了他一眼。“吃饭了。”王杰希说，“你不吃什么？”“我看你柜里的泡面挺好的。”“我叫两个炒饭。”王杰希不理会他。“没忌口？”“没。”叶修说，又转回去看荧幕“我再下一个副本，大眼你跟么？”王杰希摇摇头，“不了，我出门去领餐。”“餐厅不送啊？”“外送要等到两点半以后了，一会儿下副本，怕赶不上。”王杰希说完站起身，转回去自己房间换了件外出服。他出门前看了一眼在客厅沙发上缩着打游戏的叶修，还是搁了一张备用钥匙在桌上，“这钥匙给你，若要出门的话带着，三点前回来就是了。”叶修回了一句含糊不清的好。三王杰希回去的时候叶修正专心致志地对着荧幕指挥。他戴着也不知道是怎么翻出来的耳麦，一边操作一边下着指令。每个人在指挥的风格都略有不同，叶修的语气从头到尾都很平静，这倒是很符合他一贯的设定。王杰希把手边的饭放下，走过去他身后看。“哦？出野图BOSS了？”王杰希观察一会儿道，“嘉王朝、蓝溪阁、霸气雄图⋯⋯很热闹啊。”“这还有80%血量，估计至少都还要半小时才好。”叶修边操作着边回应，“你先吃饭吧。”“没事儿，我一起。”王杰希说完，坐下插上自己帐号卡。他平常虽然也关心公会事务，但多半是侧重于选手的培养跟声望，真正在网游里面这样厮杀的时间远远比不上职业训练花费的心力。在副本里面这样的短板其实体现不大出来，但面对野图BOSS这样超大型团队副本、指挥对象又大多是普通玩家的状况，倒是很难让他的战术素养有什么发挥空间——他过去顶多也就是在夏休期偶而和公会一起碰碰运气，用自己的硬技术给其他公会扯扯后腿罢了。此刻却是一个研究叶修的时机。他漫不经心地想，心底却是不抱多大期待。王杰希上这只仍是小号，他操作小魔道学者到BOSS所在的远古遗迹，一边则点开公会频看抱朴子的指令。不知道是王杰希之前吩咐过车前子的缘故，还是叶修靠着自己实力得来的，抱朴子的发言被管理员设置成了高亮红字——这一般是公会军团长才有的待遇。以叶修的实力，他倒是不担心叶修给自己跌份儿，却怕若是前者，那在整体公会的经营上不是什么特别好的事，心下思忖着回头要提醒车前子一声。叶修的指令很干净，“左边补点远距离的，还没到的魔道绕山脊后走，别直直过来，嘉王朝在那儿等着。现在仇恨还在蓝溪阁身上，让他们消血。”王杰希到了远古遗迹，跟中草堂的魔道站在一块儿，远远地能依稀看见叶修领着一帮菁英团。而叶修的战术如何？四个字可以形容：行云流水。他的所有指令都很普通，但却像他本人的战斗方式一样，从未疏漏每一个应该注意到的环节。在野图BOSS这么大的战场上，要去顾及所有公会的动向是一件极其困难的事，更何况还要计算BOSS的血量——然而叶修似乎对于这样的事情习以为常，他的指令从来不拖泥带水，也不会苛刻地要求玩家配合什么困难的技巧，但所有的一切凑在一起却意外地和谐。有这个人在似乎就会赢。中草堂的玩家很快就接受了这个大神的指示，毕竟对于他们这样长年在网游世界里面打滚的人，对于怎么样的布置是可行的也有一定的敏感度。当五十等的冰齿沙凡特终于向天咆哮一声缓缓倒下的时候，中草堂的群众响起了一阵欢呼。五十等的野图BOSS其实不算什么特殊怪，爆出来的素材也挺一般，真正让他们如此欢欣雀跃的，除了胜利的喜悦外，恐怕还是这一场仗打的分外痛快。王杰希也诧异于叶修对于团队的掌控——他原先打算在副本观察的东西现在却显得无关紧要了。这人连如此大型的野团都能调配的如此井然有序，完全不用怀疑在其他更小的副本里面他的技巧。然而，王杰希不无唏嘘地想，能在野团中保持如此高的熟稔度与指挥技术，也代表这个人投资了相当的心力与时间在此之上——考虑到叶修稍早之前坦率说出的年龄，他很容易知道为什么这个人过去能有如此充足的时间，去培养与磨练这样的素养。王杰希当时不忍心问的问题，却在这时候突兀地得到了确凿的答案。“大眼儿，沉迷在哥卓越的指挥技巧了？”把王杰希从沉思中拉回现实的是那个人从来没有改变过的轻浮语气，王杰希看着叶修轻松愉快的模样，却反倒觉得自己心中那点感慨矫情了。于是他没有回叶修的那句话，却是站起身来把刚刚买回来却已经冷却的饭盒倒出来微波。叶修被无视了也不恼，跟着到厨房帮忙打下手——王杰希另外买了两碗味噌汤，叶修捞出橱柜里的锅，过了水擦干，又把汤倒进去。“没想到你挺熟练的。”王杰希意外，“我还一直以为叶秋——你这样的人是靠泡面维生的。”叶修闷笑一声，“原本是的，退役以后总不成还这样过日子了。”他提及退役两个字云淡风轻。在整句话里面并没有加重，也没有放慢，就像已经是再平常不过的事。“学料理了？”王杰希想了想最后顺着他问。“哪儿能啊，能把食物煮熟罢了。”叶修看上去被王杰希这问题逗乐了，“还是泡面好吃，真的。”他们说话的时间微波炉哔哔叫了四声，王杰希把炒饭拿出来又分做两盘，见叶修也把那厢熄了火。他们这顿饭吃得很安静。王杰希对叶修有的疑问早些时候都问清楚了，这时候想开什么话题又都觉得古怪。叶修则像是对眼前那碗炒饭很有兴趣的样子，津津有味地吃完了，这才又复抬起头来看着王杰希。他饶富兴致的打量眼神让王杰希有点不自在，或许是因为那里面还带着一些王杰希无法分辨的情绪。“有什么话就说。”最后仍是王杰希先开的口。叶修笑了笑，“你也真是整副心思都摊在微草了。”王杰希只是看着他。“你在观察我吧。”叶修说，“也发现了我确实做不了比打工仔更多的事了。”王杰希用沉默回应他的这句陈述，他并不擅长面对这样的对话，尽管他知道这样的安静与认同叶修的话语无异。他对于眼前前辈实力的尊重、从这样的实力，让他短短不到二十四小时的时间在对方身上体会到的对于荣耀这个游戏的热爱，都让他难以用言语去赞同这样的话语。叶修仍自顾自说下去，“我就是在想，即使这样，你到现在都刻意回避了那两个字，还真是温柔啊。”他话说完，王杰希皱起眉盯着他，“有意思吗？”“什么有意思？”王杰希也说不上自己心中那样的焦躁从何而来。这个人用这样的口吻谈退役，调侃自己温柔——他不知道自己怎么了，就是觉得特别烦躁，他甚至找不到这样无名的焦躁从何而生。他深深吸一口气，又吐出来，“我只是觉得退役对任何人而言都不会是容易的事。”王杰希说完话，站起身把桌上碗盘收拾干净。他知道自己这样有点像闹别扭的孩子，却更不愿意面对那个人游刃有余带着调侃的笑意。然而叶修却没有因此退缩。他走到王杰希的旁边，王杰希不看他，他们俩僵持了几秒钟的时间，然后他听见叶修叹了一口气。“王杰希，”他这次语气很真诚，没有了他惯有的轻挑，“我并不是打趣。”王杰希不知道怎么回应，只是继续刷洗着餐盘。“我只是想，你这样的温柔，只有在最巅峰的人会有。”叶修说，他说这话的语气几乎是温柔的了，“退役本身并不是那么大的事。我自己都不介意的事，却在这样的情况下被体贴了，挺意外的。”他还是那样，一字一句平缓而且没有特别的起伏，此刻的语气既真诚而又温柔，竟然有一种奇异的说服力。王杰希思考着，不过几秒的时间。最后，王杰希安静地承认，“我对你的同情是一种傲慢。”“我是真的觉得挺好的。”叶修苦笑——王杰希意外这人也会有这样的表情——然后用一样近乎温柔的声音咕哝，“怎么搞成这样，我下次别拉你聊天了，还是竞技场实在。”王杰希也不免认同，“还是竞技场实在。”“PK吗？”叶修说完自己吐槽，“不行，我这角色设定要跟黄少天串了。”王杰希笑了出声。心底则为这恢复日常的对话暗暗松了一口气。四七月六日是王杰希生日，也是一年中除了三大节日以外少数几个他会回家的日子之一。他在前一天晚上先跟叶修打了声招呼，说自己隔天要回家一趟，整天都不在。叶修不是很意外的样子，连缘由也没有多问。王杰希对此感到松一口气，虽然不是什么大事，但特意和对方说自己隔天生日，某种程度好像在暗示要人做些什么。转念一想，又觉得像这样出门要报备的事情对他而言也是很久没有过了。他习惯在早上八点整起床，从衣柜里挑出比较喜气的暗红色衬衫跟卡其裤。他这公寓当时买的靠微草，离他父母家搭乘大众运输的话还要一个多小时。王杰希一边吃着早餐麦片，一边估摸着九点再出门，也能避开早高峰。在临走前他看了一眼客厅，想想还是在桌上多留了六百块钱，就怕叶修临时有什么需要。王杰希跟微草签约后的第一件事，就是拿签约金缴清了这座公寓的头期。他当时想得很简单，房子小一些或是旧一些都不要紧，至少这就有了安身立命的所在。当时身边很多人觉得大概这是他个性使然，却是只有王杰希自己知道，那是因为当自己真正走上电竞选手这条路，那就与家里挥别开来，再无法回头了。他父母都在B市的大学任教，往来的也都是些高知识分子。是以，王杰希小时候的玩伴每一个都是“别人家的孩子”；相较之下，徒有年龄最长，在课业上一直都是“扶不起的阿斗”的王杰希就显得特别平凡了。他在小六那一年没能考上第一志愿的私中，后来靠着父亲缴的复读费好容易进去了另一所学风严谨的学校，却又在中三那一年失利。真情实感的说，王杰希现在回想起过去，也会犹疑自己究竟是从根本上不够努力才达不到父母期望的成绩，或是真的就是没有实力。年少时期的苦涩在年长以后回头看变得云淡风轻——彼时的痛苦似乎举无轻重，更让他怀疑起自己是否从未尽心尽力。只是，荣耀让他感觉到自己的天职。究竟是因为喜欢荣耀而擅长，或是因为擅长而喜欢，王杰希无法分辨，然而在操作着那一个小小的魔道学者的时候，他第一次感觉到这是“属于自己能做的事”。中考放榜的那一天，王杰希没有回家。他第一次拿零用钱翘家去了网咖，买了荣耀的帐号卡——在烟雾弥漫的网咖环境中，他第一次找到自己想做的事。他手机响了好几次，他一律摁掉不接。直到日落西山，他看着十几通未接的电话，才一步步走回家。父亲开门的时候脸色凝重，而王杰希却想着，他也不能再让他们更失望了。他们想要的他做不到，他想要的他们不想要。王杰希想通了这个关节，竟然有种如释重负的痛快，连带着连母亲伤心的眼泪，父亲愤怒的神情都能够承受。后面的事情并不怎么复杂，他们吵了一架，或是王杰希单方面的认为他们吵了一架，他报名了微草训练营，只要他们签名。他不听他们说的所有话，不去他们安排好的学校。最后，母亲失望地签下了名。她说，“我不会再管你了。你高兴去哪儿去哪儿吧。” 王杰希想要看她的表情，最后还是没有看。原来让她失望他还是会难过。他去了微草。而在此之前他不知道人生原来可以过得这么快乐。每一天只是做他喜欢做的事情，训练，吃饭，与身边的人讨论荣耀。微草新训营那一年才刚刚建立，当时的队长林杰看着他们十几位小朋友笑得温和，他说，“欢迎来微草，希望这里能像一个家。”微草是王杰希的另一个家。他到家的时间是十点半，按的电铃，很快过来应门的是母亲。王杰希喊了一声妈，她母亲催促着道快进来。父亲仍是一样，拿着一本书坐在客厅的太师椅上，手边一盏还冒着轻烟的热茶。王杰希又说了一声，爸。他爸看了他一眼，点点头。王杰希打过招呼，顺手放下他前几日先买好的蔘茶放在桌上，便转进厨房帮母亲作业。他们家这区域其实有不少好餐厅，但老人家总觉得生日这天一定得在家自己煮。王杰希把母亲早些时间拿出来的菜拿去一旁滤水器冲水，看母亲在锅灶前面仔细搅拌那一锅猪脚面线，心底有些涩。菜是他年少时爱吃的那些，即使他早已经变了口味。他从未讲，父母亲也就不会知道。王杰希仍能记得小时候他也这样在厨房帮忙，母亲教他剪金针花的梗，一边剪一边说，“这又叫谖草，从前人相信可以忘忧，”她一直很有气质，笑起来特别温柔，“诗经有‘焉得谖草？言树之背。’的句子，就是说，哪里可以得到諠草呢？吃了以后或许就可以摆脱这样思念的忧愁了。” 后来王杰希每次看见金针总是想起这两句诗。“所以，最近过得怎么样？”母亲问。王杰希笑了笑，“都还好。”“我前两天见到妍妍她妈妈，说她考上了P大。”“那挺好的。”王杰希说。“她是今年T中的文组榜首呢。”王杰希笑，“她一直都很优秀。”“你们那游戏是不是很年轻就要退役了？”“看人吧。林杰队长24岁就退役了，不过也有像士谦前辈那样，到现在还是在场上的。”“那也还年轻。”母亲说，“你到时候再求个学位也行的。”王杰希低笑，“我可考不上P大。”“都行的，或是就去你爸爸学校。中学学历毕竟是低了点。”“我会仔细考虑。”他和家人的关系似乎就停在了这个层次。不会再向下，但也不会再更好了。王杰希与母亲又寒暄了几句。两个人端着菜放到餐桌上的时候，母亲去喊了父亲过来。王杰希的父亲是最传统的那种中国男人：安静，内敛，威严。一旦到了餐桌上就是谁也不说话的时候。母亲殷勤地替王杰希添了一整碗的面线，王杰希沉默地吃完，才说了一句真的很好吃。母亲高兴地笑了，又起身去冰箱取过哈密瓜与西瓜来。“很甜的。”她说，“我去拿小盘子。”王杰希连“您别忙”都来不及说，她已经转身走了。父亲此刻也吃完饭了，就坐在那儿。直到现在王杰希也都不知道怎么应对他好，干脆整理起餐桌。“你难得回家一趟，忙什么啊。”母亲端着水果回来，看见他的动作忍不住指责，“吃水果。”王杰希苦笑，拿着母亲给他的叉子各吃了些。他知道时间到这边也差不多了。他临走以前除了刚刚放在桌上的那两盒蔘茶以外，又打开包从里面拿出两个红包，“每一年都麻烦您替我过生日，”王杰希说，“祝你们身体健康。”他出了父母家门口，但是没有回家，而在路口拦车先去了一趟公墓给姥姥上香。过后他一时有点迷茫，到大学林立的H区绕着走了一下午的路。他没有碰见任何认识的人。只是忽然在那一瞬间意识到自己也确实只有二十岁。他到家的那时候还没吃饭，却在转开门钥匙以后看到摆了满桌的料理跟一个还坐在客厅沙发上面打游戏的叶修。“回来了？”叶修看着他笑了，“大眼儿，一般人在自己生日这天收礼物而不是送红包啊。” 五“⋯⋯你这是？”王杰希诧异地说，走过去看那一桌的菜。菜式不是特别豪华，看上去应该是他家隔街那间小饭馆。叶修估计早先就摆着，现在都凉了；他从沙发上过来一道道拿进去微波炉里加热。王杰希打算帮忙做些什么，给叶修拦住了，“去冲个凉，换件衣服吧。这一道道热也还要十多分钟呢。”王杰希还有点懵，也没怎么推拒地说了好。一直走到浴室里面转开花洒他才反应迟钝地意识到：叶修这是在帮他过生日？且不说叶修怎么知道今天是自己生日，他这人还有过节的心思也够奇怪了。当王杰希怀着困惑走出浴室时，叶修已经把桌上的餐点都弄的差不多了。其实真细看他点的菜倒不是很特别，却都是王杰希喜欢的：雪菜黄鱼、清炒蒜苗、蜜枣子排、铁盘牛柳、凤梨苦瓜汤——这份量两个人吃已经太多了。叶修还额外买了一小瓶酒，用不知道从哪里掏出了的红酒杯替他们俩都装上了一些。王杰希忽然就想起了叶修那个充满违和感的布兰施钱包。这个人虽然看上去很懒散随意的样子，若真是要过生活，却又好像有一点品味在。“坐啊。”叶修说，房子主人一般的，“你这也是二字打头了。”“怎么想到整这些？”王杰希问，“怎么知道我生日的？”“怎么像审问人犯似的？”叶修模仿着他的句式吐槽，“我估摸你跟我那儿的王杰希大概同一天生日，百度了下吻合，又看见你在桌上摆的那六百元，就当作是餐费了。”王杰希说，“那是怕我一整天不在⋯⋯”“二十岁呢。”叶修不让他说完，“挺高兴的吧？”“其实没什么特殊感觉。”王杰希坦承，“不过还是谢谢了。”叶修笑了一下，没说什么。两个人坐在饭厅里面吃饭，也没有开电视，也没有放音乐，却一点儿也不尴尬。王杰希甚至觉得今夜的胃口格外的好。“这些是你那儿的王杰希喜欢的菜？”王杰希问。“想你们俩大概口味也差不多。”叶修说，举起杯子，“你能喝吗？”王杰希也拿起杯子，好心情地道，“职业水准。”“那就是一杯倒。”叶修嗤笑，“你喝这一点儿行了。”他们轻轻碰杯口。叶修买的是Prosecco，义大利出产的平民香槟，除了价格便宜以外，酒精度数也比较低——王杰希只沾了一点，觉得爽口又甜——“这挺好喝的。”“我也想你会喜欢。”叶修说，“生日快乐。”王杰希旋转着手上那个杯子，看小小气泡一点点地往上冲到金黄色液体表面。他对面的叶修模样也很闲适。这个人一周前按了他家的电铃，自来熟地住了下来——王杰希才发现他不知不觉中与这个人朝夕相处了这么些天，却从来没有感觉到多了什么或是少了什么的不便。他似乎就存在于他的生活，自然而然，理所应当。“许愿吗？”叶修问，他不知道从哪里拿出了一小块抹茶蛋糕，“给二十岁？”“微草冠军。”王杰希想也没想。叶修笑出来，“还有两个？”他这会儿犹豫了，“你怎么办？”“什么？”“你知道回去的方法吗？”这是王杰希第一次提到这件事。叶修先笑了一下才开口，“完全没有头绪。”“你看起来并不着急。”“看起来像那样吗？”叶修复述，又道，“大概是着急也没有用。”“所以你想回去吗？”“想啊。”叶修说，语气却轻松地像在聊明日的天气，“不过毫无方向。”他这句“想啊”其实让王杰希有点意外。大概是这个人在此地表现得太适应，连王杰希也从未考虑过他有想要离开的可能——他看着叶修的脸，试图从上面找到一些情绪的线索，然而那个人的表情依旧那样天衣无缝，就像他一贯的那样，一派轻松，似乎没有什么可以让他焦躁。“那就希望你能成功回去吧。”王杰希说。“这么好？一个生日愿望啊？”叶修笑出声音，“这是说杰希大神已经厌倦包养一个打工仔了吗？”王杰希看他，发现他这句话真的只是打趣，脸上并没有任何不舍的神色。“第三个愿望放心底？”王杰希问。叶修说，“对，给你倒数计时啊。”太坏气氛。那个人嘲讽的声音在他旁边慢吞吞地从十数到一。王杰希脑海了转了一圈从世界和平到国泰民安，最后却还是回到了他最初的念想，他没有打算对任何人说的：转型成功。他许完以后在心底自嘲，这与微草夺冠岂不是重复许愿了？却觉得除此之外他也再没有其他愿望了。“许了什么？”叶修问。“不是说不能说么。”“其实我也能猜到。”叶修说，“不过怕戳破了不灵验，我就不说了。”“⋯⋯哦。”“会实现的。”叶修说。“⋯⋯谢谢。”王杰希说。过后叶修把残羹冷炙收拾了，那瓶Prosecco只喝了不到三分之一，他把软木塞塞上，跟剩菜一起放进冰箱。王杰希喝得并不多，也就真的只有那一小半杯，但整个人都有点飘，不知道是这太意外的夜晚还是酒精的因素。叶修原来是这样靠谱的人吗？他坐在客厅沙发看那个人处理着那些琐碎，又搜索了一下记忆中叶秋的模样，觉得很难想像这两个人有什么共通点——虽然很像，却不一样——是时间造成他们的差异或是原本就不同？他在脑子里面不着边际的思考着无趣的问题，却没有期待得到答案。他转而想起自己似乎也很久没有跟谁建立起这样的关系了。林杰退役以后，他接过了微草，也就接下了责任。方士谦是个好队友，但他们私底下始终比较难建立起更亲密的友谊——王杰希单方面承认他吃不消。他似乎天生自带薄凉属性，与谁都是君子之交淡如水——还是凉水——而若真要与谁建立起更深刻的连结，他也下意识地想要回避。他一直都这样过得挺好，也没觉得有什么不对。甚至黄少天还说过微草现在这莫名其妙的尊老爱幼画风得归咎于他。王杰希觉得这纯属黄少天胡诌，毕竟他一直自我感觉挺普通的。对前辈，他尊敬；对队友，他感激；对于微草——那是赋予他生命意义的新生之地，他也愿意付出自己的所有去回报当年的知遇之恩。对叶修呢？最先是好奇，然后是尊敬，接著有一些惋惜，再来这些惋惜也成了一种歉疚，歉疚升华成敬重——后来呢？这个人又展现了他的另外一面。他似乎是王杰希所遇过的人里面最擅长掌握距离的人：即使同处一个屋檐之下，即使他们总是共享着同一个客厅——即使他逾越一个住客、一位前辈的界线为他庆生，王杰希却发现自己完全没有厌烦的感觉。如果是这样的话，王杰希想，那也可以算是朋友了吧。六那日之后，生活没有什么改变。叶修仍然是一整天也不会出门一次的宅男。王杰希反倒从车前子那里听到了很多关于这位“高手大哥”的故事——当时，他也就是随口一问，却意外打开了对方的话匣子，“抱朴子大哥几乎所有时间都在线，什么团、什么位置都能打，这几次副本纪录都刷的特别漂亮，尤其对霸气雄图格外狠！太厉害了！”他画面上跳着车前子尽管压抑着仍掩盖不住的扑面而来的赞赏与迷弟气息，视线又扫到不远处把自己的黑T恤与卡其短裤穿出完全不同的颓废风格的那个人，居然有点想笑。王杰希这个夏休期并不怎么上神之领域，相反地，他把大部分的时间花在竞技场。他在第三季出道以后，靠着被媒体赞誉有加的“魔术师打法”维持着亮丽的战绩，然而相比他在擂台赛上的表现，微草在团队赛的成果却一直都让人遗憾。是磨合期，还是真的不适合？王杰希花了两个赛季思考，答案隐然成形。促使他得出的这个答案的原因有二。第一，是微草在第四赛季四强赛对上嘉世后遭到淘汰。嘉世是王者，加上今年新出道的苏沐橙是得力的新兵，本来输给他们就不是特别值得意外的事。但是，在团队赛中，看叶秋靠着指挥如何打断王杰希作为攻击手与其他人之间的节奏，对于王杰希而言不可不谓是一记当头棒喝——输本身不是大事，但那样打乱节奏的方式所造成的结果，已经不是有来有往的程度：王不留行与团队的脱节造成整个情势的一面倒。说直接一点，这样的比赛即使再来十次，王杰希也没有把握他们可以赢一次。第二个原因其实也与那一场淘汰有关。或许比起其他队友的脱节，最让王杰希感到诧异的是方士谦与他被切割开来——方士谦毫无疑问是整个联盟最顶尖的治疗；若是连这样的治疗都无法跟上王杰希的节奏，无法在团队与王杰希之间达成平衡，那也意味着，不管未来换成再顶尖的选手，或许都无法改变这个问题了。王杰希才二十岁。他年轻，气更盛，要放弃自己最喜欢的打法，他也会不甘心——但是两个赛季过去了，选手的生命是一年过了便少了一年，他或许可以浪费自己的生命勉力尝试，但是方士谦还有多少个两年？微草还有多少个两年？微草在第四赛季输给了嘉世，而嘉世那一年终于被霸图拳王挥下神坛。王杰希想要一个冠军。而为此，他可以忍受一点不甘心。他打开竞技场，开的是小号，调整场，他这几天都在做这样的事。他爬得很快，从原本普通的60%胜率，在这样的几天没有歇息的PK打到了95%，才终于开始遇到比较有实力的对手。王杰希有意识地控制自己，PK是最能展现一个人瞬间思维的方式，短暂几秒的交锋内往往靠的是意识——而意识这种东西，一半是与生具来的直觉，另外一半则是靠经验的积累。目前为止都还没有遇到能够逼他完全用意识操作的对手——他也没有很着急，就是一场接着一场，没有休息地打下去。“果然是你。”王杰希打完今天的第十二场竞技场，回过头才发现叶修早已悄然站到他身后。叶修拿着一杯水，盯着荧幕上刚刚跳出来的“荣耀”，画面中的女魔道学者朝操作者嫣然笑了一下，跳出来的战绩表显示她还剩下85%的血量。“果然是我？”王杰希转了半圈椅子过来，“什么意思？”“你不看论坛的吧？”叶修笑，“也没有加入公会群聊？最近大家都在说有个独孤求败的魔道学者每天刷竞技场。因为是女角，名字文艺，却从来不说话，只挂着中草堂的名字，这两天公会里面都炸开锅了猜是不是真妹子呢。”王杰希看着上面巧笑倩兮的女魔道学者跟她头顶上的“杜若”两个字，也觉得确实很小清新，他挺无语地道，“这些人无不无聊。”“姑娘们可是荣耀的宝物。”叶修说。“你就为了和我说这个？”王杰希问。叶修摇头，下巴朝电脑荧幕上的竞技场扬了一下，“我比他们都强。”王杰希沉默了。他当然知道现在他的身边就有一个特别适合对战的人选，然而这样的念头几乎是刚刚在他心底冒出芽就被他掐灭了。这几天的观察下来，他也了解了叶修的状况。叶修当然强，指挥调度都没有话说，PK时意识与操作都是一流，然而当长时间高密度的操作——甚至不用多长时间——十分钟的高度消耗就可以造成他操作显著下滑，尽管叶修刻意掩饰，王杰希仍计算出他的极限大约是十五分钟。而超过十五分钟的过度消耗会带来什么样的结果，职业选手都心知肚明。他当然不是嫌弃这样的叶修不够强。他只是知道接下来对叶修来说所谓的黄金操作时间只会越来越短。纵然叶修已经退役，但要去剥削他来为自己训练，王杰希自问做不到。尽管王杰希思量至此时，也无法忍住心中窜出的那一丝莫名的情感，委屈而焦躁，还带有一点点不甘心：他知道叶修已经能从他的沉默推测出他的想法，而他也知道叶修根本不在乎这些，就像他不在乎他的退役。某种程度上，经过这些天的相处，王杰希其实已经放弃了解叶修了。这是说，虽然他还是会客观的分析与理解他的实力、背景以及个性，但是叶修是什么样的心情，如今抱持了什么样的心态，这类的事情对于现在的王杰希而言似乎无法被参透。年龄所带来的差距让他的所有情绪摹拟与感同身受都是一种幼稚的傲慢，叶修从来都把自身顾得很好——这一点无庸置疑——而王杰希试图去理解他内在的那一面时，也因此被屏于外。他并不因此感到委屈或是愤怒，只是有一丝遗憾。或许如此，明知道自己这些举措是“无谓而多余”的体贴，明知道那个人依然只会用云淡风轻的笑意回应，王杰希却还是做了这样多余的事吧。他沉浸在自己的思考，叶修却一句话也没有催他。王杰希知道叶修早已知道了这些，然而他会说什么？像之前那样用轻松语气谢谢他的体贴，或是就此罢休？——无论是哪一种，王杰希此刻已经做好相应的准备。只有这一件事情，他不希望自己退让。尽管他也无法分辨他是因为真的舍不得叶修的手，或是另外一种赌气，像要证明什么一般。王杰希甚至没有发现他下意识地移开了眼神，直到他听见叶修喊了他一声“王杰希。”他抬头看着他，眼神里面有自己也没注意的倔强。叶修像是要笑出来，但又没有，他不知道怎么去定义他脸上的表情——带着对于他情绪的了然，除去了他常有的那种游刃有余的轻松。“王杰希，”叶修又说了一次他的名字，“荣耀不是一个人的游戏。”王杰希当然知道这句话，叶秋的名言，但他却不明白为什么这时候叶修说了这句话。然后叶修笑了，这次是真的笑出来，“你才二十岁，多依赖你的队友啊。这么闷声不吭地一个人打竞技，很没意思吧。”王杰希以为他要劝说自己，忽然听见这些话有些诧异。他甚至没了解到话题是怎么转向了这里。然而叶修抢在他开口前继续他的话语，“现在我们也算同队的，依赖依赖我也没关系啊。”叶修说完，没有给王杰希反应的时间，只是拍了拍他的肩膀，又转回去弄自己的帐号。王杰希却觉得刚刚被碰触到的那一块肩膀，不知道为什么好像残留着对方赋予的重量。那样的重量几乎让他感觉到一丝细微的疼痛。七王杰希最后仍然没有找叶修长时间的练习。但是，每一天晚上，叶修会花三十分钟旁观王杰希与其他人的PK，过后再和他打一场不能算是指导赛的指导赛。他进步的速度不算很快，强迫自己改变原有的打法本来就不是一件容易的事，一旦遇到比较惊险的状况，往往脑子还没有反应过来手边就习惯性地进行操作——对王杰希来说，与其说他的转型是要培养一套新的习惯，倒不如说是要在战斗中把诸如此类“自动操作”的机会降到最低。虽然如此，在实际战斗中，哪怕只是增加半秒的反应与思考时间对于选手而言都是巨大风险，他也只能用尽全力地缩短这样的判断成本。又一次的竞技。叶修跟他单挑的时候并不求快，相反地，他很擅长设下圈套让对方露出破绽以后再趁虚而入——当缓则缓，当急则急——王杰希很敬佩叶修的这种洗练，某种程度这也是他觉得自己应该前进的方向。他若是在操作上要增添这样的思考时间，只能靠其他部分来弥补，而精确的操作无疑是最有效的方式。让他很意外，叶修在单挑的时候不太说话。即使当王杰希被逼的急了，操作愈发快速的时候，叶修也不会轻易地被他带走节奏。在这个意义上，叶修确实是最适合的练习对象，因为他没有任何出其不意的招数，却可以稳稳掌握着游戏的走向。这一点，显然是他靠着经验与对游戏的熟稔弥补了其他方面的不足。让王杰希介意的是另外一点。“你很了解我。”打完今天份的竞技后，王杰希对叶修说，“应对我打法的方式太熟练了。”叶修笑了笑，“如果我不是最适合的人选，我怎么敢向你自我推荐？”王杰希沉默了。其实从第一天晚上他与叶修PK直接输掉的那一场开始，他就发现叶修对他的打法相当了解，否则也无法那么快的直接把自己按倒在地——当时他没有多想，只觉得这个人强得过份，却是在这几天以来的连续交手以后，他才发现这个人不仅仅是了解自己，简直是把自己的打法都彻底研究过了的刨根知底。“所以，你那边也有一个王杰希？” “嗯，跟你差不多。”叶修说，“所以你这打法我很熟悉了。”他想起前几天的对话。当时只是一闪而过，此刻却再次出现在脑海里，而这似乎解释了所有的原因。明明对于现在的自己而言是一件好事，然而不知道为什么想起这件事却让王杰希有种莫名的心烦——是因为自己跟叶修的差距？不，不是。他很快地否定。因为这个叶修用自己所不理解的方式理解了自己？⋯⋯想到这儿王杰希忍不住摇头，这都什么乱七八糟的理由。他心底有这些不知名的郁闷，对话也就突兀地停顿了。叶修发现他异样的沉默，开口问，“你是被打懵了？”王杰希回应地很快，“怎么可能。”“我了解你是应该的，没必要挫折。”“没挫折。我就是⋯⋯”王杰希犹豫了一下要不要说出口，最后还是不自然地掐断了话头，“算了。”“怎么了？”叶修大方地说，“有什么疑问直说，前辈给你解惑。”“不大甘心。”叶修像是意外他也有这么孩子气的一面， “因为输给我？”王杰希没直接回应，却是问，“我和王杰希很像？” “王杰希？”叶修愣了一下才反应过来，“哦，打法上确实很像，所以你的攻击模式我很能掌握。”“嗯。”王杰希回应，“他是像哪个我？现在的？之前的？”“我对他太熟了，”叶修听见这个问题搔了搔头，“你的打法似乎都有他的影子。”“但是我不是他。”王杰希冷静地说。叶修笑出声音来，这让王杰希有点局促，“当然。他是他，你是你，虽然像，倒不至于弄混了。”他想想又说了一句，“你打法大概还是更奔放一点。”“这算是称赞么？”王杰希无语。叶修还是带着笑意，“大概更适合二十岁。”“你和他很熟？”“不是说对我这儿的未来没兴趣？”叶修说，“挺熟的，好歹也一起集训过。”王杰希意外，“他不是微草的？”“怎么可能，见到你我更怀疑所有平行世界的王杰希都待在微草了。”叶修说，“生是微草人，死是微草鬼，鞠躬尽瘁，死也不会已。”王杰希不理他，“⋯⋯所以，你不是嘉世的？”叶修轻松地回答，“曾经是。”“那你真的和叶秋很不一样。”王杰希说。叶修笑了一下，没有回应。王杰希没有继续问下去，转而打开刚刚那一场录像看。叶修拉了一张椅子过来坐到他后面。其实叶修一般不会提什么意见，前几天晚上他还就这件事询问过叶修，他坦承说他只能与王杰希讨论，若真要考虑哪一种方式是最好的，还是得要王杰希回到自己的思考模式。叶修在这些地方展现的体贴让他显得有些高深莫测。王杰希想。在这种时候他格外能感觉到年龄与阅历所带来的差异，不只体现在技巧与战术上，而更体现在待人处事的方式。叶修总是很悠闲，无论王杰希提出什么问题，他也是知无不言，言无不尽。但是，若是王杰希不问他的意见，他也能够做到不去说任何一句话，不做任何评价。“就到这儿吧。”王杰希完成了复盘以后说，“你要先洗澡么？”“嗯？”叶修反应过来，“没事儿，你去，我去下个本。”他说完就回去了自己位置，插上帐号卡开始操作。王杰希看了他一眼，便走回房间。叶修这个人好像生活中真的就只需要荣耀，除了吃饭、睡觉等基本生活必需品以外，刷整天的副本也不会厌倦。而即使他是这样的人，在某些地方展现的体贴与细致却又令人意外。王杰希冲完澡，换上休闲服，又去洗衣篮捞出衣服裤子检查口袋——掉出来的是一只雍和宫的平安符——他看着那个符，眨眨眼，对此毫无印象。如果不是自己的，那只有一个可能。王杰希拿着平安符过去问叶修，“这是你的？”“嗯？”叶修正在跑副本，头也没有回，“等我五分钟。”王杰希干脆拿着平安符在他身边坐下。这个平安符看上去跟他母亲过去为他求过的差别不太大，暗红色，略长的六边形——底下绣着小小的一个“修”，他很难想像这个人有这么虔信。“什么东西？”叶修结束了以后把电脑往前推了一些，转过头来问王杰希。王杰希顺手就把平安符递给了他。叶修看见那小小平安符的时候显得相当惊讶——王杰希甚至有点意外能在他脸上看见不同于总是轻松自在的表情——他领了过去，来回翻看着那个写着“雍和宫”的小小物什，最后视线停在小字“修”上方。“是我的。”叶修最后说，“但我应该没有带来，你在哪里找到的？”“洗衣篮。这或许与你怎么回去有关，”王杰希说，“我没有这东西。”“就靠这个？”叶修笑了一下，“明天去宫里问一下？”“我怕他们觉得这只是盗版平安符。”王杰希反倒有些踌躇，“我父亲那边有位老师，平时还颇喜欢研究紫微，我先问问他？”叶修盯着他看了一会儿，然后才恢复王杰希熟悉的、轻松的笑意，“那麻烦了。”“不麻烦，”王杰希摇头，“你这平安符什么来历？”“我爱人送的。”叶修说，纵容地笑了一下，“他迷信。每年我生日都送一个，要我随身携带。年年大致都相同，除了颜色——好像跟太岁神有关，底下小字是他托人绣上的。”叶修说出“爱人”两个字让王杰希讶异，然而想到他的年纪、这些天来对于同居者的体贴、善于拿捏的分寸感、以及最重要的，一直以来让王杰希感到突兀的，他擅长过“生活”的这一事实——所有的一切在此刻似乎都找到了解答。“但是之前你从未发生过这种状况？”王杰希问，“这个真的没有什么不同？”叶修想了想，又想了想，最后还是说，“我觉得没有。”“我拍几张照？”王杰希问，“一会儿先传给老师问问看，再和他约个时间。”叶修递过去给他。王杰希拍了几张照，叫出微信来传了过去。他庆幸现在时间还算早，对方那边回消息也很快，第一句话就是，“杰希，你从哪里拿到这东西的？” 八昨日王杰希还在犹豫怎么回覆，老师那厢已经拨了电话过来。他在电话里面也不好说清楚状况，最后先约了今天下午在老师家见面。王杰希带着叶修去。其实他自己在跟家里没了联系以后，便很少与老师联络了——以前对方却是很照顾他的。这位“老师”其实本来是王父在大学教中国哲学的同事，业余的兴趣就是看看紫微斗数，除了能相命以外，梅花占也特别准。王杰希从前很喜欢他，父亲带他去大学的时候，他便经常去老师的研究室里待着。将届退休之年的老师总给他准备小点，跟他说些面相、鬼神的逗趣之事，相处得十分愉快。不过后来王杰希读了私立中学，学校管束严格，课业也繁重，加上成绩一直不好，与父亲之间疏远许多——连带着也就不怎么跟着他去研究室，那之后与这位老师的联系便少了很多。王杰希知道自己心底还是有些惭愧的：他作为一个不会读书的人，一想到要与有文化的老师说话，总是不太好意思再去拜访。他最后一次见到老师算来可能是自己初中二年级。当时是老师的退休餐会，父亲与另外几位与老师交好的教授们合办，王杰希自然也去了。他从头到尾都有些怯怯——却记得年逾耳顺的老师朝他温和地笑了，说，“杰希，怎么这么久都不来找我玩儿了？”老师住在五环外的郊区，附近是城里面比较难看到的葱郁柳色。大抵是在郊区的缘故，他们这个小区的房子都盖得不是很高，外表看上去并不富丽堂皇，却别有一番温馨的气息。王杰希按着昨日老师给他的地址找到了目标的公寓，老师亲自开的门——比起当年来，他看上去头发又更白了一些，脸上也多了岁月的痕迹，人却是神采奕奕。师母一早为他们布置了茶室，中央除了热水、茶壶以外，旁边还放着好些小点——老师要他们俩都坐，不疾不徐地都先为他们添了一盏茶，又把桌上的小点心都给他们呈到各自的盘子上。“昨天师母听见你要来可高兴了，一早去稻香村买了这些。”老师笑起来的时候脸色更显红润，“这一位是你说的朋友？”“对，那东西是他的。”王杰希回答。叶修这时候自然地接过了话头，“我姓叶，叶子的叶，单名一个修，修养的修。要麻烦您了。”“很好的名字。”老师笑了笑，“叶修，我能看一眼那平安符吗？”叶修闻言，把一早准备好的平安符递上去。老师接过了，从口袋里面拿出一副老花眼镜出来，仔仔细细地翻看过了一遍。这时候才又回过头来端详叶修——王杰希不禁想起老师会观面相这件事——叶修却像是很镇定的样子，也没有说些什么，都只是笑。末了，老师朝他们俩都笑了一下，才把东西还给叶修。“我早上起来的时候卜了一卦。”老师说，他温和地看着叶修，“你不是这里人吧？”叶修回答，“不是。”“在找回去的方法？”老师又问。王杰希意外，却见叶修还是淡定地道，“是的。”老师点点头，从旁边拿出一张纸来，王杰希一眼认出来那是卜卦的结果。老师看到他的眼神，只是笑了笑，把白纸平摊在桌上，他指着上面的卦象开口，“这卦是旅之鼎，爻辞曰，旅即次，怀其资，得童仆贞。”老师一早把卜辞也一并写在卦象旁，然而这一段话跟文言文似的，王杰希和叶修都是有听没有懂，只抓到一个旅字。“这占的是现况：旅行而找到了可以居住的地方，身怀财物，得到可以信任的僮仆。”老师也没有等他们问，自己便仔细地解释开起来，“我想这是代表叶修来到了这儿——你现在住在杰希那儿是吗？”王杰希点头，“第一天他来找我，我就让他住下了。”“这个资，可以是财物或是能力，他在你那边，因为这样的资本所以无虞，也找到了可以信任的对象——这儿虽然写的是僮仆两个字，”老师轻轻地指着白纸上对应的位置，“不过这可以指平辈、下属，像紫微斗数的仆役宫，在现代经常用来论断交友、工作伙伴。我想是指杰希你，双向的。”王杰希问，“但这是现况的部分，如果他想要回去的话⋯⋯”“别着急啊。”老师笑了笑，“我觉得这个现况很好，需要的东西都有了。但是要更进一步的话，要叶修你自己来卜一卦，这样我比较能确定是否真是如此。”他说完，打开茶几柜，从里面拿出三个硬币与一个浅盘，“后面有卫生间，你先去洗个手？”叶修起身去了。王杰希兴味盎然地观察那些工具。“杰希，你也算一下吗？”老师问。王杰希很快笑着推拒，“不，不用了，我就是觉得这个很有意思。”“是很有意思。”老师笑，“我一直觉得易经占卜与其说是预测未来，不如说是提供一种思考的方向，帮助我们厘清自己的所在，而这用意就真是非常儒家了。”“很有道理。”王杰希感叹。“所以，真不卜一卦？”老师说，朝他眨眨眼，“什么都能问。”王杰希想了想，还是谦让，“没关系。”叶修这时候走了回来。他坐定以后，老师把盘子放上茶几，三个硬币都递给他，一边叮咛，“其实很简单，你可以默念一下自己的姓名，生日，想要回去的地方，然后问一下应该要怎么做。接着，连续掷六次硬币，让我记一下结果就行了。”“好。”叶修说。他按着指示操作，六次硬币的结果：三正，二正，三正，三正，二正，二正。“啊，”老师写完最后一卦笑了出来，“很有意思。”叶修没有说话，却是王杰希问，“怎么样？”“还是旅卦。”老师说，“不过这次有三个动爻，你们看，刚刚叶修掷出了三次正面，那都是老阳，操作上要由原本的阳爻变为阴爻。把本卦跟变卦像写成这样两排比较，左边是原本的结果，阳、阴、阳、阳、阴、阴——这是旅卦。右边的一爻、三爻、四爻转成阴，是六阴爻，这是坤卦。”“坤卦？这和刚刚有什么不同？”“这是好结果。”老师没有直接回答，却是先解释，“三爻变动，解释上以本卦为体，变卦为用。本卦是旅卦，也是现在的状态——刚刚说过了，我们不多谈，变卦是坤卦，”老师笑了出来，“卦辞是：元亨，利牝马之贞。君子有攸往，先迷，后得主利。”易经的词语太难懂了，他们只能等候下一步的解释。“元亨是易经里面最好的判词了——有利于培养柔顺坚贞的美德，”老师说到这，看向叶修温和地说，“这词说，君子有地方要前往，虽然会先迷失，但之后可以得到指引。”“指引？”王杰希问。“你们昨天不是找到了吗？”老师问。“那平安符？” “是，而地点呢，”老师笑着点头，“——坤是西南之卦，西南得朋，”他问叶修，“你最开始到这儿的地点是？B市东北？”叶修沉默了一会儿。这时候王杰希才意识到他今天惊人的安静——这不是说他平常有多喧闹，而是今天的叶修似乎失去了那种“万事都在掌握之中”的悠闲。“是，三里屯。”然后叶修笑了，“您太厉害了。”“如果这些都符合，那么会容易多了。”老师看上去松了一口气，“你来之前是几年、几月、几日？”老师直接说破了这一点，让王杰希意外。但是叶修的表情却没有太大变化，很平常地回应了，“二零二六年七月一日。”他说完时间点，老师拿出手机看了一眼日历，了然地点头以后向他们解释，“二零二六是丙午年，丙跟午都是阳火，七月一日是农历的五月十七，月令甲午，日令丙子都是阳⋯⋯全是属阳。”他说到这边停下来，“所以，叶修要回去，我们遵从坤卦，与阳逆着来就行了。”“坤卦？”“你看坤卦，是不是六个阴爻？”老师说，“他与干卦相对。刚好今年是己亥，己是阴土，亥是阴水，都属阴。现在月令走辛未，也是阴金、阴土。我们只要挑接下来也是阴气的日子，最近的一个——乙卯，明天。“你们带着这个平安符，在对的时辰去西南方——你从三里屯来的？”“对。”“那就是到⋯⋯”老师拿出地图，从三里屯穿过B市中心画了一条线，“这里吧。”——月坛。如此合情合理，几乎像一切都是命中注定。九他们告辞了老师，搭着地铁的路上两个人都没有说话。或许是离别的机会来得太快，自己有点反应不过来，王杰希想。然而他却不知道叶修的安静是为何故。他们短暂相处的这不到两个礼拜的时间，即使是独处也从来没有如此尴尬的时候。“顺道吃顿好的罢？”是王杰希开口打破了安静，他朝叶修提议，“送一送你。”叶修看了他一眼，然后笑出来，“行，吃什么？”“你那边口味不如当年的餐厅？”“K记？”王杰希诧异，“这家很好吃，口味做坏了的话太可惜了。”“现在也还是很好吃，”叶修说，然后笑着说，“我当年可不在北京。”这个时间点，又是真材实料的名店，不免要等上一阵子。叶修身上什么也没带，王杰希虽然带着手机，这时候也不会晾着叶修自个儿拿出来玩。“我父亲特别喜欢吃烤鸭。”王杰希没话题找话题，“他说，全B市的烤鸭还是K记好。”“其实我到现在也就吃过K记。”叶修坦承，“B市人一旦认准了一样东西好，似乎别的都不要了。”“说你自己呢，还是说你爱人？”叶修笑，“都是吧。”“她是什么样的人？”王杰希好奇。“他啊？”叶修看着王杰希笑了出来，“有点难搞，别扭，逞强，还规矩特别多——”“你别仗着人听不到就净说缺点啊。”王杰希无语。叶修很无辜，“总不能跟你说他有多好，那不成炫耀了。”王杰希看着他的表情，这人又恢复那样没心没肺的模样了。他不自觉有点松一口气。王杰希原本以为自己很难想像叶修与什么样的人恋爱，然而只是略加思索，却发现他其实能够描绘出来。有品味却不奢华，所以会送给叶修质感良好价位平实的皮夹。能够容忍叶修二十四小时黏在电脑前，却又敦促他养成了做家事的习惯——在小细节处讲究生活，所以叶修知道王杰希都不清楚的气泡酒的品牌。或许还有点虔诚，会为这个其实并不相信神灵的男人每一年求一个平安符。而叶修呢？他想。什么也不用说。叶修看见那一个平安符的瞬间泄漏的情绪已经说明了一切。那是他第一次让王杰希看见他真正的模样。叶修是真的想回去。而他对此不知道该有什么样的情绪。他们吃过饭，沿着地铁的沿线走，一点没有想要搭地铁回家的意思。夏季的晚上人潮反而更汹涌，路边撸串儿的手拿着大罐啤酒一边哼着歌，温热的风吹拂在脸上，头上是千古不变的月亮。小时候母亲要王杰希背诗，他总是觉得这些情怀无用。如今他看着那一轮明月却忽然想起那两句，“今人不见古时月，今月曾经照古人。”然而叶修的世界与这里的月亮也不同。“大眼儿，这么安静，”叶修说，“舍不得哥吗？”他是调笑或不是？王杰希只让这个想法在瞬间掠过脑海，便任由声音从唇齿间溢出，“嗯。”于是他难得见到了叶修噎住了的模样，“这么坦率？”“或许是第一次和人相处这么长的时间。”王杰希说。叶修笑了，“那是你的问题。”他这一句话字面上是指责，但是因为语气太过温柔，让人并不觉得生气。王杰希低笑，“可不是么。”“你有队友。”叶修说，他想了想，“不只是我。”“轮不到你和我说微草有多好。”王杰希笑出声音，“我可不是愚忠。”“一提到微草你就精神了，”叶修说，“真不是愚忠，是信仰。你药够邪。”王杰希凉凉看他一眼，却说，“叶秋也是，开再高的价格，他也不离开嘉世。”叶修笑，“是不是够傻？”“士为知己者死。”王杰希说。叶修看上去想说什么，最后什么也没说。只是笑了一下。——等王杰希知道此时叶修的一笑背后有多少心酸的故事，那已经很多年以后的事了。然而他却连歉疚都还没兴起，就很快地想到，叶修早已也不在乎这些了。第二天早上他们按老师说的时间起了大早，叶修穿回了他自己当时带来的那一身衣服，带着他仅有的行李——皮夹，平安符——他来时还带了半包烟，后来抽完了，断断续续买了几包，都没拿走。或许是告别的话语昨天说了太多，在驱车往月坛的路上他们说的却是很稀松平常的事。王杰希甚至拿出手机叶修重新确认老师的指示，其实真的很简单，几乎像个谎言：卯正之时，在月坛的中央把平安符烧了即可。平安符是引信。王杰希站在距离叶修远一点的地方，他觉得自己简直像在见证一次怪力乱神，明明荒谬至极，但却又不得不信。叶修拿着平安符，时间没有多少了，然后他朝王杰希挥挥手，点火。——或许他想过的。王杰希看着叶修消失以后的地方想。他其实是想过叶修失败的。然而最后，他只是看着叶修消失的那一块地方，一语不发。他并不想回家。于是他绕着月坛走了一圈，离开了以后又跟着刚刚涌出的早高峰人潮漂流。他难得地走了很久。王杰希在中午的时候家里，没有人。他想了想，又拿出那一瓶只喝了不到三分之一的Prosecco——依然没喝完，王杰希把那瓶酒重新塞好，放进冰箱。忽然意识到，过后他们再也没机会一起喝完这瓶酒了。 FIN谢谢大家终于感受到我一直说这篇文雷在哪了，求不要杀我。不是BE，不是BE，不是BE。我一直都是HE的忠实信徒，现实这么困难，为什么还要在二次元找虐呢——老叶回去了，还有小叶啊（。）其实我本意是想写小叶跟小王的爱情故事⋯⋯这可能是，呃，前传般的存在\|\|\| （为了一个设定写了两万字我也是很拼）所以，还会有的，真的不是BE。- 林林总总的设定写在后面。一、私设叶修1997年出生，王杰希1999，这时候是2019年的七月，老叶穿越的是其如他所说，2026年七月一日。提到的干支都是真的，我妈问我为什么一直翻万年历（。）二、我那时候没仔细确认，把微草主场订在北京工人体育馆，所以小王家买在那附近。叶修出现的地方是三里屯，距离小王家很近。然后三里屯跟月坛，以地铁围成的四方形为中心的话，确实是西北—东南对角，我也觉得很神奇（其实可以设定日坛，但那样就不是对角了）求北京人轻拍。三、夹带私货的，易经的卦文跟算法是真的有对应，不过解释真的是我胡诌。但大家有兴趣的话可以玩玩看，我在等待学校发派录取信的时候天天刷易经占卜跟七王爷灵签解除焦虑（七王爷估计都想杀了我了） http://www.eee-learning.com/content/8 （老师给叶修用的方法）这个网站也有提供卜卦程式（http://www.eee-learning.com/content/9），我真的觉得超级好玩！（被揍）我都照三餐刷当作故事看，进阶版卜卦后也会有每个卦象的白话说明。真的特别好玩。四、再次求不要杀我。我会填完的，至少坚持到把整个故事圆好，或是至少会丢大纲（。）最后谢谢小天使们！下一部见！我对叶王绝壁是真爱（）我居然写完了这篇还有下一部——（）
10967463	Keiths Big Happy Family	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": null, "Characters": "Keith (Voltron), Keith's Family (Voltron), Shiro (Voltron), Lance (Voltron), Hunk (Voltron), Pidge (Voltron), Pidge \| Katie Holt, Allura (Voltron), Coran (Voltron), Original Characters", "Fandom": "Voltron: Legendary Defender", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Teen And Up Audiences", "author": "by TricksterlyConduct", "chapters": "5/5", "completed": "2018-08-21", "published": "2017-05-22T00:00:00", "words": "11,905", "Additional Tags": "Keith’s Big Happy Family of Hermits AU, Alternate Universe, in the kogane family, you go off on your own at a certain age, One Big Happy Family, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge \| Katie Holt, the team just assumes Keith is an Orphan, keith is an orphan, but he has MANY SIBLINGS, Pidge's family is saved, everyone is happy and everyone gets to go home, I'm going to be taking a few liberties because it's an au, Not Canon Compliant, not to worry i have a permit, I do what I want, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": "Original Female Character/Original Female Character, Coran (Voltron)/Original Male Character(s)", "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": "F/F, M/M, Gen, F/M", "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	“You have all your bags packed?” “Yeah.” “You didn’t leave any spoilable food in the house?” “No.” “You swept?” “…yeah.” “You swept.” “Yes?” “Is that a question or an answer?” “Uh..." "Keith.” “I can’t remember.” “Fine, I’ll see if I can drop by in a few weeks and check on the house.” “Thanks, Stephen.” “Yeah, yeah.” “Okay, the car’s here, I have to go.” “Alright, love you, bye!” “Love you.”Keith hung up and shoved the phone in his pocket. He looked around, his house looking abandoned behind him. The furniture was covered with sheets. Keith had his bags all packed and by the front door. A few family photos at the doorway table smiled at him as placed his keys in his pocket.There was a photo of a man with stubble and a scar through his eyebrow at the front of them.“Well, Dad, I guess this is it.”Keith closed the door behind him and hopped into the car taking him to the Garrison. "You got kicked out of the Garrison?" "Carol, he was being an asshole and saying Shiro was the whole reason the Kerberos mission failed!" "So you punch-!! KELLY!" There was a struggling sound through the phone and Keith heard a few voices yelling at the same time. He tried to keep up. "KEITH!! DID YOU WIN?! KEITH!!" "Kelly? What're you doing at Carol's house?" "My last expedition was a bust so I'm drowning my sorrows in Carol's lotus root stir fry. OH! Kevin and Linda are here too!" "What? Why?" "KELLY! GIVE ME THE PHONE!!" "BACK OFF, KEVIN!! Linda was trying to get Kevin to help her out with her wife's project, and Kevin was here because he decided he was quitting science again."More struggling noises came from the phone. There was the sound of someone shouting in triumph, "I GOT THE PHONE, KEITH!! HI!!""...Hi, Kevin." "I decided that science is my one true mistress, so I'm going to help Linda." "That's good, how's the project with the whale songs?"Kevin made a loud groaning noise and Keith decided it was better not to ask. "Did Keith win or not? KEVIN! ASK KEITH IF HE WON!" "Of course he won, he's our baby brother!" "You guys..?" "GIVE ME THE PHONE, KEVIN!!" It was quiet as the phone was handed over to the person yelling. "Keith, Sweetie?" "Hi, Linda." "So, you punched him?" "Yeah," Keith puffed out his chest, "And I don't regret it."Linda would respect his decision, and would probably get Carol off his back. "Okay, Keith, do you want to stay with one of us till you know what you want to do?" Keith stared at the shack he'd gotten from his father, "No, I...I think I know what I want to do. I'm going to be in the desert for a bit, okay?" "He says he's going to be in the desert." "Like Harold?" "Harold isn't in the desert anymore, he just moved to the Alps." "He really needs to call me more often to keep me updated. He could move to Siberia for ten years and I probably wouldn't even know because all of us hardly ever call each other. They continued talking amongst each other for a bit until they seemed to come to an agreement. Keith perked up when he heard his name, "Okay, Keith. Do you have enough money?""Yeah, and if I need to I can hunt. You know I'm old enough to do this. You were all this age when you left." "Yeah, but you're our little Angel Bean." "Stop it," Keith huffed. "You have electricity? And you know you can call us for anything." "Yeah." "Okay, Keith, we love you." A chorus of "love you's" came through the phone, and Keith smiled, "Love you too, and tell Harry I'll visit him when I get the chance." Keith couldn't believe it. He was in space. Fighting in a war! Piloting a giant robot lion! His family would be so jealous!He thought for a bit about them. They were probably all thinking he was still in the desert. He focused back on the fight, "Here we go, Red." Years later…They’d done it. The war was finally over, everyone freed. They had finished dropping off Pidge's family, visiting Hunk and Lance's families. Everyone was celebrating. Keith was over at the holographic map of Earth they'd had up so that they could tell Allura where to go. Lance had noticed, and asked Hunk about it."I'm not sure. Do you think maybe he's thinking about families? I mean, he's never really talked about family with us, or...anybody. Other than the whole Galra thing.""I'm kind of getting worried about him."Hunk smiled, "Maybe you should ask him about it, Lance."Before he could, Keith spoke up, calling out to Allura, "So can we go here next? I want to check on someone."Allura was surprised at first, before recovering, "Yes, of course! Who do you want to visit?"Coran punched in the coordinates, "Someone special?"Keith smiled, "Yeah, actually, one of my brothers live there and I was hoping to visit him an-"Lance stepped forward, "Wait, wait, wait, you have a brother? Brothers? As in plural? How old are they? I thought you just had Shiro as an adopted brother or something?""Yeah, I have eight siblings. They're all...older than me. My brother Harry is in the Alps, and I thought that it'd be okay since we're pretty close to there..."Hunk popped up behind Lance, "Why's he in the Alps?"Keith looked around for help before realizing he wasn't getting any from the two Alteans and Shiro who all looked curious. Keith looked back at them, "He's painting landscapes? He...He likes the Alps."Pidge appeared next to Keith, making him jump."What do your other siblings do?"Keith turned a bit to look at them, "Uh...My sister Linda is a Forestry Technician and is in the Congo, last I heard. But she likes to move around a lot, so it would be pretty hard to find her, even if she is still in the Congo. My brother Stephen is a potter and sells his stuff online. He likes to travel around the southern states though...My sister Carol is a Principle Research Scientist, and Submersible Pilot and usually goes on missions with our brother, Kevin, who's a Marine Mammal Biologist. And I have a sister, Kelly, who likes to travel around the Himalayas...she really likes climbing...and exploring?"He looked around, everyone was listening. There was the soft hum of the ship as it flew."My sister Sharon has a boat and is exploring the area around the Bermuda triangle. My sister Debbie was in East Asia, last we talked. And my brother Harry is in the Alps. And Harry was usually the one to stay in one place the longest so I just..."Keith felt a little trapped. He wasn't used to all the questioning about his personal life. Sure, he'd been on a team with these people for years, but no one really ever bothered to ask about his family, and he'd never bothered to mention them.It wasn't that he didn't love them or anything. He was just so used to to the whole, "everyone's probably fine, we usually go our separate ways and don't talk often unless something big happens" mentality. If he thought about it, he hadn't been in the same room as all of them since Harry moved out.They visited and everything, but it was never all nine of them together."Well, it'll be good to meet Harry, then. Why don't you guys wait a bit, huh?"Shiro must have noticed his discomfort then."Oh! Well, we're already here, we just need to find a suitable place to land. Is that him down there?"Keith perked up and ran to the deck screen to look for his brother. He was quickly followed by the rest of the team, Pidge pressing a few buttons to zoom in.There he was, Keith's youngest older brother in all his mountain hermit glory. Harry was staring up at the ship, his paint brush still touching the canvas where he'd been painting. He looked like he was still processing that there was a castle floating above the lake he was painting. Pidge frowned as Harry seemed to realize what was going on and he began reacting."What's he doing?"Keith sighed, "I think he'd just finished painting the area we're about to land on.""Oh boy." ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Last time: "What's he doing?" Keith sighed, "I think he'd just finished painting the area we're about to land on." "Oh boy." Keith ran out of the Castle to greet his older brother, and hopefully calm him down. Harry had always been calmer than him and most of their siblings. Sharon and Linda being the calmest out of all of them.Unfortunately, Harry tended to act just as hot headed as the rest of them when it came to his paintings.As Keith ran down the ramp, he saw his brother for the first time in five years. Harry barely looked any older. He still had the same fluffy black hair, the same purple eye color, with odd yellow flecks in them.Now that Keith knew the truth about his heritage, he understood where those came from.The only thing added were some bags under his eyes. If there were any other changes, Keith couldn’t find any.Harry was angrily kicking and punching the side of the castle. He yelped in pain and pulled back his arm. Keith ran over to him, “Harry! Stop!”Harry’s anger seemed to melt away as they made eye contact, “Keith?”Keith wasn’t sure what to say to his brother. It’d been years. Quiznak, they hadn’t seen each other since a year before he entered the Garrison.“…uh…Hi, Harry…”Harry reached out and held Keith’s face in his hands.“You got older…”“Yeah…”“You wrecked the lighting.”“Harr-“Harry threw his shoulder into Keith’s chest, taking them both down. The team had been close behind Keith as he ran to his brother. To be honest, Harry wasn’t exactly as they’d been expecting. They’d been expecting an older, taller, buffer Keith. Probably with a pointy Mohawk or a more pronounced mullet.What they got was a skinny guy, just barely taller than Keith. His hair was curlier than Keith’s, and was long, but definitely not a mullet.His eyes had a look to them, wide and barely blinking, that made him look a bit…eccentric, to put it nicely.This was what had made them fall into a battle position when they saw Keith getting taken down by his brother.“KEITH! YOU WRECKED THE LIGHTING!!”Harry had Keith in a headlock while Keith wasn’t struggling at all.“I DIDN’T KNOW YOU WERE PAINTING!!”Keith, from fighting in a war for five years, easily flipped Harry over his head. Harry let out a loud puff of air when he hit the ground, leaving him open for Keith’s final attack. Keith threw his entire weight onto Harry’s prone body and yelled, “I HAVEN’T SEEN YOU IN YEARS, HAROLD!”After groaning into the grass, Harry accepted defeat and pulled Keith into a one-armed hug on the ground, “Don’t call me “Harold,” Blue Nose.”The team watched as the two aggressively hugged, confusion clear on their faces. Allura was about to speak up, only for Harry to pop up and ask, “So how’d you end up in the castle…ship…thing?”Keith stopped laughing and awkwardly looked at the team, “Well…”Harry wasn’t smiling anymore, just watching Keith with his wide eyes. Keith refused to turn back and continued to stare at his team, “So I wasn’t…exactly…in…the desert?”“WhaaaAAAAAAAAT?!” Harry grabbed Keith’s shoulders and had them nose to nose while he stared into Keith’s eyes, “We thought you were hanging out in the desert this whole time! Why didn’t you call and tell us?”“Well…I kinda…didn’t have time? We were in space actually, so I didn’t have any…cell service.”Harry forced Keith to look him in the eyes as he said that. Before deciding that what Keith had said was perfectly understandable, “Oh! So, that’s it? Well, that’s fine then. You should probably call everyone though.”Harry pulled away and started pinching Keith’s cheeks.Lance jumped in, his hand held up in a “wait” gesture, “Whoa, what? It’s fine? He was in space for years and nobody noticed?” “There’s like, eight of you, wouldn’t you notice if he was gone?” Hunk added.Harry’s body didn’t move, but his head slowly turned to look at the team. His mouth was just slightly open, his face still stuck in the permanently surprised look, “I don’t know who you are…who are you?”Harry grabbed onto Keith’s wrist, never turning his stare away from the team. He whispered, “Angel Bean…who’re they?”Pidge froze and screamed, “ANGEL BEAN?!” the smile on their face looked like they wouldn’t be letting Keith forget they had this information. “Amazing! So, our little Angel Bean has been off fighting in a war? I’m so proud.”Harry had a smile on his face, but his voice still sounded like he was off in his own world. Everyone was trying to figure out how such a spacey individual came from the same family as Keith, Hot-Headed Mullet Supreme.Allura, Coran, and Keith had been explaining to Harry where he’d been for the last few years. Pidge was trying to convince Harry to spill some more embarrassing nicknames for Keith, but he seemed to be in another world when he wasn’t listening to his little brother.Lance was frowning at Harry from a few feet away, whispering to Hunk and Shiro.“Why didn’t they notice he was gone? I mean, I know we all assumed he was an orphan, so we never asked. But if he has a family this big, why didn’t he mention them or why didn’t they notice their youngest brother was missing?”Shiro looked concerned too, “It sounds like they’re pretty scattered around the world, Lance. I’ll admit, I don’t really like this either. The file the Garrison gave me on Keith said that his father was dead and his mother wasn’t in the picture. I had no idea he had so many family members.”Hunk was trying to be quiet as he watched Harry trying on Pidge’s glasses, “Why weren’t they taking care of him? I mean, we were all pretty young when we went to space. It didn’t look like…any one was coming to visit.”“I’ve got this.”Lance walks over to Keith and asks if he can talk to him. Keith frowns in confusion, before glancing at Harry and Pidge, then nodding. “Look, guys, this is just kind of the way my family works. Once you hit 17, you go off on your own to find yourself.”“Keith…that really doesn’t sound like a healthy way to go about things…”Keith frowned at the three of them, “It makes us happy, and its tradition. My dad used to say that my mom’s family would do that too.”The three of them don’t say anything, but the worry is clear on their faces.“Guys…I’m fine.”“Ke- ““GUYS, HARRY SAYS HE’LL SHOW US HIS STUDIO!!”Harry wasn’t smiling, but he held up his hand in a peace sign to let them know it was true. Harry’s shack was a bit smaller than Keith’s shack in the desert. Instead of theories and photos, there were paintings all over the place and a few photos surrounded by paint tubes. The walls were one big mural with ten different people doing different things.Pidge recognized a self-portrait of Harry sitting with paints in his hands, he was crying, but had a huge smile on his face.“Are these people…your family?”Harry stopped moving and turned his head to Pidge. He shuffled over to them, his eyes looking directly into their’s, “You ask a lot of questions.”Pidge, not one to be intimidated, glared and said, “Yeah? So?”Harry pulled away and said, “That’s a good quality, little bean.”He smiled and pointed to the painting of a teenage girl wearing sunglasses and an oversized Jackalope shirt, “You and Sharon would get along.”Pidge smiled at the shirt, “Yeah, I think we would.”“She’s older now though, when she looked like that, she was 17 and had inherited a sail boat from our grandpa. She was so happy on that day.”Sharon had the same curly hair as Harry, but her hair was pulled up into a tight ponytail.Keith smiled, “Yeah…she really loves that boat.”“So…who are the other ones?”Keith pointed at a man in a wet suit, “That’s Kevin. The Biologist.”Kevin’s eyes were sparkling and you could practically hear the squeaks of happiness coming off of him. His eyes were the same purple as Keith’s, and he definitely looked like an older Keith with short hair.Keith pointed at another teenage girl. She was wearing a hiking backpack, and her knees were bent in excitement, “That’s Kelly. She was…going on her first big hike in the Himalayas…right?”Harry nodded and Keith continued pointing.“Carol is kind of like an angry, disappointed mom most of the time, but she’s not that bad.”Carol had black hair in a bob, and her eyes looked more like Harry’s than Keith’s. Carol was in the same wet suit as Kevin, but it definitely looked like she was telling you how you were wrong and she was extremely happy about it. Lance laughed a bit, remembering an aunt of his that held the same look.“Linda is the oldest out of all of us. She’s the one that usually gets Carol to calm down. This was when she and Darla got married. They travel around the Congo together now.”Linda had long black hair that draped around her face. She was in a long white wedding dress. Her smile was calm but her violet eyes were shining. There was a woman with dark skin next to her, in a different wedding dress. They were holding hands, and Darla was looking at Linda like she was the stars in the sky.“Stephen is my oldest brother. He’s twins with Linda. It looks like he’s holding his twins after they were born.”Stephen was a man with long black hair, tied back in a ponytail. His eyes were a bit red from crying, but he smiled like he didn’t notice, and he had two babies in his arms.Shiro frowned, “Did you paint over something with this?”Harry stopped digging for whatever he was digging for and looked up at Shiro, “This is a mural of my family’s happiest moments. Stephen was happier when he saw the twins for the first time than that time he came home after he got laid for the first time.”Shiro looked like he was going to scream as his hands clapped over Pidge’s ears.“HARRY!!”Allura and Coran looked confused, but Coran still had his hands over the Princess’s ears, just in case. She brushed him off easily and asked, “Excuse me…but what does that mean?”Hunk actually did scream and clamped a hand over Lance’s mouth. Keith was telling Harry to stop while trying to cover his own ears, “I DON’T WANT TO HEAR WHAT STEPHEN DOES! OH MY GOD!”“It means he took part in the act of making a baby.”Allura blushed and you could hear Pidge cackling. After everyone calmed down, there was two more people to ask about. The one next to Stephen, was a girl in a fighting stance. She was screaming, her teeth bared and eyes wild and filled with what appeared to be excitement. Her black hair was spikey, and her eyes were a bright yellow.She had a scar going through her nose and mouth, looking like a deep knife cut. There were scars on her knuckles, implying she’d gotten into a lot of fights.Hunk wasn’t too sure about her, “…Uh…Who’s this?”“Debbie,” Keith and Harry said at the same time.“She’s…”“…She?”“She grows on you.”“Oh.”Harry broke in, “And this is Angel Bean.”On the last part of the wall, was a little boy in a tank top, shorts, and flip flops. He was missing his two front teeth, and his hair was in, “A BOWL CUT!!?”Lance looked horrified at the idea that someone would subject their child to that haircut. Pidge looked over the moon.Keith looked over at the two of them, “What? It was easy to take care of.”Harry held up a can of blue paint, “That was the day Linda and Stephen saved up their work money and bought him a red hover board.”The team looked at the little kid and how happy he was. They all smiled, it was a wonderful painting. Harry handed Lance a canvas painting of the same moment. The team looked at the painting and then Harry in confusion.Only to see Harry throw the blue paint onto the wall painting, covering it completely. They all screamed.“WHAT’RE YOU DOING!?”“THE PAINTING!!”“HOW LONG COULD THAT HAVE TAKEN YOU?!”“YOU JUST DESTROYED IT!?”“BABY KEITH?!!”“IT’S GONE?!”Harry shrugged and started spreading the paint around to properly cover the painting up, “This was supposed to be a painting of our happiest moments. Keith looks happier right now than he did on that day. Plus, it feels nice to throw paint on things.”Hunk whispered, “Your art…how could you?”“It’s fine, I took multiple pictures of that moment and painted a few of him alone at that moment. It’s in a gallery in New York. It’s called Little Brother.”Keith was frowning at Harry, “You…you put me in a gallery?”“So…you know you should probably call everyone and tell them what happened.”Keith groaned, “Do I have to? Carol’s going to be pissed.”“Oh she’s definitely going to be pissed, call her first and the worst will be over with.” “- HOW DARE YOU NOT CALL US TO TELL US WHERE YOU WERE!! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW WORRIED WE WERE?! STEPHEN GOT A CALL FROM THE GARRISON SAYING YOU’D KIDNAPPED THREE RECRUITS AND CONVINCED THEM TO JOIN A LION CULT!! WE NEARLY DIED OF SHAME!! YOU BETTER GET YOUR BUTT OVER HERE, YOU SAID YOU WERE IN THE DESERT AND YOU WERE IN SPACE?! FIGHTING A WAR?! WE HAVEN’T SEEN YOU IN 5 YEARS WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?!”Keith explains that he didn’t have a choice on going with them. Carol’s not having it, “I DON’T CARE HOW OLD YOU ARE!! YOU’RE COMING TO LIVE WITH ME AND WE ARE SENDING YOU TO A PRIVATE SCHOOL!! 명백하게, 당신의 급료는 지금 이하 동위이다! 학교에 남자에게 당신의 나이를 보내는 것을 하기의 수치는!! 나는 당신이 어떤 비행 학교에 갔음에 틀림없지 않는다는 것을 LINDA에게 말했다!! 어떤 큰 성과이었다 처럼!! 당신은 의사이었음에 틀림없다!! 당신은 지금 생명을 안전하게 구할 수 있고 여기에서 숭배의 지도자 있다!! 도전이 당신 이 가족에 수치를 가져오는 방법, 처럼 아버지가 가져오지 않았었다 이젠 그만을."Keith suddenly seemed to lose his temper and screamed, “나는 비행 학교를 좋아했다!!”"당신은 밖으로 걷어차이고!!""나는 얼굴에서 그를 구멍을 뚫는 후회하지 않는다!""이다 저와 가진 음색을 가지고가 당신은?!""왜 항상 저에 고함쳐 당신이 인지!! 이것으로 그것 전부를 가져오지 말라, 내가 비행 학교에 가고 공간에 거만하다는 것을 내 갔다는 것을 나는 거만하다! 나는 사람들 CAROL를 돕고 있다!! 한팀으로, 우리는 시도해 독재자를 멈춰 점거한 우주를!"The team could only watch in horror as the tennis match in another language went on in front of them. Harry wasn’t translating, hyper focused on his painting.They continued screaming at each other until Kevin stepped into the camera view, and started asking if Keith had met any aliens that looked like they could live in the ocean.Carol suddenly stopped screaming and looked extremely interested, “Alien fish?”Lance smirked, “Well…let me tell you about the mermaid planet we saw.”Kevin and Carol watched him with huge smiles on their faces as he described them.Kelly, Sharon, and Debbie didn’t answer, so Keith had decided to call Linda and Stephen at the same time, in the hopes that the two would be calmer than Carol was. He was only half lucky. “WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN YOU WERE IN SPACE?”Linda wasn’t moving, “Stephen, calm down.” “NO I WILL NOT CALM DOWN!!”Keith winced, it looked like Linda was the only one not interested in yelling.“Stephen.”“IN SPACE!!?”“Stephen if you don’t stop yelling and let me talk to Keith, I’m muting you.”Stephen stopped mid yell, before glaring at his camera and whispering, “…Asshole.”Linda smiled, “Thank you.”Linda looked down at Keith, she wasn’t smiling anymore. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and clenched her hands together. She opened her eyes and said in a low voice, “You went to space…without telling us.”Keith paled a bit, never having seen Linda this angry before.Her voice remained level, and she hardly moved, “You had better have a good fucking explanation for why the fuck I had to hear from Carol that you were missing and had apparently joined a cult. You are going to get your ass in the fastest ship you have and you are going to come see me right now, or else I’ll find you and neither of us are going to be happy.”Linda typed in her coordinates and sent them to Harry’s computer. Without another word, she hung up. Stephen nodded and followed her example in hanging up.No one spoke for a while, before Harry, not looking up from his painting, said, “Oooooooh. You’re in trooooouble.”Keith groaned and put his head in his hands. His voice was muffled as he asked Allura if she could take him to the coordinates. “Of course, Keith…Are you sure you’ll be alright?”“I’m fine.” ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- KBHFoH Chp 2: Last time: No one spoke for a while, before Harry, not looking up from his painting, said, “Oooooooh. You’re in trooooouble.” Keith groaned and put his head in his hands. His voice was muffled as he asked Allura if she could take him to the coordinates. “Of course, Keith…Are you sure you’ll be alright?” “I’m fine.” Harry watched as they left, “Call me after you come back from the dead!”“Harry, she’s not going to kill me.”“Yeah…”Harry trailed off, letting Keith walk away.“Keith?”Keith stopped, only for him to be pulled back into a hug before he could turn around.“Wha-?”Keith froze, not sure what was going on. Harry’s face was buried in Keith’s hair.“You know…it’s kind of scary to find out I had no idea where you were…”Keith tried to move, but Harry held on, “Don’t you dare move, I’m about to cry and I don't’ know your friends well enough to let them see it.”Keith wanted to say something, but he honestly had no idea what. Eventually, Harry stopped shaking and pushed him away.“Take care of the baby boy. He’s sensitive because our mom left us and our Dad’s dead.”Harry smiled and the team could only stare in horror. Keith held his face in his hands. They didn’t need to know that.Allura easily took the castle to Linda’s coordinates near the Congo.“Keith, I won’t be able to land here, there’s not enough room, we’ll have to take a pod down.”Keith was on his way before she even finished. If I’m too slow she’ll get even more upset.The meeting with Linda went about as well as Keith could have expected. He got yelled at. Linda grounded him. He tried to argue about how he was a grown man. Linda did not take that well.Then, Darla walked in.Keith had always liked Linda’s wife. Darla was able to stop Linda when she was angry. So, it was safe to say that Linda still grounded him, but lessened it because Darla was there.“Keith! You brought friends?!”Keith spun around in horror.“What?”It was too late. They’d been spotted.“Keith brought friends! They’re in the front yard!”He was doomed.“And this is Keith in his little mauve suit at our wedding!”“Keith was our flower boy!”“They don’t need to see the pictures…”“Keith this is an important bonding experience as teammates, of course we need to see pictures.”Keith didn’t like how Pidge was shoving pictures into their pocket as they said that.Lance cooed over photo album, “Your wedding was so pretty! I wanted to be the flower boy at my cousin’s wedding, but tragically, that job went to his niece.”“Lance, there comes a point where you have to let it go.”“Hunk, I was prime age to be a flower boy and it was taken from me by a fourteen-year-old girl that wanted nothing to do with that wedding!”Hunk looked like he had this conversation a lot, “Lance…we’re 22.”“AND I’M STILL MAD!”“We’re going to have a family reunion.”Linda was angrily walking around the room, moving things around, “I cannot believe, that because of our shitty hermit habits, we lost track of the baby. This is so…”Linda shook her hands in the air, searching for a word.“Frustrating?”“YES! Thank you, Darla.”“Should we invite your alien family or no?”“DARLA! NO!”Keith jumped up, “ALIEN FAMILY?!”“okay, Angel Bean, don’t freak out…we're half alien.""I know!""MY GOD! WHO TOLD YOU?!"Keith looked ready to cry, “WE WERE AT WAR THIS WHOLE TIME!”“Angel Bean, I swear, we were going to tell you!”“WHEN?! I’M 23 AND I’M PRETTY SURE YOU DIDN’T KNOW OR CARE WHERE I WAS THIS ENTIRE TIME- ““KEITH!”Keith stopped yelling and looked at Linda. He wasn’t sure what he felt at that moment. He was…upset. She looked upset. Thinking about it, Keith hadn’t expected them to be worried. So why was he upset?Linda was watching him. Both on their feet and looking unsurprised but pained.It was awful.He wanted to be mad. His eyes burned and there was a lump in his throat.Linda always looked so strong and put together, but her eyes were wide with anger as she looked at him.Her hand suddenly grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him close.He flinched only to realize she was hugging him.“Keith, I’m so sorry we ever made you feel that way.”Lance, Hunk, Pidge, and Darla had all seemed to disappear during his yelling. He felt a tinge of regret, thinking he’d scared them off.It was only Linda and him in the room now. So, he cried.“We were waiting till your 24th birthday to tell you. We told Debbie when she was 12 and that didn’t go over well.”“What the fuck do you mean, you went through a “Knowledge or Death” test?!”“So, we’re going to have the reunion on the family ranch. We’re going to invite the alien side of our family so you can finally meet them.”Keith quietly contemplated if they’d like him or not.“Angel Bean, they’re going to love you.”Keith was honestly surprised he’d ever thought that this family would be any different from his regular one.Linda had called up Tarra, the head of their Galra side of the family. So they had talked on video chat for a while.Both of them had then called up their second in commands. So now Keith was watching Carol, Stephen, and a Galra cousin yell at each other about when to have the reunion.“Linda, can you tell Tarra to tell Kaffir that even if he’s free in a Varga, we can’t be expected to have everyone on the same planet in the same area in the same amount of time.”“Well, if your planet weren’t so-““KAFFIR! I SWEAR TO-““YOU TWO ARE WORSE THAN A BRAK’NMA AND A IM’URL!!”Eventually they’d decided to have the reunion in three quintants. Kaffir had decided to insult Stephen's girlfriend, which lead to Keith finding out Stephen's girlfriend was some kind of aquatic alien akin to the creature from the black lagoon."JOKES ON YOU!! SHE'S MY WIFE!"Stephen held his hand up to the camera to reveal a wedding ring.Kaffir froze, "Your wife?""My wife!"Kaffir's face broke into a grin and he said, "Congratulations! How did you get her to say yes?"“Guys, this is my older brother, Kevin.”The team took one look at Kevin and decided that he was exactly what they’d expected. Kevin was the 5th Oldest of them, a Marine Mammal Biologist. But his face was nearly identical to Keith’s. It was as if someone took a pen and drew a couple age lines on Keith’s face.“It’s so nice to meet you! I’m so glad Keith made friends up there! I’m-“Kevin’s smile melted away. His cheeks turned red and his eyes were glued to something beyond Keith. Keith and the team turned to look at what it was.“Well! You must be young Keith’s older brother! It’s so nice to meet you!”Coran held out his hand in greeting, but Kevin just stared as if he’d never seen anyone so beautiful in his entire life.“Kevin?” Keith asks.“Uh…OH!” Kevin took Coran’s hand in his own, “It’s lovely to meet you! I’m Kevin Kogane.”Something flashed in Coran’s eyes and Keith was unsure if that was a good thing.“Coran Hieronymus Wimbleton Smythe!” Coran stepped closer to Kevin, “I do hope we’ll be seeing more of each other.”Kevin looked at Coran like a starving man and the team felt like they should look away. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Last time: “We’re going to have a family reunion.” “Coran Hieronymus Wimbleton Smythe!” Coran stepped closer to Kevin, “I do hope we’ll be seeing more of each other.” Kevin looked at Coran like a starving man and the team felt like they should look away. So, they’d flown to Carol’s house to pick up Carol, Kevin, and Carol’s husband. They’d left Allura and the Castle Ship with Darla and Linda, who were going to be helping set up the house back in Texas.The team meeting Kevin had been eventful. Keith had hoped nothing too terrible would happen, but he wasn’t sure about what had happened.Kevin took one look at Coran and was entirely smitten. He’d followed Coran around until Coran was distracted by Carol’s husband asking about what to bring. This lead to Kevin pulling Keith into the guest room and interrogating him.He honestly hadn’t been expecting it. First, he was walking down a hallway with a box and next thing he knew he was being pulled into a room by his shirt. Kevin shook him as soon as he closed the door.“Keith, I need to know everything about him, 대박! What’s his favorite color? Is he single? Do his people even date? Does he have any allergies? What’s his favorite food? Who am I kidding, once he tries Carol’s stir fry that’s what it’s going to be. Holy shit, Keith, he looks like a PRINCE! Is he a prince? 우와! An alien prince. Keith, don’T LEAVE ME IN SUSPENCE I HAVE TO KNOW!”Kevin looked like he was going to implode from excitement. His hands clasped in front of him and a huge, cheesy smile on his face. This only made Keith more uncomfortable.“Uh…you’d really have to…ask Lance? About that…He’s closer to Coran than me.”Kevin looked confused at the thought of that, “Weren’t you in space with him for five years?”“Kevin…I know this may come as a shock, but I’m awkward.”“당신의 친구는 한국어를 모르는가? 그들은 잘 배운다,” Carol was saying something in Korean from her seat in the pod. Keith was angrily looking away from her, not in the mood for whatever she was saying.“그 소년은 왜 당신이 좋아했었다 그 만화의 한 같이 옷을 입히는가? 그의 부모는 그것 같이 그를 옷을 입는가 아는가?”Kevin was usually the one that would distract Carol from her complaining, but it looked like he was going to be distracted by Coran for the rest of the trip.Keith wanted to be out of that pod as soon as possible. He was just hoping Carol’s husband would hurry up and get in. She was a lot nicer to be around when he was there to put her in a good mood.“따라서 당신은 지금도 여자 친구가 없는가? 남자 친구? 당신은 수치 때문에 저로 부터 그(것)들을 숨기고 있는가?”Keith rolled his eyes, “No, Carol, I’m not hiding a romantic partner from you.”“당신은 왜 말하는 한국어 이지 않는가? 당신은 정확하게 말하는 방법을 알고 있다.”Keith ran his hands down his face, hoping the pod trip would be a fast one.The trip was not a fast one.Carol had spent the whole ride complaining to her husband about Keith’s lack of a partner. Kevin was no help as he was focused on listening to everything Coran had to say. His only solace was that the team couldn’t understand a word of what Carol was saying.When they’d finally made it to their home in Texas, Keith was about ready to scream. The team had been a bit impressed when they saw the house.“Your family owns a ranch?!” Lance shouted.“There was nine of us and our dad. We needed a big house.”“This is a Mansion and it’s on a ranch. Do you have cowboy boots? A ten-gallon hat?”“…I have boots for riding the horses?”Keith’s family’s ranch was a large house with a few million acres of grassland for the sheep and horses. Because none of his siblings really expressed an interest in ranching, they’d since sold a lot of their livestock and rented the ranch out to people for birthday parties and things.It was also next to the Rio Grande River, making it easy for Sharon to boat up to the house when she got there.Sharon was the sister that got a boat from their grandfather when he died. Supposedly, she was boating there because she refused to fly. She hadn’t liked flying since that time she fell off a hover bike when they were kids.Keith’s 4th oldest sibling, Kelly, or “Elly” as she was going by these days, seemed to have taken Keith being off in space the best out of everyone. She showed up a day after they’d landed and were getting everything settled in.Elly had hair similar to Harry’s, shoulder length and fluffy. She said shoulder length was the easiest to take care of. Her eyes were a dark purple like the rest of them and she had a few smile wrinkles from years of laughing.She ran up to Keith and wrapped him in a bear hug, “KEITH! You won!”Kevin was quick to join in the hug, “Of course he won! He’s our baby brother!”Being hugged by the two of them tended to make Keith a little self-conscious. Kevin was built like he lived at the gym, and Elly was a body builder with the hobby of hiking in the Himalayas.Laura had told him it was because Kevin and Elly got Dad’s body type, unlike him, who got their mother’s. Didn’t make him feel any better about how small he was compared to the rest of his family.Elly and Kevin put him down after a few more minutes of cuddling, “So, Keith, ready to do some serious catching up?”“On what?”Elly laughed and lead him over to a picnic table set out in the back. As they sat down, she started asking him all sorts of questions. Where he’d been. If he made any new friends. How he’d found space. If he had any specific areas he liked. Was his favorite color still red? She gave him all her attention, not interested in his team or the castle.Elly just listened and kept asking him things about his thoughts. She’d have little reactions to everything. Comments to make on things he’d told her that the others said. It was…nice.When she’d finished asking him questions, he asked her about the new nickname.“Well…honestly, it was because I missed you.”“What?”“When you were little, you couldn’t say your K’s, so you called me “Elly” for the longest time. Then, a few years ago, I was doing my deadlift set, and I realized I really missed that time. So, I just started having people call me “Elly” and here we are.”“KEITH! PUT THAT DOWN!”Keith dropped the bowl of egg salad he was helping make immediately. Carol caught it and looked up at the ceiling, where the shout had come from.They were in an entirely different room from where Linda was yelling and Keith had no idea how she knew he was holding something.“I’M KEVIN!”Keith let out the breath he’d been holding.“WHAT DID I SAY?”“YOU CALLED ME KEITH!”The yelling was suddenly directed at him, “SORRY, KEITH! I MEANT KEVIN!”Kevin was sitting with his chin in his hands and a HUGE smitten smile on his face as he listened to Coran talk about a planet he explored which was entirely populated by beings that only spoke in gentle pops and antenna movements.Coran was helping fix the fence as he did this. The Texas heat leading to him shedding his jacket to reveal a sleeveless shirt underneath.“Well, I think that’s about it. How am I doing with the fence?”Kevin nearly melted at having Coran’s gorgeous grin turned to him.“You’re doing amazing, keep at it.”Carol would later come by to find that the fence was installed upside down.“Linda, I have something to tell you.”“Keith, no one in this family is cis and straight, we all know you’re gay.”Elly was different than the team had imagined. It seemed most of Keith’s siblings were either expected or unexpected and there was no in between. Elly hadn’t been really interested in the team, and they were busy helping Linda set up the party.No one really ended up talking to her until Keith took her around and introduced her to everyone.When this happened, Elly apparently latched onto Shiro and was asking him about his workout routine.“Lots of training for battle, honestly. We fight sparring bots and usually work out separately.”Stephen got there a few hours after Elly. He was tired and carrying a bunch of bags and looking like he’d ran a marathon. His wife was holding just as many bags and looked considerably less worn out. Of course, this was the first time Keith had seen Stephen’s wife without her hologram on.Turns out she had tough, scaled, green skin. She had webbed hands and feet, and fins on her elbows and face. The pair of 12-year-olds now had matching green gills to go with their mother’s.The twins immediately ran forward, screaming, “UNCLE KEITH!!”“Ste- Car- Kev- Ha- El- SHA- DEB- KEITH! I need you to help Kevin and Coran with the living room.”The team was sitting at a pair of picnic tables pushed together. Everyone was taking a break from decorating, planning, and cooking.“So, the one with yellow fins is your niece, D’sm’nda, and the one with purple scales is your nephew, S’ng M’in?”The team was trying to get a handle on all the family members. Even Lance was having a hard time with all of them.“Yeah… They’re fun. Feels like I haven’t seen them since they were babies though.”Shiro said, “Well, we’ve all been gone for five years. Makes sense you’d notice a difference.”“How’d you not notice you were an alien if your brother’s been dating an alien long enough to have babies…eggs?”“Babies.”“Kay thanks, Babies with her?”Keith sighed, “Hunk, she was wearing a hologram the entire time I knew her.”“And you didn’t even notice she had a scaly feel to her skin?”“You know, I did, but what am I supposed to say when someone’s hand is cold and clammy? Stephen, is your girlfriend a fish person or are her hands just kinda cold but always sweaty?”Hunk nodded, “Fair, fair.”“So, do you know what planet she’s from?” Pidge asked.“Stephen’s wife is actually Zipixian, they’re usually all brown or green but since the kids are also part Galra, they look more tropical I guess.”Coran jumped in, “Oh, I’ve been to Ziphin before. The planet’s mostly freshwater, lots of plants but little landmass.”The team asked a few more questions before splitting off to go work on their respective projects.“Thanks again for helping, guys.”Keith smiled as he listened to the varying words of agreement they sent him. “Now, we’re going to get catering from this restaurant on this planet and this restaurant on another planet.”Carol, Linda, Hunk, and Coran were all working on the food they were going to be ordering. They had an entire extended family to feed, and three days to get it all set up.Carol pointed at the nearest sibling walking down the hall, “You know who you are, call the catering for this shop and tell them we need three extra placements.”Harry got there a few hours after the rest of them, now they were only waiting for Debbie and Sharon and all of his siblings would be there. Of course, Harry had now gotten over his “missing Keith” mode and decided it was a free-for-all.“Linda said you have to clean the bathroom.”“Did Linda say that or did she tell you to do it?”Harry stared at him for a few minutes before punching him in the arm and walking away.“Uncle Keith knows we’re aliens now, right?”S’ng M’in and D’sm’nda were sitting at the table, coloring in a giant weblum drawing that Hunk had made for them.“Yeah, so now you don’t have to wear your holograms around him anymore.”Lance was sat at the table with them, trying to convince them that the weblum was neon orange. He wasn’t succeeding.S’ng M’in said, “Good, I don’t like the hologram, it’s goofy looking.”“Well, I like the hologram.”“You only like it cause Susie M. likes your eyes when it’s on.”Lance smiled at D’sm’nda, “Ooooh so you like Susie M.?”D’sm’nda’s face fins frilled out, “I just think she’s nice! She knows how to do all the cool combos in Space Shooter…”“Oh? Really? What’s she like?”“She likes playing Space Shooter IX, and she can read faster than anyone in our grade!”“Your whole grade?!”“YEAH! She even reads faster than some of the kids older than us!”“Awesome. I had a crush on a girl like that back home. We were like, ten,” Lance turned to S’ng M’in, “You have anyone you like?”S’ng M’in’s fins flattened to his face, “No way, all you humans are so squishy looking. Like bubble gum or something.”Keith was walking around the yard looking for Carol or Linda, in the hopes that they’d tell him what to clean next. It was then he heard it. The sound of Voulez-Vous by, Swedish pop sensation, ABBA in the distance. He knew it was her. Sharon.He turned around and saw a boat speeding up the river. At the sound the boat’s engine, everyone else in the yard turned to look.“Voulez-Vous! (Ah-ha!)”Sharon was at the wheel, grinning from ear to ear. She looked more human than Galra like the rest of them, but she had fangs and was always wearing deeply tinted sunglasses that covered her eyes completely. Now that he thought about it, had Keith ever seen Sharon’s eyes?Sharon drove her boat over to the dock and weighed anchor. As she exited her boat, making sure to tie it to the dock, she sent him a two-fingered salute.“Sup, nerds! Heard you were having a party!”Keith ran to greet her, “It’s good to see you again.”Sharon wrapped her arm around his shoulders in a one-armed hug, “So Linda finally let you in on the family secret?”“Yeah! Wish you guys had told me sooner though…”“Fair enough. Want me to let you in on another secret?”Keith felt tired immediately, “There’s more?”With that, Sharon laughed and let go of him. She raised her hand to her sunglasses and started to pull them off. Keith’s eyes were immediately wide as dinner plates. In that moment, he realized he’d never seen Sharon without her sunglasses. 23 years of life without ever seeing his sister’s eyes.Upon finally seeing them, he realized why it was such a secret. And Keith had thought Debbie’s eyes were yellow. Sharon’s eyes were completely yellow. Just a solid Galra yellow.“Yeah, going to school without a hologram was a bit of a bitch, let me tell you. Some of the teachers tried to take my glasses until Linda got me that permit.”She continued to laugh, slipping her sunglasses back on. She seemed fine, but Keith was pretty sure something was bothering her.“You even got the coolest eyes.”Sharon stopped for a moment, for once letting herself look anything but confident. She looked, relieved.“Ha! Yeah, I missed you guys. We haven’t been on land in a month.”Keith frowned, “We?”Sharon gestured to the boat, and when Keith looked up, he saw his least favorite sibling.Debbie glared down at him from her spot on the boat.“Well, well, well. If it isn’t the baby that decided to leave and not fucking tell anyone.”Debbie looked exactly the same as ever. She still had the scars through her eyebrow and mouth. She still had her hair in a braid to keep it out of the way during her fights.She was angry, always getting into unnecessary fist fights with people. She was everything Keith was afraid of becoming. Sure, he lost his temper sometimes, but she was just in a constant state of-Debbie’s eyes widened and she jumped off the ship, running past him, “YOU PIECE OF SHIT, SOLDIER!”“DEBBIE!”She was barreling toward the team. Keith ran after her, realizing her target wouldn’t get out unscathed. Sharon was right behind him, gaining on him.Sharon outright passed him, and jumped at Debbie, tackling her to the ground.“YOUR WORDS! USE YOUR WORDS!”“I’M FUCKING PISSED!!”Debbie and Sharon were locked in a wrestling match. Debbie trying to escape and attack Shiro. Sharon trying to hold Debbie down.“WALK IT OUT AND TALK IT OUT!!”“IT’S HIS FAULT KEITH LEFT IN THE FIRST PLACE AND HE KNOWS IT!”The team was watching in shock, Sharon finally winning the grapple and holding Debbie down. Debbie snarled, tears of anger rolling down her cheeks.“It’s your fault Keith had to go to war. He was eighteen.”Sharon let Debbie up. Debbie slapped her hands away, shoving her hands in her pockets and leaving toward the house.Keith looked at the team, then Sharon, then the retreating Debbie. He was left wondering what the hell just happened. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- KBHFoH Chp 4: Last time:“It’s your fault Keith had to go to war. He was eighteen.” Sharon let Debbie up. Debbie slapped her hands away, shoving her hands in her pockets and leaving toward the house. Keith looked at the team, then Sharon, then the retreating Debbie. He was left wondering what the hell just happened. The day before the Reunion was a lot different than what Keith had expected. He’d expected Debbie to ruin everything because she was prone to causing shit. But Debbie spent most of her time with Sharon and Linda, doing exactly as she was told with robotic efficiency.When he’d asked Linda about it, Linda looked a bit torn.“You should ask Debbie or Sharon, Angel,” she’d said before getting called over by Stephen about rooms that their Galran side of the family would be staying in.Keith had had to think about it for a few moments. He hated talking to Debbie. She’d just say mean things to him, like, “Oh you don’t know? Moron!” or “Don’t fucking talk to me.”It was never just “Hi” from her, it was always, “Hey, tiny fucker! Get in a fight again? Bet you lost!”So, Sharon it was. Now Keith just had to find her.“And that’s how you stop a stampeding Mil’uaks!”Kevin was watching Coran with stars in his eyes. The things he was able to learn about alien marine mammals! Kevin had just finished talking about an old project he’d had with whale songs and Coran hadn’t gotten bored or anything.He’d stayed interested in what Kevin was saying, and added his own ideas. It was so…nice. It felt like his heart was warming up or something.Keith looked in the garage, only to find Elly and Shiro laughing about some story with Elly’s work out buddies.“Hey…have you guys seen Sharon?”Elly turned to him, “I think she was helping Harry with something? That boy, Lance was with her.”D’sm’nda slapped Linda on the back of her leg and started shouting about Linda breaking one of her crayons.“Ow, that hurt! I’m not playing with you anymore!”Linda walked away, not actually caring, until D’sm’nda ran after her, raising her hand to hit Linda again.Linda, a gleam in her eye, picked up D’sm’nda with one hand and threw her.All Pidge saw was a tiny blur that landed in a pile of pillows and let out a shriek of fear.Harry was in the living room with Lance, taping napkins around plastic forks and knives.“¡Yeah, se creen la última coca-cola en el desierto!”Harry laughed at whatever it was Lance had said, and responded with something else in, he was guessing, Spanish.It took them a moment to notice Keith, but when they did they switched back to English. Lance was smiling as he said, “Keith! You didn’t tell me Harry lived in Havana for a few years!”“Ah, don’t blame him, he doesn’t know. I bounced around a lot when I first realized my love of mountains ranges.”“You were in Havana?” Keith asked.“Yeah, I was painting Pan de Guajaibón and a few other places. Hang on, I think I have a few pictures.”Harry fished out his phone and started looking for pictures. Keith was a bit confused, “So you know Spanish then?”“Cuban, specifically. My ex said it was a requirement.”Keith and Lance were quiet for a moment, taking in what Harry had said.“…wait. YOUR WHAT?!”“YOU DATED?!”“So how did you and Linda meet?” Allura asked.She’d been interested in knowing for a while now. They seemed to even each other out so perfectly and Allura had always loved knowing details.Darla blushed a bit, before saying, “To tell the truth, we officially met because Linda and Stephen needed someone to babysit Debbie, Harry, and Keith.”“Oh?” Allura leaned in a bit, excited.This made Darla laugh a bit, fiddling with the hem of her shirt.“Yeah, if you’d asked Linda, she’d have said, “It was true love from the moment I saw her!” but for me I never even noticed! We were in the same grade in school, but Linda and Stephen worked part time to pay for things. It wasn’t until senior year of high school that I had a realized I liked her.”Allura leaned back a bit, “Oh…so it, it took you a while? So that’s…that’s normal?”Darla looked confused, “Normal?”“It’s normal if you take a while? That it’s not “love at first sight?”” Allura looked up at Darla, a bit of fear and hope in her eyes.“Yeah, it’s completely fine. We all go at our own pace.”“Oh…okay! So, how did you realize you liked Linda? Was it something big? Something small?”“She actually asked if I’d come over for dinner with her and her family one night. Then, when I got there, Keith and Harry were in little bowties and said we were playing restaurant and Linda and I were on a date. Then Linda comes running in, with Debbie on her leg, and says, “I’m so sorry! I didn’t think they were going to pull this!” and was trying to pull them away from me, and I don’t know what I thought I was doing, but I said, “I wouldn’t mind going on a date with you,” and I’m pretty sure Linda almost fainted.”Allura pressed her hands to her cheeks and whispered, “And that’s how you got together?”Darla looked even more awkward, “Well…no, we just kind of started hanging out more, and I asked her what college she was going to, and it turned out we were going to the same one. And I asked if she wanted to be roommates, then she said yes. Then, we moved in together and then I said, “You know, we’ve been around each other all this time, do you want to maybe go on a date?” and she says, “Well, I’ve liked you since, middle school, so that’d be nice.”Allura couldn’t help the laugh that escaped her.While Keith and Lance were looking at pictures of the mountains in Cuba, a voice broke through their calm.“걸레!! 당신은 이것을 지불할 것이다!!”Harry snatched his phone back before turning to Lance and saying, “And that’s our que to leave.”The two of them laughed and ran off, just in time for Carol to come running in with toothpaste in her hair and a towel around her body.“WHERE ARE THEY?!”“Uh…”“무용한!”Keith watched her run in the wrong direction and didn’t say a word. Only then, remembering that he forgot to ask Harry about Sharon.Kevin smiled from his spot above Coran, on the stairs. Coran smiled right back.Keith decided that maybe Hunk would know where Sharon was. Last, he saw Hunk, he was helping Carol in the kitchen.Fortunately, Hunk was still there. Unfortunately, so was Debbie. Hunk was mixing something and smiling at her. She was quietly cutting out the dough and talking about foods she liked. In the years he’d known her, he’d never seen her so quiet. Keith decided it was best to just ignore her, just in case.“Hey, Hunk…have you seen Sharon?”Debbie looked up to him and crushed the dumpling in her hand.“Shit.”“Oh, that’s fine, we can fix it. Sorry Keith, I haven’t seen her for hours.”Keith nods and turns to leave, only for Debbie to ask him if she can talk to him alone.And Keith isn’t sure what possessed him in that moment, but he said sure. Which was how he ended up in a bathroom, talking with Debbie, and she’d…apologized.“I’m sorry, Keith. You didn’t deserve how I treated you when we were younger.”“What?”“Five years ago, I got in a bad fight…and my anger got the better of me, and I lost a lot that day. It was…it was an eye opener. I’m actually going to Anger Management, and the reason I’m living with Sharon is because she’s a good support system. I…I know it doesn’t make it better, apologizing. You don’t have to forgive me or anything. But I wanted you to know that you deserve an apology.”Keith was walking around in a bit of a daze. He hadn’t been expecting that of Debbie at all. He’d expected her to call him names or complement him on something with a thinly veiled insult.Carol was calling him, so Keith floated over to help out.Keith could hear Debbie apologizing to Harry from his spot under the window.“I’m sorry, Harry.”“You’re sorry? You mean for that time you punched the wall and a picture frame fell on me?”“No! Well…I mean, that too.”Keith tried to hide his laughter. He really did.Pidge watched Sharon holding ice over the back of Carol’s neck.“Sharon, if you don’t throw that away, I’m going to get mad.”Sharon laughed, “Okay!” and shoved the ice cube down Carol’s shirt.“Lance! Lance, I need your help!”Lance turned around, confused about why Keith was calling out to him. Keith looked like he’d never seen anything more amazing in his life. His eyes were sparkling as he grabbed Lance’s hand and pulled him away from his spot in the backyard.Harry followed after, his wide eyes taking in everything.“Lance, you’ve gotta show them.”Lance looked up and saw Keith’s siblings, minus Harry, Kevin, and Linda, staring back at him. They all had confused looks on their faces. Shiro was already there, laughing at something and looking like he was going to die.Keith held up his hands, “Okay, you guys. Like this, I say Vol- you say –Tron. Vol-!”His siblings were frowning, “Vol…tron?”The look of shock on Lance’s face could never be replicated. Harry squinted at his older siblings.One of them shouted back, “IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE COMPLICATED!”“Has anyone seen Kevin? He’s supposed to be setting up the streamers!”“Debbie, why is my brush in your room?”“Elly, I have more hair than you.”“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”“It means whatever you want it to mean, baldi- OW!”Keith and Harry were in their old room, showing the team Keith’s old hover board.“Yeah, it was awesome! They even got the red one!”“Keith likes red because he says it’s faster.”“It was faster!”Carol was staring at Keith, who was in her room and had one of her snacks opened.“I must be hallucinating. Because I was sure you knew better.”Keith slowly put the snack bag back where he found it and closed the drawer.“Carol…”“But a hallucination can’t be this stupid.”Carol took a step toward him and Keith was pretty sure he was dead.“LIND- AUGH!”and there was silence. Debbie was helping Hunk again. Pleased that he had such a calm energy around him. It was like sitting on the boat by herself, just staring at the ocean."You have a real calming energy about you, you know?""Ha, that's what my mom and Lance always say.""It's a good quality. I'm glad Keith had you while you were up there."“Hey Sharon, remember that time when you were 11 and you almost squared up with a 6-year-old because he was picking on Keith?” Elly asked.“Yeah?”“That was funny as hell.”Keith hadn’t expected to find Kevin in a closet with Coran like a pair of high schoolers, but today was a day of surprises it seemed.Upon seeing Keith, Kevin had immediately detached himself from Coran’s mouth and said, “Hi, Keith. What’s- What’s going on?”“Linda!”Keith was running at top speed toward the backyard, hoping to get to Linda before Kevin caught him.“Linda!”Keith could feel Kevin’s fingers almost grabbing the back of his shirt.“Linda!!”He saw her lifting her head to look at him as he burst out the back door.“You have to listen to me! Kevin was-!”Kevin quick tackled Keith and put him in a headlock, using his superior musculature and height to keep him quiet.“FOLDING BLANKETS! Just like you told me!” Kevin shouted over him. "You know, I was worried, but this kind of grand gesture seems to be good for you."Shiro was smiling from his spot next to Linda. He was so happy for Keith.Keith was laughing about Pidge telling everyone what they’d witnessed since coming here. He and his siblings seemed a lot more fun from an outsider’s perspective.“And she just threw her! It was amazing! I wish I could do that to Matt.”From another room, Keith could hear one of his siblings shouting, “PUT ON A SHIRT, YOU SLUT!”“DON’T SLUT SHAME YOUR BROTHER!”And Linda took care of it.“YOU’RE FUCKING ADOPTED!”“WE’RE LITERALLY ALL ALIEN HYBRIDS, DEBBIE! HOW DID YOU LUCK OUT AND ADOPT THE OTHER ALIEN HYBRID?!”Harry and Debbie were wrestling in the living room. Apparently, Debbie was told to do something and tried to make Harry do it.Harry wasn’t about to let her succeed in where he failed with Keith.“FEEL THE WRATH OF THE VULTURE, KEEFERS!”Keith was suddenly grabbed by his ankles and pulled off of his chair. He looked up from his spot on the ground to find it occupied by Elly. She grinned at him, daring him to fight her on it.He thought over his training, he thought over Elly’s. He might be able to contest her.Keith won against Elly for the first time ever and somehow still ended up sharing the chair.Harry, Sharon, and Debbie sat outside with Keith that night, eating a bag of sea salt and vinegar potato chips.“So, did you go to any of those stars, Keith?”“I dunno…I think we went past a few stars.”“You should ask that princess what stars you visited.”“Yeah?”“Yeah.”They stared at the stars for a while, until they heard Kevin’s voice saying, “Where are my chips? Who took my chips?!”Harry sat up, “Keith we have to go hang out in your castle…immediately.”The four of them stood up and booked it for the castle.The morning of the reunion was uneventful. Everyone sat around, everything was already set up. Then came the Galran ship, all purples and dark pinks. They landed in a field across from the Castle Ship, and with that, it was time for Keith to meet the rest of his family.“So, Keith, you’ve met Tarra already, over video, but this is Tarra. She’s head of the family.”She was a lot taller than the camera gave her credit for. She was at least eight feet tall and looked like she could break his back with her little finger. Keith couldn’t help but think she looked awesome.She gave him a quick salute and said, “I was always a fan of the Voltron coalition. You fought well, youngling.”“KAFFIR LEAVE STEPHEN ALONE AND MEET YOUR BABY COUSIN!”Kaffir jumped a bit, and quick ran to where Tarra and Linda were introducing Keith to various cousins and aunts and uncles.Stephen smirked and knocked over the game they were playing, making it so that he won by default.“We were part of the nomadic Galran race, so we weren’t involved in the war. Your mother was the only one that took part in it.”“Wow…so she’s really gone?”“Well, at least you had your father.”Keith shrugged, “Oh, no, my father’s dead.”“What? Oh, I’m so sorry. It must have been fairly recent and I…quiznak.”Keith’s face remained carefully blank, “My father’s been dead for 15 years.”“What? But I received word from him-! “Keith and every single one of his siblings said, “He’s dead to this family!”“Keith, this is your great uncle, M’tho. He works as a dancer.”Uncle M’tho was a hugger and made sure to comment on Keith’s lack of claws.“Keith! This is Fr’nco’r! She’s my wife’s mother!”Keith shook hands with another Zipixian woman, she seemed to like him, ruffling his hair and complementing his outfit.“Hey, Lance, have you seen Harry? Linda needs him to meet one of our cousins.”Lance shrugged, and called out to the crowd of people, “¡Ay, Ojazos! Keith’s looking for you!”The crowd seemed to part and Harry made his way over.Keith squinted at Lance, “Wait, what?”“What?” Harry asked.“What’d you call my brother?”Keith moved into a fighting stance, ready to stand up for his brother. He had no idea what that word meant, but he was ready to fight because only he could make fun of Harry.Lance rolled his eyes, “It’s just a nickname, Keith.”“Everyone gets a nickname, Angel Bean.”With that, Harry grabbed Keith by the scruff of his shirt and dragged him off to go find Linda.“FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!”One of Keith’s older cousins was in a ring with Kevin. They cracked their neck, “I’ve never fought a hybrid before. You think you can handle it?”Kevin smiled, all sunshine and rainbows, “I think I’ll grind you to dust.”The two of them lunged at the other.Stephen and Linda shouted, “The cake’s ready!”All the little kids ran to them, screaming about sugar. S’ng M’in was at the front of the line, already with a plate in his hands.“D’sm’nda, she can’t swim with you, she has fur like a chinchilla’s.”Kevin was off getting more food, while Coran sat at the table. Just as Kevin was out of sight, four people sat down around him. Linda, Stephen, Carol, and Elly.Linda started, “Hi, Coran.”“I’m sure you know why we’re here,” Stephen said.Coran was a picture of composure. He gently lifted his cup to his lips and took a drink. As he set down his cup, he said, “I would have to assume it’s because of Kevin and I’s relationship.”“No, no, just a few questions about you. Kevin can make his own choices.” Coran kept his composed posture, “Alright then.”“So, you can’t speak, Korean?”“Not yet.”Carol leaned toward Stephen, “그는 한국어를 배울 필요가 있다.”Stephen nodded, “그는 그러나 좋게 보인다. 나는 그의 콧수염을 좋아한다.”Linda rolled her eyes, nudging Stephen with her elbow before sneering, “나는 그가 Kevin를 위한 좋은 적합다는 것을 생각한다. 우리는 좀더 그를 협박해야 한다. 우리는 그가 있을 수 없다 알고 있 우리가 그를 좋아하는.”Elly nodded before shoving some more food at Coran, “Eat some of this.”She bumped Linda a bit, “그는 모를 것이다. 그는 좋게 보인다. 그는 그가 가치가 있는 처럼 그를 돌볼 것이다. 그는 또한 재료 Kevin 바보 같은 대화를 대략 경청한다..”Carol jumped up out of her seat, and slammed her palms on the table, “해양 포유 동물은 재미있는 주제이다!!Elly jumped up as well and pointed at Coran, “좋아, 그러나 그것 보링을 잠시 후에 얻을 수 있다! 그러나 이 녀석은 바보 같은의 동일 분량을 말한다! 그것은 좋은 품질이다!”Coran kept eating the food that Elly put in front of him. He didn’t look disturbed at all. Linda kept her eyes on him, watching every move he made.Finally, she waved her hand, “You seem nice,” then, to her siblings, “Let’s go.”With that, all four of them melted back into the crowd of family members.Kevin came back, “Sorry I took so long! That line is murder.”Coran smiled, “괜찮아요. Your siblings kept me company.”The rest of the day was a blur of meeting new people, and getting comments on his appearance and his time as a paladin of Voltron.It was…amazing. He’d never have imagined his already packed family could get any bigger. He was happy that his friends could be there too, meeting his whole family with him.Keith smiled and leaned back in his chair. Everything was going to be okay.
10947654	One Thing He Has To Do	{ "Archive Warning": "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings", "Category": "M/M", "Characters": "Dean Winchester, Castiel, Sam Winchester", "Fandom": "Supernatural", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Not Rated", "author": "by tricia_16", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-19T00:00:00", "words": "2,807", "Additional Tags": "12x23 coda, Emotional Dean", "Relationship": "Castiel/Dean Winchester", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	“NO!” Dean yells uselessly as he watches Grace surge in Cas’s body and then go out with a flicker.He can hear Lucifer talking, but he has no idea what he’s saying because Cas is dead. Cas just got an angel blade through the back right before his eyes and he couldn’t do a God damn thing to stop it.Suddenly his mom is there, and yah, he has a startled second to think how bad ass his mom is for punching the fucking devil in the face, and then before he knows what’s happened she’s gone too. And then Sam runs away into the cottage and Dean is left kneeling at Cas’s empty vessel.Dean realizes with a dry sob that Cas isn’t the only one who’s empty now.This is his worst nightmare.The last time this happened, and he thought Cas was really gonna die, Cas said he loved him. Dean couldn’t even react because why would Cas tell him then when he was fucking dying and neither of them could do a damn thing about it? Then just like that he was back to being okay again, and Dean didn’t know what he was supposed to do with what happened. Did he mean it like Dean’s said before – like Cas loved him like a brother? Dean didn’t think so. He thinks it was more. What he’d always secretly wanted to hear but was too much of a fucking pussy to go after.He told himself then that he’d say something. Anything. Cas gets him. He didn’t have to say those three words for Cas to know how he felt. He could get Cas to understand, and he knew Cas would be as patient with him as Dean needed him to be, but he knew, he just knew they’d work it out this time.And then, as usual, everything went to hell in a hand basket. How was he supposed to talk to Cas when he ignored him for weeks? How was he supposed to tell him when he just kept running away? He couldn’t even get him on the fucking phone, how was he supposed to tell him?And now it’s too late.Now Castiel, Angel of the Lord, is dead on the ground with his wings scorched into the dirt. His best friend. The only friend he’s ever had that always comes back, no matter how bad he fucks up. Cas comes back. Cas… beautiful, good, angelic Cas didn't deserve to die like that. He doesn't deserve to be laying in the dirt, either. Dean doesn’t know what he’s doing other than getting him off of the ground. He picks him up by the shoulders, gently, and cradles his upper body against his chest. He can’t hold back a sob when he thinks about how many times he’s thought of doing this before, and how now that he’s finally doing it, it’s too late. Cas doesn’t know. He’ll never know.He can’t bare to look down at his face, so he looks up to the sky instead, and he swallows his pride and prays. “Chuck? Come on, man. I’m… I'm begging you. Please. Don’t let this be it, man. Don’t take him from me. I’ve… fuck, I’ve already lost so much, and I know you know. You know that I – I need him, Chuck. Don’t take him from me. Please. Please give him back. Put him back together like you always do.”He takes in a ragged breath and looks down at Cas’s face, searching it for any sign that Chuck heard him. He didn’t know he was crying, but he sees wetness all over Cas’s face and knows it has to be his own. Some broken sound he’s never made in his life starts coming out of him when he has to wipe his own tears off of the face of the man he loves. Loved. And the sound keeps coming.Tears are streaming down his face, mixed with snot from his nose, and he just fucking hurts everywhere, head to toe, with a gaping, black hole inside of his chest that feels like it’s going to swallow him whole. “I LOVE HIM,” he yells at the sky. “Okay? I said it. You happy now, you son of a bitch? You think you can just disappear to figure your own shit out and ignore the whole fucking world? We need you. The world needs you. I saved the frickin' world and now I need you and you have to help me! I need you to give him back to me! Please, God, please, give him back,” Dean sobs, alternating between yelling at the top of his lungs and whispering so low he can barely hear the words come from his mouth.He swipes a dirty hand across his face and looks down at Cas one more time. He can feel bile rising in his throat when he realizes he’s going to have to burn his body. He can’t afford for something else to use this body, because he doesn’t know if he could kill it. He swallows down the panic best he can and gently lays Cas back down in the dirt – just for a minute, he promises him silently.He doesn’t remember where all of the wood came from, but all he knows is that he’s building a pyre for the vessel of the angel he’s in love with, and he’s never wanted to do anything less in his entire life. When it’s done, he goes inside the cottage for a sheet to wrap his body up in, and can almost hear the echo of himself saying, “We’ll work out our crap, we always do.” He swallows down more bile as fresh tears stream down his face. They didn’t have the chance to figure it out this time, and he wishes he had told Cas that he wasn’t really mad at him, that he gets him too much to stay mad at him. He should’ve taken thirty fucking seconds to say it and he didn’t. Now he’d never get the chance.He grabs a sheet off of a bed in a room he didn’t even know was there until now, and he walks back out through the door to Cas’s body. He lays the sheet flat on the ground and ever so gently, he drags Cas’s body on top of it. He folds the corners across his chest and his feet, but he stops before he covers his face. He brushes a lock of hair that has fallen on to his forehead back up like the rest of it.He has a thought – a creepy thought, actually - but he has it anyway.He never got to hold Cas’s hand when Cas knew it wasn’t just brotherly. He never got to sling his arm around his shoulders and nuzzle into neck. He never got to run his hands through that hair of his, and he never got to tell him how much he loves the colour blue… all because of his eyes. He’ll never see those eyes looking at him again. He never got to hold him in his arms and wake up tangled with him in his bed. He never got to feel Cas’s lips move under his, but he can’t – he won’t – say goodbye to him without kissing him just once. He never got to tell him he loved him, and yah, he’s gone now, but his vessel is here and even if it’s creepy to kiss a dead guy, it’s better than never kissing him at all.He looks around to make sure Sam didn’t come back, and sees that the coast is clear. Even now, after losing him and admitting how he feels about him, it’s so hard to do this. It goes against everything he’s ever tried to be and everything he's fought to bury deep down inside of him for the last damn-near ten years. But where the fuck did that get him? he thinks bitterly.So he lets himself have this. He runs his hand down the razor sharp angle of his jaw. His breath hitches when he feels Cas’s stubble under his fingers. He caresses his cheek bone with his thumb, and hates that he’ll never feel the curve of his smile under his hands. He brushes his fingers across his stupidly dry lips, and blinks back tears at how many times he’s looked at them, tempted but too fucking scared to close the distance between them. Would it have been different if he had? Would this have happened if he just acted on all these feelings inside of him? He’ll never know.He wipes his tears and the snot away from his face again, and wipes Cas’s face too. And then without another thought, before he can talk himself out of it for the millionth fucking time, he leans in and brushes his lips against Castiel’s. He isn’t cold yet, but he isn’t warm, and he doesn’t move, and it isn’t right, and it isn’t nearly enough, but it’s something he finally got to do and when he pulls away, his entire body shakes with sobs because now he knows.It would’ve been really good.He still would’ve been the same guy if he kissed Cas. He still would’ve been into chicks, but he would’ve been into Cas more. He wouldn’t have had to hide how he felt all the time, and they could’ve been together, and this is the worst part – maybe he could’ve been happy for once in his life.Now he’d never be. Not without Cas.“I loved you,” he croaks. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. But God, Cas, if you’re out there somewhere and you can hear me, I loved you so fuckin’ much.” He presses a final kiss to his forehead and covers his face with the sheet.He hears footsteps approaching and he wipes his face for what feels like the hundredth time. Sam stands there. He has tears streaming down his face, too, and he comes close enough so that he can give Dean a hand and pull him up. They both look down at the body laying on the ground, and without a word, they lift him up and set him down on the pyre like they’ve done with so many bodies before.They both stand and watch as the fire eats away at his body. The smell is enough to make Dean retch, but there’s nothing inside of him.Sam places a heavy hand on Dean’s shoulder, and without looking at him, he says, “He knew, Dean.”Dean forgets how much he hates moments like these in his absolute desperation of wanting that to be true. “You think?” He asks, throat dry and voice hoarse.“I know. Everybody knew, Dean,” Sam says softly and Dean feels hope deep into him. Somehow it's better if he knew. He hates thinking that he died not knowing. “He loved you, too,” Sam tells him, his voice cracking.Dean lets out a shaky breath and nods his head. “I know,” he whispers.They stand there for a long time together, not saying anything, and not needing to. Finally when all that’s left is ash, Dean looks at his brother and says, “He’s got a habit of coming back, ya know? How many times did I think he was gone and he came back later?”Sam makes a face that Dean doesn’t want to see, so he looks away. “Dean… Dean, I think this time it’s different,” he says softly. “I’m sorry, but I think he’s really gone this time.”Dean nods. “I know,” he says just as softly. He looks up at the sky one more time and says, “But if he comes back again? If I get another chance, I’m gonna tell him this time. I’m gonna make sure he knows, and I’m not ever gonna let the stupid son of a bitch out of my sight again.”Dean hears a small laugh come from Sam and turns towards him again.“The nephilim…” Sam says.“Not tonight, Sam. I just can’t tonight,” Dean says, and that’s enough of an explanation for Sam.“Okay,” he says with a nod.“I just… I’m gonna grab a sleeping bag from the trunk and sleep out here tonight. And we can deal with everything else in the morning.”“You uh, want any company?” Sam asks, uncertain.“Nah, I just need some time tonight.”Sam nods and walks back into the cottage. Dean thinks absentmindedly while he unrolls his sleeping bag between the marks of Cas’s wings - he always loved these wings - on the ground that the nephilim must not be in there anymore, but that’s the last conscious thought he has before his body gives up the fight against all the physical and emotional pain he’s been through that day and he falls into a deep sleep.He wakes up to sunshine and the sound of nature all around him. He rolls over on to his back, rubs at his eyes… and then he remembers and he feels his stomach drop. Cas is gone. Cas is dead. His mom’s been sent to the alternate reality with fucking Lucifer – where not-Bobby is – and there’s a nephilim somewhere in the world they have to find and kill. All without Cas.He hears footsteps approaching and he knows Sam’s up and ready to go do whatever the fuck he’s figured out they need to do. He runs his hands down his face and finally blinks his eyes against the too-bright sun and the tall figure shadowed in front of him. His heart starts racing and he blinks his eyes harder, then shakes his head to try and clear it.He knows that shadow, and it isn’t Sammy.“C-Cas?” He chokes out, hesitantly.“Hello, Dean,” he hears. And he’d know that low, raspy voice anywhere.He’s up on his feet in an instant, arms around Cas’s neck, holding him tighter than he’s ever held anybody. He feels tears streaming down his face again, this time mixed with a strange-sounding laughter that’s got to be the sound of relief. He breaks away long enough to place a hand on each shoulder and really look at him.Those eyes, he thinks, heart thudding wildly in his chest.“Cas? Is it really you?” He asks.Cas’s mouth quirks up in what passes as a smile for him and says, “I always come when you call, Dean.”Dean’s mind flashes back to when he called out his name last night. He drops his hands and takes a step back as his face flushes with colour. “You heard me?”Cas nods his head. “I understand if you didn’t mean the things you spoke of. If perhaps you were not in the right state of mind after my death to be making such declarations,” Cas says. “But I hope you also understand that I did mean what I told you while I was dying from Ramiel’s poison.” This time it’s Cas’s hand that comes up to cup his face, and Dean feels something wedge in his throat. “I love you, Dean,” Castiel says confidently and calmly. “Not like a brother and not like a friend,” he clarifies. “I’m in love with you.”Dean covers Cas’s hand with his and squeezes gently. He tries to swallow around the lump in his throat. “I meant it,” he manages to say. “It’s hard for me to say, and I won’t pretend it doesn’t scare the shit outta me, Cas, but I meant it. I… ya know… you, too, Cas.”Dean is almost blinded by the actual smile he gets from Cas. One of his rarest smiles, with perfectly white teeth shining at him, and crinkles at the corner of his eyes. “I know,” Cas says happily. “But it feels wonderful to hear you say it.”Dean wraps his arms around him and pulls him in for a long hug. He buries his face in the curve of his neck and inhales the familiar, perfect scent of Cas. His Cas.“We okay?” Dean asks after he pulls away.“We’ll work out our crap like we always do,” Cas says with a twitch of his lips.“Nah, not like we always do,” Dean says with a shake of his head. “It’s gonna be different this time. Coz we’re… ya know, together, right?”Castiel shows teeth when he smiles again, and Dean can feel an almost forgotten warmth inside of his chest. “I’d like that.”Dean smiles back almost shyly and says, “Me too, Cas. Me, too.”They stare at each other for a little while, as they often do, and then Dean finally says, “Okay, angel. Let’s go save the world.”And they walk back into the cabin hand in hand to find Sam.
10987917	Petrichor	{ "Archive Warning": null, "Category": "M/M", "Characters": "Keith (Voltron), Lance (Voltron), Lance's Family (Voltron)", "Fandom": "Voltron: Legendary Defender", "Language": "English", "Rating": "General Audiences", "author": "by dontmindme_imafangirl", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-24T00:00:00", "words": "1,089", "Additional Tags": "Klance Week 2017, Angst, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Older Characters, Fluff and Angst, Home, they love each other v much is the premise ok lol, Short One Shot, Short & Sweet, Klance Week 2017: Welcome Home, Established Relationship", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": "Keith/Lance (Voltron), Keith & Lance (Voltron)", "Series": "Klance Week 2017", "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply", "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	****The flash lit up the sky, dark and booming before the pitch black lifted for but a moment, returning promptly with the sound of thunder heeding its steps.The rain wasn’t letting on, drops pouring and thudding to the ground with a beckoning force, wrecking havoc across the street and onto the few unlucky passer-bys to have been caught in this fury.Yet he smiled.He stretched his arms wide, tilting his head to the sky and letting out a laugh, one he could admit, from the bottom of his heart, was sincere.Rain.It was rain, pure water from dark clouds.He was here.He was back. There was a new pinch behind his eyelids, now unable to discern tears from rain-the salty taste did nothing to aid in the distinction.He was back.Footsteps echoed down the empty street, stopping right behind him.He didn’t need to turn around to know who it was. “Ready?”His voice was the only thing not drowned out by the thunder, the soothing gentleness lacing it a constant, a sound that’d kept him grounded for so long.He turned and smiled at Keith, finding a small tug of lips that rivalled his own.Keith outstretched a hand to him and he took it, gripping tight before bringing it to his lips, kissing the battered knuckles he’d come to love.“As much as I’ll ever be. Are you?”He felt Keith’s fingers come to the back of his neck, tugging their foreheads together. Their clothes were drenched, hair matted to their foreheads. Keith’s ponytail had come loose, lips tinted from the cold.“I’m with you”, he breathed, “I’d travel to the ends of the universe with you.”“You already have.” he teased, if only to catch a glimpse of the fond roll of Keith’s eyes.Another flash of lightning hit, brightening the road and catching sight of the two men, of the indigo in Keith’s eyes and the purple patches of his skin, of Lance’s scar just under his eye, of his older, wiser gaze.“Let’s go then” Lance nodded and Keith agreed, bringing a hand to grasp Lance’s and letting the taller man lead the way.It took years. It took fight after fight and one hardship after another. Scars forming onto their skin and into their chests, it took tears, pain, love and loss.They found each other down the way, seeking the comfort of a tender touch at first, of hushed words of reassurance, until that feeling turned to something deeper, a need to just be with one another settling into their bones. It turned into love before either of them realized.And now here they were. Hands grasped tight, a quickened pulse of their blood, beating and thumping and proving they’re here, they’re alive.They look to one another and drink in the silent words, now standing in front of a house with walls tatttered and darkened in the night, yet welcoming and warm all the while. We made it. Together. They didn’t have to say it to know, aware of what was going on in each other’s mind.Lance hitched a breath and Keith squeezed his hand tighter, guiding him back, grounding him.“They’re gonna ask you about the purply ears.” Lance’s voice trembled.“I’d be more surprised if they didn’t.”“My little sisters might try and poke at them.”Keith laughed at that. “So long as they don’t start braiding my hair.”“Oh they’ll definitely braid your hair. You’re not an official part of the Lopez household until you get a hair makeover by Sophia and Elena.”Keith remained silent by Lance’s side, eyes fixed to the house in front of them.The rain started to finally ease to a still, few droplets falling gently down to the earth.Lance tilted his head to Keith, question evident in his eyes.“Lance I-are you sure about this? Are you sure you want me to be part of...this?” he nodded to the house, worry lacing his voice.“Keith. Right before we had that last fight, the one that put an end to the Garla reign, what did I tell you?”“Lance-”“No, tell me. What was it?”Keith shuffled his legs and sighed.“You said you’d...you’d take me back to Earth.”“And?” Lance prodded.“And..that you’d take me to meet your family. To make this” he nodded to their intertwined hands, “make it official.”“Exactly.” Lance beamed, turning to fully face Keith, a hand coming up to cup his cheek.“Keith. Look at me.”He did, reluctantly so.“You’re part of this family. We have Voltron-we always will, we’re all a family now, but you have this too. This is your family too if...if you still want it to be.”If you still want me, was the phrase left unsaid.Keith shook his head. Even after so many years, Lance’s insecurities had yet to completely leave him, despite his slow steps at gaining more confidence with himself.Keith reached up and placed a soft kiss to his lips, fast and chaste but enough to get his point across.“Always” he breathed and Lance smiled at the word, nuzzling Keith’s nose with his own.“Then it’s settled!” Lance beamed and broke away from Keith to turn back to the house, the fainlt light of dawn slowly coming through between thick clouds and shining a small path for the boys to follow.“Welcome home, Keith.” he said once they stood in front of the house’s door, waiting for a response to their knocks.Keith smiled, hearning the commotion unfolding on the other side of the door, imagining the expressions of Lance’s parents, seeing their son alive and well, of his baby sisters he spoke of with such fondness. Of their expressions when Lance announced Keith as ‘the love of his life’, or so he’d dramatically proclaimed.He looked to Lance, blue eyes locking onto him with a look Keith would never get enough of seeing, not in this lifetime or the next.It was a gaze that held more meaning than a house made of walls and a roof ever would.It was what made Keith feel his bones settle and his chest to settle.“Welcome home Lance.” he said, and the words never felt more comfortable rolling off his lips than in that moment, with the door ahead of them opening and Lance’s mouth splitting into a bright, genuine grin.This is home Keith thought, savoring the feelings pooling in his heart. This is home. ****
10914072	One in a Million	{ "Archive Warning": "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings", "Category": "M/M", "Characters": "Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Blaise Zabini, Original Male Character(s)", "Fandom": "Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling", "Language": "Español", "Rating": "Teen And Up Audiences", "author": "by leet19", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-16T00:00:00", "words": "5,416", "Additional Tags": "Witness Protection, AU, Fluff and Angst", "Relationship": "Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": "In Your Name", "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	Estaba lloviendo. La situación alrededor de ellos era caótica, los aurores se movían de un lado a otro, intentando encontrar a alguien que siguiera vivo, alguien que respiraba pero cada cuerpo que giraban, cada pulso que chequeaban daba el mismo resultado. Todos estaban muertos. Habían recibido la alerta hace media hora, unas palabras entrecortadas, desesperadas de alguien atacando el más famoso club del mundo mágico. Los aurores actuaron de inmediato, desapareciendo hacia allá pero los hechizos de antidesaparición de emergencia del club habían sido activados lo cuál los redirigió cerca de medio kilómetros más lejos. Con frustración, corrieron lo más rápido que pudieron pero fue inútil. Habían cuerpos tendidos fuera del club, ninguno se movía y lucían diferentes heridas, había tanta sangre que era difícil saber dónde pisar.Una vez bajadas las defensas, Harry y Hermione se aparecieron con un grupo de sanadores, quiénes parecieron aterrorizados al principio para después ponerse a trabajar, examinando a las personas una por una, confirmando sus muertes e intentando averiguar sus identidades. Hermione estaba ayudando en eso, ella había inventado un instrumento similar al detector de huellas digitales muggle, excepto que ésta leía huellas mágicas, únicas de cada persona. Harry se movió para inspeccionar el resto del club, adentro no había todavía más gente en el suelo, era una escena horrible, de película de terror y Harry aún no podía ubicar que había sucedido, no podía creer que una sola persona hubiera causado este tipo de daño sin usar algún artefacto. El problema es que el club lucía intacto, ni siquiera había vidrio roto, no había rastro alguno, físico o mágico de que algo hubiera sido activado en este lugar y asesinado a todas esas personas. Harry podía ver los rostros aterrorizados, sangrientos y podía sentir las memorias de la guerra intentando abrirse paso por su memoria, haciéndolo sudar frío.-¡Jefe!-dando un salto, Harry giró rápidamente y apenas se contuvo de lanzar una maldición, normalmente era bueno reprimiendo sus memorias pero tampoco todos los días se encontraba una escena como esta. Sacudiendo su cabeza ligeramente para volver a concentrarse en su trabajo, Harry se acercó dónde uno de los de su equipo lo llamaba. Estaba en la puerta de una de una oficina, suponía que del dueño del lugar pero había muchas cosas derrumbadas adentro, no se podía pasar. A lo lejos, se podía ver un pequeño brillo azulado entre el desastre-Hay varias lecturas de calor y alguien usando un hechizo-informó rápidamente y Harry pensó que tal vez podía ser la persona que había hecho todo esto.Llamando al resto de su equipo, tres de ellos lanzaron hechizos escudo potenciados mientras que Harry y otros dos intentaban abrirse paso bajo el desaste, moviendo fuera muebles destrozados, parecía como si parte del techo se hubiera derrumbado de la nada así que fue más trabajo del que pensaban hasta que al fin pudieron abrir un hueco lo suficientemente grande como para ver lo que sucedía adentro. Lo primero que Harry vio, fueron ojos plateados. Habían pasado años desde la última vez que vio a Draco Malfoy, más que nada debido al hecho que el rubio se había marchado unas semanas después de acabada la guerra, decidiendo alejarse de las memorias en este lugar; así que por supuesto nunca imaginó encontrárselo de nuevo. Y en estas circunstancias. Por lo que podía ver, Malfoy era la única persona en pie en el grupo, había gente sentada y echada a su alrededor, un grupo de quince más o menos, todos heridos pero lucía como si respiraran. A los pies del rubio se encontraba Blaise Zabini, el dueño del club, parecía inconsciente y su pierna estaba entablillada, no lucía en peligro pero no sabían la extensión de sus heridas. Malfoy había convocado un escudo alrededor de ellos, un corte en su frente estaba goteando sangre por su mejilla y su camisa blanca dejaba notar una mancha roja en su costado que podía ser de otra persona o de una herida pero al menos estaba consciente. Ahora que lo analizaba, el escudo es lo único que había mantenido los escombros de aplastar a la gente a sus pies. Malfoy salvando a personas, esa era otra cosa que no había visto venir ni en sueños. -Trabajemos más rápido, no sé cuánto aguantará Malfoy-dijo Hary mientras limpiaban y movían escombros lejos del escudo. Tomó alrededor de una hora pero finalmente sacaron todo, justo a tiempo para ver el escudo temblar por unos segundos antes de desaparecer en el mismo momento en el que Malfoy caía de rodillas, sus fuerzas totalmente agotadas. Sin embargo, se rehusó a que lo ayudaran, en vez de eso insistía en que tenían que llevar a Blaise, que tenía un golpe en la cabeza, posible contusión y trauma en el pecho. Su modo de hablar, los términos que usaban, era obvio Malfoy había estudiado medicina y había ayudado a las personas que estaban cerca de él, bien podía ser esa la razón por la cuál todavía estaban vivos.-El tipo estaba loco-lloriqueó una chica mientras la cargaban hacia la salida para que Hermione pudiera examinarla mejor-T-tenía como una bomba de colores y, y, hizo un sonido raro, cómo.. cómo un pitido-más lágrimas se derramaron por su rostro al mismo tiempo que era despositada en el suelo, Hermione viniendo rápidamente a verla, aliviada en su interior que no todos estuvieran muertos-El chico... el rubio... él nos salvó, nos metió en la oficina y cerró la puerta. P-podíamos escuchar al loco gritar afuera y cuando.. cuando no pudo entrar, derrumbó e-el techo-saltando cuando tocó un moretón en su brazo, la chica tomó la mano de Hermione fuertemente hasta que ella la miró-Dale las gracias de mi parte. Él también.. también estaba herido e igual nos salvó. Nunca lo olvidaré-la castaña no había estado adentro como para saber que había sido Malfoy así que solo asintió antes de suavemente murmurar el hechizo para dormirla, solo así conseguiría tenerla quieta para examinarla. Una vez que todas las personas fueron sacadas, finalmente Malfoy dejó que los sanadores lo vieran. Con una manta sobre sus hombros, su vista estaba perdida mientras curaban la herida en su frente, aparentemente la sangre en su costado no era suya. Estaba sucio, sus pantalones negros tenían polvo, la camisa blanca lucía media amarillenta por la combinación de sudor, mugre y sangre, y su cabello era un desastre. Sin embargo, lucía igualmente guapo. Era un pensamiento confuso, se dijo Harry mientras caminaba hacia él, casi deteniéndose cuando los ojos plateados se alzaron para observarlo. -Malfoy-asintió como saludo y el rubio respondió lentamente, levantándose.-¿Blaise estará bien?-fue lo primero que preguntó y Harry asintió.-Zabini fue examinado y llevado a San Mungo pero dicen que luce como solo una contusión y nada más grave, sus otras heridas tardaran más en sanar pero no son mortales-informó rápidamente, usando su voz de jefe, como cuando hablaba con los testigos. Draco soltó un suspiro aliviado y volvió a sentarse, pasando sus manos por su rostro antes de sisear suavemente, se había rozado la herida en la frente y había dolido.-Se salió el... Un momento-Harry alzó sus manos y suavemente volvió a presionar el parche que se había salido, Draco se había quedado quieto, mirando hacia él calladamente hasta que el moreno bajó sus manos y se aclaró la garganta incómodamente, intentando volver a lucir profesionalmente-Si estuviera bien, ¿podría hacerte algunas preguntas?-No sé qué es lo que puedo decirte-dijo Draco, cruzando sus brazos bajo la manta, estaba congelado, en parte por la adrenalina dejando su cuerpo y otra porque todavía estaba lloviendo suavemente.-¿Lograste ver bien al atacante?-preguntó Harry, tenía en su mano su libreta.-Vagamente. Creo que lo hice unos segundos antes de que todo explotara, no puedo recordarlo bien-respondió el rubio con voz cansada.-¿Qué me puedes decir acerca de la bomba?-No era ordinaria, cómo las bombas fétidas que vendían en el colegio. Tenía forma de pelota y sonaba fuertemente. Cuando explotó, es como... como si el aire se hubiera llenado de cuchillos lanzados en todas direcciones. Tuve suerte de que somo le rozaran y empujé a Blaise de regreso en la oficina-su mano izquierda empujó su cabello hacia atrás, a Harry le recordó al modo en que lo llevaba en el colegio, aunque la ausencia de laca era notoria-Les grité que se agacharan y se gatearan hacia mi, el suelo era el lugar más seguro. Pero se dio cuenta, no lo vi pero escuché una maldición y cerré la puerta, sellándola. Intentó romperla pero no pudo así que lanzó un 'Bombarda Maxima' y la puerta cayó pero también lo hizo el techo. Apenas tuve tiempo de levantar el escudo y esperar a que llegaran.-Harry terminó de anotar lo que le había dicho y asintió, guardando la libreta y esta vez sacando un vial.-¿Podrías compartirme tus recuerdos? Tal vez podríamos reconocer al atacante en él-Draco dudó, no era muy fan de la magia que envolvía la mente pero también quería ayudar a encontrar al bastardo que casi mataba a sus amigos y a toda esa gente. Alzando su varita, el rubio tocó su temple y lentamente fue sacando el recuerdo plateado hasta depositarlo en el vial, donde Harry lo cerró y asintió.-Gracias. Estaremos en contacto-con esa breve despedida, ambos hombres se separaron y el moreno hizo su camino de regreso a Hermione, que aún seguía trabajando-Voy regresando a la estación ¿Estarás bien aquí?-la castaña asintió antes de dar una mirada hacia Malfoy.-¿Quién lo hubiera creído, no?-le dijo con una media sonrisa antes de concentrarse de nuevo en su tarea.-Sí, quién lo hubiera creído...-murmuró Harry para sí mismo mientras caminaba hacia el punto de desaparición.Habían pasado apenas unas horas desde que había dejado el club, Harry estaba ocupado ordenando la información que tenían, buscando armas parecidas a las que Malfoy había mencionado, cuando dieron la alarma de un ataque en San Mungo. Maldiciendo en voz baja, Harry cogió su capa y corrió con su equipo a las chimeneas, pronto apareciendo por la entrada de emergencia del hospital, siendo dirigidos por frenéticas enfermeras hacia la cuarta planta. Había humo y sanadores moviéndose de un lado a otro, Harry solo quería saber que demonios había pasado cuando vio a Malfoy de nuevo. Esta vez, estaba tendido en una camina sobre su estómago y su espalda era un desastre de cortes y sangre, el moreno se había quedado paralizado en su sitio, su respiración deteniéndose por unos segundos ante esa imagen. Le tomó unos segundos recobrarse y buscó frenéticamente alrededor hasta que vio a Hermione, casi corriendo hacia su amiga.-¿Que carajos pasó aquí?-preguntó, instantáneamente chequeándola por heridas pero la castaña solo parecía un poco aturdida y agitada.-Creemos que ha sido el atacante del club. La noticia de que había sobrevivientes se corrió rápido, no tenemos ni idea que hizo pero de repente hubo una explosión en el cuarto de Zabini, estamos cada vez más seguros que es a él a quién quiere matar-Hermione tomó el brazo de Harry para guiarlo hacia dónde estaba el cuarto del moreno, ahora con un ligero olor a humo y las cosas rotas y tiradas por todos lados-Lanzó un hechizo contra la puerta, creo que pensó que estaba solo pero Malfoy estaba adentro y se lanzó sobre Zabini, el vidrio protector del techo cayó sobre él-la castaño tenía en ceño fruncido, mirando alrededor-¿Analizaste las memorias?-La tiene el departamento de Misterios, todavía no me dicen nada-Harry apretó sus puños, frustrados-¿Qué es lo que quiere este tipo? ¿Qué es lo que tiene contra Zabini? Necesitamos llamar a su familia y amistades al momento. Hay algo que no me cuadra aquí-gruñó el moreno, adrenalina en sus venas, odiaba al tipo de gente que dañaba a personas inocentes solo para llegar hacia otra persona. Le recordaba a Voldemort. -Yo me encargo de eso, haremos las entrevistas inmediatamente. Harry, Zabini necesita protección las 24 horas y tengo el presentimiento que Malfoy va a seguirlo a todos lados, deberías encargarte de eso. Y pon presión en los Inefables, esto pasó de un caso de normal a uno urgente, el atacate seguirá con esto hasta que tenga a Zabini y más personas morirán-dijo ella gravemente. Harry asintió, girándose para dirigirse a su grupo, rápidamente disparando órdenes. Dejó a algunos a cargo de procesar el cuarto, a buscar cualquier pista que pudieran encontrar; cuatro de ellos tenían que quedarse como guardias para Zabini y Malfoy, ahora más que nunca estaba seguro que en las memorias de Malfoy estaba la respuesta, o al menos una pista importante de la identidad del atacante, necesitaba conseguir esa información. -Todavía no entiendo por qué tengo que estar aquí-Draco no lucía feliz, de hecho estaba renegando desde el momento en que había llegado, para el desagrado de la creciente jaqueca que Harry tenía. El moreno había estado fastidiando y fastidiando a los del departamento de Misterios hasta que les habían devuelto su análisis de las memorias y pudieron ponerle un rostro al atacante. Era un hombre mayor, no familiar y sin un registro criminal, según el reporte era de descendencia italiana pero eso era lo único que le habían podido decir. Mientras un equipo se encarga exclusivamente de buscar todo lo que pudieran de él tanto en el mundo muggle como en el mágico, Harry había formulado un plan. El atacante no sabía que Draco había estado adentro, así que había hecho circular la noticia de que Blaise había sobrevivido y sería movida a una casa de seguridad. Esa parte era verdad, Zabini iba a ser movido pero su dirección no sería revelada, en cambio, la que sería filtrada sería la de Draco para que Harry pudiera atraparlo. El problema era que habían tenido que hacer el movimiento tan rápido que no había podido explicárselo al rubio, por eso seguía y seguía refunfuñando.-Malfoy, si te callaras por solo cinco segundos, podría explicártelo- murmuró el moreno irritablemente y Draco entrecerró los ojos.-Tal vez si usaras tu boca para algo más que balbucear a tus aurores y de hecho, hablarme directamente, tal vez no preguntaría tanto-siseó el rubio de regreso y los dos aurores que estaban para extra protección miraron de un lado a otro nerviosamente, parecían salir chispas de los ojos de su jefe y eso casi siempre predecía problemas.-He tenido niños a mi cargo mejor portados-el moreno no parecía tomar en cuenta que Draco estaba en cama, todavía sanando sus heridas, por la postura del rubio, parecía que ni él mismo se acordaba de eso.-Será por que son de tu edad mental y por eso se llevan mejor-Draco le sonrió con suficiencia y Harry gruñó en su dirección, alzando sus manos en un gesto de irritación antes de salir de la habitación dando un portazo, ahorita realmente no estaba de humor para lidiar con Malfoy y sus berrinches, el maldito no había cambiado nada durante estos años, seguía igual de gruñón, pedante, engreído, guapo y rubio. Deteniéndose repentinamente, el moreno volvió a analizar sus pensamientos antes de detenerse con horror en la palabra 'guapo' y rápidamente sacudió su cabeza. Su jaqueca iba de mal en peor.-¿A dónde crees que vas?Draco hizo un gesto entre dolor y fastidio y se giró para observar a Harry en la puerta del cuarto, brazos cruzados y con todo el porte de un padre pillando a su hijo haciendo una travesura. O algo así. Las heridas de Draco aún no sanaban, le habían mandado mucho reposo y nada de movimientos bruscos. Como intentar levantarse solo para merodear por la casa, ya había sido pillado una vez y por girar rápido, se había caido lo cúal había abierto algunas de sus heridas en la espalda. Harry no lo había encontrado divertido, le había gritado por lo que parecía 20 minutos seguidos antes de lanzar la puerta para irse, según él el moreno era super fan de eso de tirar puertas, le salía muy dramático. -Necesito ir al baño. Y puedo hacerlo solo-se apresuró a espetar cuando lo vio abrir la boca-En serio, ya es bastante vergonzoso tener que comer en la cama, creo que puedo manejar ir al baño sin que tomes mi mano-le dijo sarcásticamente. Había sido un golpe grande en su orgullo el estar convaleciente con Potter alrededor, habían sido años desde que había visto al bastardo y que luciera bien tampoco ayudaba, o que fuera exactamente el tipo de hombre con el que a Draco le encantaba enredarse. Rodando los ojos, Harry se acercó a él y su primera opción fue ayudarlo a levantarse pero en vez de eso se agachó y lo tomó en brazos. Hmm. Malfoy no pesaba tanto como pensaba y era divertida la manera en la que había soltado una exclamación y se había agarrado a su cuello. Excepto que así de cerca, el aroma del rubio se adentró en sus sentidos rápidamente y se contuvo de respirar profundamente. Demonios, olía muy bien. Dulce pero no como chica, tenía definitivamente un toque varonil. -Ves que fácil es, yo puedo llevarte-dijo Harry, intentando aparentar normalidad mientras caminaba hacia el baño.-Cuando esta tortura acabe, voy a ahorcarte, Potter-gruñó Draco, solo que sonó más como los quejidos de un niño, era casi adorable.-Solo dime la hora y fecha, Malfoy-le sonrió mientras lo ponía en el suelo y se sintió complacido cuando vio un sonrojo aparecer en el rostro del rubio. El sonido de la puerta cerrándose fuertemente en su cara solo lo hizo reír en voz alta. Definitivamente el rubio era igual de fácil de molestar que en el colegio.Días estaban empezando a pasar, Draco se mejoró y ahora podía moverse por sí mismo hacia todos lados y Harry no confesaría ni bajo un Crucio que extrañaría el poder cargarlo y fastidiarlo. Curiosamente, la mejor parte de su día era cuando podía pelear con el rubio, al menos lo distraía de la frustración de no poder atrapar al atacante, que repentinamente había desaparecido. No estaban seguros si era porque no había creído la falsa información que ellos habían pasado o porque había decidido que lo mejor que podía hacer era largarse antes de que lo atraparan. Draco también empezaba a sentirse ansioso, andar todo el día encerrado en casa lo fastidiaba, quería saber de la recuperación de su amigo, de alguna noticia de afuera pero el moreno mantenía los labios cerrados, era frustrante. Quitando eso del camino, ambos hombres estaban formando pequeñas rutinas alrededor del otro.Resulta que a Draco le gustaba cocinar, solía aliviar estrés haciendo grandes desayunos que los otros aurores que hacían guardia les gustaba devorar sin apenas respirar, en un par de días el rubio ni siquiera tenía que llevarles el plato, apenas olían comida ellos ya estaban sentados en la mesa, esperando su comida, si fueran perros, estarían meneando sus colas. Harry se burlaría de ellos si no fuera que el también había caído bajo el encanto, en su interior podía admitir que su comida era mejor que la Señora Weasley y se sentía un traidor. Los aurores, agradecidos de tener comidas ricas en su barriga, se encargaban de lavar todo lo que el rubio había usado y dejaba la cocina sin ninguna mancha; también solían traerle al rubio libros cuando regresaban de sus visitas al cuartel, al moreno todavía no sabía si sentirse horrorizado o divertido de como Draco tenía a su equipo comiendo de su mano, casi literalmente. Harry solía sentarse en las tardes a jugar ajedrez con él, era increíble la diferencia entre Ron y el rubio para jugar, mientras que el pelirrojo lo hacia todo calculadoramente, Draco en cambio le gustaba conversar con sus piezas antes de mover; se supone que eso ayudaría a Harry, escuchar sus estrategias en voz alta y todo eso pero aún con eso, solía perder de manera bastante espectacular, para el el placer del rubio. Así que todo en todo, no la estaba pasando tan mal.Esa noche, se habían sentado a compartir un café, Harry sentado en un extremo de la sofa y Draco en el otro, sus piernas estiradas en el espacio en el medio. Se pusieron a hablar de todo y de nada, la conversación simplemente fluía, no habían pausas incómodas o dudas, eran dos personas hablando de una manera que nunca lo habían hecho antes. Hubiera sido imposible también, en el pasado los dos habían estado lleno de prejuicios contra el otro, no podían verse de otra manera que no fuera con odio, pero al crecer aprendes a ver las cosas de otra manera, las personas que te caían mal antes han crecido también, de repente ya son adultos y aunque había algún insulto de aquí a allá, no tenía esa maldad detrás. Harry se encontraba maravillado, el rubio brillaba en una luz diferente ahora, al principio solo creía que era atractivo, otra cara bonita pero convivir con él le había mostrado más lados de él, lados que le gustaban. Para Draco sucedía similar, era como cumplir ese sueño que había tenido de niño de poder ser amigo de Harry, de poder sentarse con él y hablar, de compartir bromas y que el moreno quiera pasar tiempo con él voluntariamente.Draco estaba sonriendo para sí mismo y cuando alzó la mirada, sus ojos encontraron los de Harry. No fue un movimiento repentino, ni una nube de lujuria de repente descendiendo en ellos, no había nada de alcohol involucrado. Eran simplemente dos personas atraídas la una por la otra y dispuestas a dar el salto. Casi al mismo tiempo los dos pusieron sus tazas de café a un lado y Harry se sentó más cerca, una mano alzándose para acariciar suavemente la mejilla del rubio. Draco podía sentir el pequeño revoloteo de magia en los dedos del moreno y suspiró calladamente, sus ojos cerrándose al mismo tiempo que la distancia entre ellos acababa y sus labios se encontraban en un beso. Trazando la línea de sus labios, Harry degustó del sabor compartido del café y fue dejando besos cortos y dulces sobe su boca antes tocar su labio inferior con la punta de lengua. Draco no se resistió, su boca abriéndole el paso sin pelea, sus manos alzándose para descansar sobre sus hombros, dedos dibujando círculos ahí donde estaban.No pasó a mayores, estuvieron ahí por lo que se sintió como horas solo besándose, a veces solo rozando sus labios, otras veces más apasionado y necesitado, con ansias de más pero tácitamente acordando moverse lento, esto no era un simple revolcón de una noche ni un beso que se quedaría en el olvido, las cosas nunca habían podido ser casuales entre ellos, siempre había existido el potencial de volverse más, ya sea malo o bueno. En el pasado había sido malo, pero ahora estaban seguro que era bueno. Muy bueno.En la mañana siguiente, los aurores que estaban de guardia comían su desayuno lentamente, mirando de un lado a otro. Ni Draco ni Harry se estaban tocando, ni siquiera se estaban mirando pero era como si una pequeña tensión llenara la cocina, no estaban seguros de qué era así que decidieron que era mejor acelerar su desayuno y salir de ahí lo más pronto posible. Una vez estuvieron solos de nuevo, Draco se había sentado en la silla a seguir leyendo su libro y Harry se había acercado por detrás, manos descansando en sus hombros y inclinándose hacia abajo para rozar sus labios contra su cuello. El rubio había sonreído, cerrando sus ojos para disfrutar de la caricia antes de girar su cabeza lo suficiente como para que pudieran besarse. Con algunos movimientos, pronto los dos estaban en el mueble, besándose perezosamente, las manos de Draco hundiéndose en el sorpresivamente suave cabello de Harry mientras que el moreno acariciaba su cintura y lo pegaba cerca. Ambos eran personas intensas, por lo que estaban sorprendidos que no hubieran saltado sobre el otro todavía; o tal vez era exactamente por eso que se estaban tomando su tiempo. Ahora ya no les fastidiaba tanto el paso de los días, los dos estaban más relajados, casi siempre pegados el uno al otro. Fue una de esas noches, cerca de un mes y medio desde que estaba en esta casa de seguridad, que finalmente cedieron a la pasión. Sabían que estaba por venir, los besos poco a poco se habían ido volviendo más necesitados, más urgentes. Apenas y había aguantado hasta que los aurores se habían asentado en sus posiciones en la puerta antes de que se lanzaran el uno contra el otro, caminando sin ver hacia el cuarto, la ropa cayendo por todas partes mientras que los besos se volvían más y más ardientes. La primera vez fue casi salvaje, el lubricante usado y tirado por cualquier lado, los hechizos de seguridad murmurados apresuradamente y los gritos acallados en la boca del otro. Draco no tenía tanta paciencia y lo empujó hacia la cama, subiéndose encima de él y montándolo casi con rudeza, después de ese primer orgasmo, el que necesitaban para quitar la urgencia. Harry tomó cargo y se dedicó a besar y conquistar cada parte del cuerpo del rubio, importándole un rábano cuánto rogara o amenazara, se tomó su tiempo hasta que lo dejó básicamente sin palabras, solo gemidos temblorosos saliendo de sus labios. Marcó partes de su cuerpo, su cuello era su lugar favorito, notorio, para que cualquiera que lo viera supiera que estaba tomado. Draco no se quedó atrás, dejando arañazos y marcas que se asomaban apenas sobre la camisa, lo suficientemente presentes como para dejar en claro que Potter era su propiedad. Todo había estado yendo tan bien, que era obvio que las cosas pronto irían mal.Harry había recibido un mensaje de Hermione, diciéndole que habían descubierto información importante y necesitaban hablar con él. Con reticencia, Harry se despidió del rubio con un beso largo y le recordó una y otra vez a los aurores de mantenerse alerta de cualquier cosa mientras él estuviera afuera. La castaña lo saludó con un rápido abrazo cuando lo vio, contenta de verlo y rápidamente se puso a decirle lo que habían averiguado. El atacante era el ex-padrastro de Blaise Zabini, había estado buscando venganza luego de que la mamá de Blaise lo hubiera engañado con el prenupcial y le hubiera quitado todo su dinero. El hombre, Patrick Bertollini, era un italiano famoso, había inventado diferentes productos para el ejército francés muggle y había modificado uno para su ataque al club, una combinación de una bomba de presión y 'Diffindo'. Había querido vengarse de la Sra Zabini asesinando a su hijo pero Draco se había puesto en el medio, salvando a Blaise en el último minuto; luego lo había hecho de nuevo inadvertidamente cuando estuvo en el hospital y ahora el hombre estaba más frenético que antes, habían testigos que habían dicho verlo merodeando por San Mungo y Knocturn Alley. A Harry no le gustaba nada esto, cuando la gente estaba acorralada, se volvía más peligrosa. Y dicho y hecho, fue en ese preciso momento en que las alarmas de la casa de seguridad se dispararon y él sintió su corazón hundirse. Casi moviéndose en auto-piloto, Harry se movió hacia la zona de desaparición, sin esperar a su equipo y se apareció a unos metros de la casa. Lo primero que vio fue fuego, por las ventanas y por la puerta habían llamas saliendo y su estómago se apretó dolorosamente.-Dios, no-fue todo lo que pensó antes de realizar un encantamiento burbuja alrededor de su rostro y correr hacia la casa, no podía esperar y apagar el fuego, tenía que encontrar a Draco y a su equipo. La sala estaba destrozada, muebles tirados por todos lados, Harry se aseguró que no hubiera nadie antes de moverse hacia la cocina, donde encontró a sus aurores tirados en el suelo. Agachándose rápidamente, el moreno soltó un suspiro aliviado cuando notó que solo estaban inconscientes y colocó su varita sobre sus insignias de aurores, viéndolos desaparecer y sabiendo que volverían a aparecer en el cuartel dónde serían atendidos. Alzando su varita nuevamente, Harry siguió recorriendo la casa, yendo hacia los cuartos y podía escuchar voces esta vez. Colocándose un hechizo desilusionador encima, Harry se acercó y espió dentro del cuarto de Draco.Patrick estaba ahí, caminando de un lado a otro y gritando enojadamente sobre engaños y farsas y mala información, a Harry le importaba un comino, solo quería encontrar a Draco y pronto pudo al rubio, sentado en la cama con las manos atadas a su espalda, tenía un corte a la altura del cuello que estaba derramando sangre sobre la camisa azul. La camisa de Harry. Sintiendo la furia crecer en él, el moreno ignoró el discurso de genio malvado que estaba dando y le lanzó un aturdidor, dándole de lleno en la espalda y viéndole caer cara primero contra el piso. Harry lanzó un Incarcerous primero antes de apresurarse dónde estaba Draco, sus manos temblorosas sonteniéndose su varita y cortando sus ataduras, teniendo al rubio en sus brazos un segundo después. -Pensé lo peor-susurró Harry mientras lo apretaba fuertemente contra él, Draco no dijo nada, simplemente se movió lo suficiente atrás como para besarlo, sosteniéndose de su camisa, no era necesario que usara palabras, él también había estado aterrado. A lo lejos escuchó el sonido de apariciones y sabía que era su equipo viniendo al rescate-Estás a salvo ahora-le aseguró, murmurando las palabras contra sus labios. No era una promesa, era una afirmación. Todo había acabado.Una vez con el hombre arrestado, tanto Blaise y Draco fueron capaces de regresar a casa y verse el uno al otro. El rubio estaba feliz de ver que su mejor amigo estaba bien, sus heridas ya sanadas, sabía que las cosas todavía serían complicadas para él, tenía que lidiar con el club y todas las muertes que había causado Patrick, había muchas cosas que tomar en cuenta, como si valía la pena volver a abrir el club o no. Sin embargo, todo era se vería después del juicio, por ahora solo querían asegurarse que el bastardo iría a Azkaban con una larga sentencia, o el beso como mínimo. Lastimosamente, la semana después de atrapar a Patrick y volver a casa, Harry había estado muy ocupado construyendo el caso contra él, juntando evidencia para que el tipo no tuviera ni siquiera un pequeño chance de escaparse de esta. Eso significaba que tampoco había podido ver a Draco y no podía creer lo mucho que ya se había acostumbrado a él, a veces tenía que recordarse que tenía que aparecerse en su apartamento y no en la casa de seguridad en la que ambos habían estado viviendo. Extrañaba sus desayunos en la mañana y sus juegos de ajedrez en la noche, extrañaba esas peleas jugetonas que tenían solo porque era incapaces de dejar de molestarse el uno al otro completamente. Más que nada, extrañaba besarlo, recién se había ganado el derecho de hacerlo y perderlo tan de repente lo deprimía. Draco no estaba mejor, su humor andaba de mal en peor en casa, sus elfos domésticos intentando meterse en su camino lo menos que pudieran, solo en caso de que al amo Draco se le dé como al amo Lucius de tirar patadas alrededor. El primero en quebrarse fue Harry. La noche del viernes, con todo el caso armado y listo para ser enviado de manera urgente al día siguiente, diciendo que se iba a casa a descansar, al moreno no le pasó desapercibida la sonrisita en el rostro de su amiga y trató valientemente de no sonrojarse, fallando estrepitósamente. Después de pasar por su casa para cambiarse la túnica de auror por algo limpio y más decente, Harry se apareció en la Mansión Malfoy. Decía mucho cuán ido estaba por el rubio que ningún recuerdo de la guerra revoloteó por su cabeza y simplemente le pidió a un elfo avisarle a su amo que estaba aquí para verlo. Repentinamente nervioso, Harry intentó quedarse quieto en su sitio, sintiendo que cada segundo era una eternidad de espera cuando por fin escuchó pasos venir. Draco se detuvo en la entrada de la sala, ambos solo mirándose por algunos segundos antes de acortar la distancia por mutuo acuerdo y abrazarse fuertemente.-¿Qué te tomó tanto tiempo?-reclamó Draco suavemente, su cabeza escondida en el cuello de Harry, apretándose más fuertemente a él.-Ya estoy aquí-respondió el moreno, acariciando su cabello rubio-Ya estoy aquí.Ya estoy en casa, pensó Harry. Y nunca había sonado más cierto.
10932429	Take a Risk	{ "Archive Warning": null, "Category": null, "Characters": "Allison Argent, Isaac Lahey, Scott McCall, Erica Reyes, Vernon Boyd, Jackson Whittemore, Lydia Martin, Stiles Stilinski, Cora Hale, Peter Hale, Derek Hale, Danny Māhealani, Kira Yukimura, Malia Tate", "Fandom": "Teen Wolf (TV)", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Teen And Up Audiences", "author": "by leoincolour (orphan_account)", "chapters": "3/?", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-17T00:00:00", "words": "13,979", "Additional Tags": "fake dating au, scallisaac, Scisaac - Freeform, Allisaac, Emissary!Stiles, Past Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Canonical Child Abuse, Threesomes, there's sex eventually, Past Character Death, Fluff and Angst, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Homelessness, OT3, Stiles gets around, honestly there's no timeline to this, Fake/Pretend Relationship", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": "Allison Argent/Isaac Lahey/Scott McCall, Allison Argent/Isaac Lahey, Isaac Lahey/Scott McCall, Scott McCall/Kira Yukimura, Malia Tate/Kira Yukimura, Vernon Boyd/Erica Reyes, Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Cora Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Lydia Martin/Stiles Stilinski", "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": "Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply", "Categories": "F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi", "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	“Jesus Christ, Lydia.” Allison let out a low whistle as she stepped into the girl’s mansion. It was yet another one of the strawberry blonde’s very popular parties. And not without reason.It had been a few months since Allison and Scott broke up. It was a mutual thing, and as much Allison loved Scott, there was something about them; something that told her that they’d never work out. There was something missing from their relationship. Scott was just too perfect. And also a werewolf, which definitely didn’t help their situations.So, Lydia took it upon herself to set Allison up. She’d sent Allison on far too many blind dates, in Allison’s opinion. All of them had been horrific, even worse than the time Allison had went on that date with Eric Miller in the eighth grade and he had tried to kiss her with tongue. And this party was yet another attempt at a date. ‘Something less hard to mess up,’ as Lydia had said.“I know,” Lydia clapped her hands together, spinning around in an all too familiar pirouette. “One of my best.” She said, grabbing Allison by the hand and dragging her upstairs. The brunette opened her mouth to speak, but Lydia cut her off. “There is no way you are wearing that.” She said, scanning the huntress up and down, scrunching her nose up in disgust.“What? What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?” Allison looked down. It was simple and just her style. A leather skirt and a cute crop top, the one that she saved for special occasions. She thought it was nice, but Lydia seemed to strongly disagree.“No, it’d be perfect!” She paused for dramatic effect, her face falling. “If you were twelve. I’m going to get you a real outfit. Sit tight.” The banshee said, sitting Allison down onto her plush bed as she sifted through her closet. Allison had always loved hanging out with Lydia, she always felt accepted. Like she could tell her everything. They had been through hell and back together, literally, and they were still close.After a few moments of pondering Lydia whirled around, tossing a dress at Allison. Her hunter reflexes got the best of her and Allison caught it in mid-air, causing Lydia to quirk an eyebrow.“So, uh, where is it?” She questioned, holding up the hanger. It was a sleek purple maxi dress, much shorter than Allison was used to. The redhead shrugged in response.“Oh, quiet.” Lydia waved a hand dismissively. “You’ll look great in it. Especially in that leather jacket I know you brought.” Allison smiled, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. Giving in, she stood up to change. The girl knew Lydia wouldn't go down without a fight, and fighting her was like fighting a pack of lions; you just can’t win. Lydia smirked, looking like she was going to gloat about her victory but she was interrupted by the doorbell’s shrill ring. “We will continue this conversation later. Go change.” She said, backing out as she pointed a finger at Allison. The brunette put her hands up in surrender with a small laugh as Lydia shut the door behind her. She shimmied out of her skirt and shirt, and into the skin tight dress. Allison sucked in a sharp breath and made her way down the stairs, grabbing her jacket off the coat rack and pulling it on as she entered the main room.“Allison!” She heard a voice call. The house was already pretty packed, people bustling about. She noticed a keg sitting in the kitchen. Trying to locate the source of the voice, her eyes scanned the crowd when a familiar figure emerged from the crowd. Allison let out a sigh of relief.“Stiles.” She smiled as the boy approached her. They weren't close, no, and they definitely had not grown closer over the time she had spent away from Scott, but it was still nice to see someone she knew. “Hey, have you seen Lydia?” She asked. Since the boy was so obsessed with her, she figured he’d have eyes on her. The way Stiles perked up proved she was right.“Actually, she was looking for you.” The huntress cocked an eyebrow. Typically, when Lydia was looking for her, something was coming. “She’s in the kitchen. Chatting up some lacrosse goon.” Allison laughed.“Aren't you on the lacrosse team?” She asked, and Stiles shot her a pointed look.“Yeah, but I’m not a goon.” He huffed, stalking towards the kitchen. Allison followed, pushing through the cluster or teenagers. “I barely even play.” He scoffed, reaching the crowd around the keg where Lydia was situated in the outskirts.“Lydia!” Allison called, reaching her alongside Stiles. Lydia put on a smile. The brunette noticed it wasn't very real, it was sickeningly sweet. The one she used to charm boys or girls into doing what she wanted. It was a smile Allison rarely saw anymore, one she hadn’t seen since they first met.“Allison. Perfect timing.” Allison grimaced. Her tone of voice matched her smile, and it made her sick to her stomach. The more she thought about it, the less she missed old Lydia. “This,” She said, gesturing to the tree in the varsity jacket beside her. “Is Ryder Kingston.” The boy gave her a hasty wave, one that she recuperated just as awkwardly. “Very nice. Very Single.” The boy blushed as Lydia spoke. Allison smiled. There was a beat of silence that passed between the four of them. “Stiles? Can speak to you for a second?” Stiles nodded and the duo left, leaving Allison and Ryder. Deciding to take a chance, she stuck out a hand.“Allison Argent.” She said as he grabbed it, shaking it firmly. He seemed sweet enough, and Allison was a believer in second chances. Or ninth. She was starting to lose count.“Ryder. But, uh, you already knew that.” He stuttered, and Allison laughed. “Beer?” He offered, and she took it with a smile, leaning on the counter next to her.“So. Ryder. I’ve never really seen you around. You new?” He nodded. Allison got a good look at him as she tuned out whatever origin story he was telling her. He was quite cute. Green eyes, brown hair, it was definitely a step up from the other guys Lydia was setting her up with. Ryder seemed to be a little more her speed. All the guys Lydia set Allison up with all kind of looked like Jackson, and she did not need that reminder. A loud cheer from behind her shocked her back into reality.“-And that’s why I now reside in Beacon Hills, California.” He said, and Allison nodded, pretending like she knew exactly what he said and hoping he didn't question her about it later. She was about to say something when she was interrupted by two stilettos clicking on the marble behind her and Lydia’s regal voice. Allison let out a breath. Saved by her recurring bell.“Ladies and Gentlemen. Thank you for coming!” She raised her red solo cup as a cheer ran through the room. “I would just like to announce that we’ll be playing seven minutes in heaven in the next room.” She said and with that she hopped off the counter, sticking her landing directly beside Allison. “You’re coming.” She paused, glancing over at Ryder. “You too.” Allison cleared her throat.“Uh, Lydia? Can I talk to you for a second?” She asked, shooting a sorry look Ryder’s way. “We’ll meet you in the next room.” She said and he nodded, wandering off to leave the pair of girls alone. “What are you doing?” Allison asked, appalled. Everything Lydia was doing what extremely out of character, even for her. It reminded her of past, catty, Lydia.“Look, I’m just tired of seeing you so down in the dumps, okay?” Lydia’s face fell into a frown as she spoke. Allison could see the familiar vulnerability in her eyes as Lydia grabbed her hands in her own. “I know you miss Scott, and ever since you broke up, you’ve haven’t yourself.” Allison sighed. It was true, she did miss Scott, and it was hard to adjust. The dates Lydia were sending her on definitely weren’t helping. Allison had immersed herself so much in training and school that it left her no free time. ( re: no time to think about a certain werewolf. )“It’s just- hard.” Lydia nodded sympathetically, her thick lips thinning into a line.“I know, and you need to get your mind off that. I mean, you saw what happened to me after Jackson. I swear to you, it’ll make you feel so much better.” She said, turning around to point at the room behind her. “In there, is a possible second chance. And if it's not him, then it might be the next one.” Next one? Allison barely wanted to try with this one. The only reason she was going out with all these guys was because she loved Lydia too much to say no.“Lydia-” Allison started, but the girl cut her off.“You’re Allison fucking Argent. You deserve better than some guy who has definitely moved on.” Lydia was staring behind Allison’s shoulder, so the brunette turned to follow her sight of vision.And there he was in all his glory.Scott Mccall, talking to some girl that she assumed was new. They were laughing about something, and the asian girl laid a hand on one of Scott’s biceps. Even though they weren’t dating anymore, Allison still couldn't help but feel a little territorial. Lydia placed a supportive hand on top of her tense shoulder.“Now, you could waste your time on him,” Lydia used her chin to gesture towards Scott. “Or, you could use the totally hot , totally available guy waiting for you in the next room.” She said. Maybe she was right. Why was Allison wasting all this time when Scott was already moving on? She was happy for him and it was what she wanted, but it still stung. She took a deep breath. She looked hot, and maybe, just maybe, it was time to move on. Ryder definitely seemed like a good contender to move onto. Allison straightened up and whipped around, marching into the next room with pride, Lydia quick on her tail. The girl went to make another announcement, but not before handing the huntress her purse.“Alright!” The girl clapped her hands together, picking a random metal beer can off the table. “Make a circle!” Everyone scampered around to obey, and Lydia placed the can in the middle. “New kids first. Ryder?” Said boy blushed, something he had been doing quite often, and leaned forward to spin the can. Allison watched as it spun, starting slow down. Lydia was capable of a lot of things thanks to her banshee powers, but last time Allison checked telekinesis wasn’t on the list. And yet, the can slowed down to a stop, pointing directly at her. She looked up at Lydia with a shocked look on her face, and the girl just smirked in response.“Allison!” Someone cheered and she broke eye contact with Lydia to locate the source. It was Stiles again, this time accompanied with Scott and the asian girl. Allison’s mood soured as she stood up, stalking towards Lydia before gesturing for Ryder to go inside without her. He nodded and turned in, and Allison whirled around.“Lydia! What the hell? Or rather, how the hell?” She shrieked, but Lydia simply smiled and took her purse back from her.“Magnet in my purse.” Allison groaned. “Go get some.” Allison shot Lydia a dirty look as she padded towards the closet and shoved herself in the small space, face to face with Ryder.“Hey.” Ryder grinned, nose to nose with her. Allison couldn't help but grin back.“Hello.” His laugh seemed to cut through some of the tension in the closet, and Allison rested her head against the wall as she sighed. Ryder watched as she exhaled, trying his best to cross his arms over his chest in the small space provided.“So...” Allison blew a strand of her out of her face as he spoke. “What should we do?” The brunette looked around, but all she saw was the door and some coats. She patted around her body, shooting Ryder a pointed look when he shot an eyebrow up suggestively. Allison pulled out a pack of gum and a tube of lipstick. She held the tube of lipstick up with a grin on her face.“Fancy a makeover?” She questioned and Ryder laughed deeply, and it made Allison blush a little bit.“I mean, what the hell?” Ryder crouched down and Allison giggled, something she hadn’t done in a long time. It was the same color that she was wearing, and she applied it like she would on herself or Lydia. Just a thin coat, but the pink was still prominent against Ryder’s skin.“Cute.” Ryder and Allison laughed in unison. She looked up into Ryder’s green eyes and suddenly he was moving in to close the space. But impulsively, she placed a hand on his chest to stop him. She mentally commented on how toned he was as she grinned sheepishly. “I like you.” She started, trying to ignore the stunned look on his face. “But we just met, and I just got out of a super intense relationship, and I just- I can’t.” Ryder seemed to nod, understandingly, turning a little red. Allison felt her cheeks burn with the same color.“Yeah. No, I totally understand.” Allison hastily removed her hand from his chest and they stood basking in the awkward silence, completed with throat clearing and shifty glances. The brunette couldn’t help but jump when the closet door slid open. Ryder’s hand shot up to wipe off the remains of the lipstick Allison had applied, and the huntress slinked past Lydia and made a beeline for the kitchen. She needed a drink.When she finally has a red cup in her hand she let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding, leaning against Lydia’s marble counter, taking a much needed sip. She stood up instinctively when she saw the redhead approaching.“So, I heard it went well!” Lydia wiggled her perfectly manicured eyebrows and Allison rolled her eyes.“Nothing happened. We just, uh, talked.” She shrugged loosely, taking another sip. Lydia's face scrunched in confusion as she spoke. But, knowing Lydia it was probably something along the lines of Allison’s hair looking a little too askew. “What?” The huntress questioned, shrinking into herself insecurely.“Oh! Well, Ryder's in the next room telling everyone you hooked up. And your lipstick is smeared all over his face. I’d know that signature ‘ Allison Argent Pink ’ anywhere.” Allison slammed her drink on the counter, the beer sloshing over the edges as she stormed out of the room, leaving Lydia with a dumbfounded look on her face. It didn’t take her too long to spot Ryder. She stalked towards him, grabbing him by the shoulder and spinning him around.“What the hell?” She exclaimed. Ryder’s sincere and kind expression was gone, replaced by a crude sneer. It was like the boy she had met a few minutes ago was gone, replaced by an alcohol induced douchebag. “Why are you telling people we hooked up, when we obviously did not? ” She hissed, her hand gesturing borderlining aggressive. People were staring now, but Allison didn't care.“Please. I’m doing you a favour.” Ryder snarled, and Allison scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest, her cocked eyebrow beckoning the boy to continue. “I’m showing them Allison Argent is back. Ready to be a grade. A. Slut . Just like before. I’ve heard the rumors-” He started but Allison cut him off promptly. With the sound of her fist connected with face. The girl contemplated a slap, but typically punches left bruises behind. And Allison wanted to leave a bruise. A chorus of “ Oooh’s ” rang through the crowd as the girl stormed off again. She pushed past the crowd that had formed until she somehow found herself outside. Allison let out a long groan, running a hand through her hair. She glanced around, taking in the scenery that was Lydia’s backyard and suddenly noticed a body standing a few feet away from her.Isaac Lahey. He was a beta in the Hale pack, and she would be lying if she said she hadn’t hunted him once or twice. Or multiple times. And here he was, in all his werewolf glory, smoking. In Lydia’s backyard. Silently, he offered her a cigarette with a cocked eyebrow. After a moment she took it and he closed the space between them and lit it. She slowly brought it up to her lips and took a drag, inhaling the smoke. She willed herself to not cough, but her eyes teared up as she exhaled, and she attempted to hide her oncoming cough by clearing her throat.“Didn’t know you smoked.” Isaac commented. His voice was deep and smooth, and Allison wanted to hear it a lot more often. But at the same time, she wanted to punch the smug look off his face.“I didn't know you smoked either.” Isaac laughed, flicking the ashes off his cigarette with ease. Allison hadn’t heard him laugh before, and she was so surprised that she turned to him. She’d be a liar if she said she didn't think he was attractive. A blind person would think he’s attractive. He was intense, all sharp edges, like he was carved out of marble.“Touché.” It was her turn to laugh now. “Actually, I don’t, usually. I’m just a little stressed.” He ran a hasty hand through his hair, and she sighed in agreement.“Me too.” She agreed taking another drag. After a few a moments of comfortable silence, she laughed at herself. Honestly, if someone had told her that she’d be smoking with Isaac Lahey during a party, she probably would have laughed in their face. “Lydia keeps forcing me to go out on dates. And they all keep turning out to be dickbags. Like, ten for ten.” She let the confession slip out and Isaac chuckled.“Ten?” He sounded appalled, and she nodded. “Damn,” He whistled, and she nodded once more, watching as Isaac dropped the cigarette and put it out under his foot. “We seem to be on the same page. Derek keeps forcing the pack to go out together, but I don’t want to spend another second watching Boyd and Erica shove their tongues down each other’s throats or listen to them keep bugging me about getting into a relationship.” He sighed. “They’re inside. It’s a grind-fest in there.” Isaac shivered, his blue eyes twinkling.“Well, they will never be as overbearing as The Lydia Martin.” She said, putting out her own cigarette as she spoke. “That girl is more desperate to get a dick in me than she is to get dick in herself.” She heard Isaac choke at her words, but she didn’t mind. A tipsy Allison was an unfiltered one.“Right.” Isaac cleared his throat to clear some of the tension she had created. “Maybe she’s just throwing hook ups your way. Because, no offence, but you don’t exactly seem like you’re exactly ready for another relationship.” Allison scoffed at his words, glaring daggers at the blond.“You know, just because you say ‘ no offence ,’ doesn’t mean it’s not offensive.” Isaac simply shrugged, and Allison rolled her eyes but continued nevertheless. “And you know, you don’t seem fit to be in a relationship either.” Now it was Isaac’s turn to scoff.“Okay, I am very fit to be in a relationship, thank you very much. I’d be a very good boyfriend.” Isaac retorted, cocking an eyebrow at the huntress. “In fact, you’d be lucky to date me.” Allison had to bite her lip to prevent herself from laughing out loud.“Oh my god!” The girl turned to Isaac, a bemused look on her face. “Please. Dating you would be like dating a brick wall.” Isaac’s eyebrows shot up as he turned to look at her, an obviously offended expression painted all over his face.“How would you know? This is the longest conversation you’ve had with me without stabbing me!” Isaac exclaimed. Allison pursed her lips. That was true, but she had heard things. He was cold and cruel, ready to carry out whatever orders his alpha demanded of him. He didn’t have a mind of his own. Or maybe he did, and it just consisted of sarcastic remarks and staring broodily into the distance.“All you do is pout at people and attack people when Derek tells you too! So, excuse me if I didn't want to exactly engage in conversation with you.” Isaac splayed a hand on his — extremely toned, as Allison had taken notice to — chest in mock offence. He dropped it quickly, and a smirk began to tug on the edges of his lips.“Okay. Proposition that I think will solve all our problems.” He paused for dramatic affect, a mischievous twinkle in his eye. “Allison Argent, would you like to go out on a date? Because I-” Allison cut him off surprised squeak, that transitioned into a cackle.“You really think-? You think-? Oh my god!” Isaac rolled his eyes so hard Allison thought they might fall out of his head.“God, woman, let me finish.” He groaned, smoothing a hand across his face in frustration. “We get into a fake relationship. It gets Lydia off your back, and the pack off mine. And I get to prove that I am a great boyfriend.” His proposal hung in the air like a loose thread as Allison sat on the offer. He did make a very good point. No more Lydia bothering her about dates, no more sitting through hours of tuning out jock talk. But on the other hand, he was Isaac Lahey. What would the pack think?Actually, screw what the pack thought.“Sure. Fine. Okay. But, we need to work out a few rules.” Isaac cocked an eyebrow, like he wasn't really expecting her to agree. But nevertheless she continued to speak.“One. We’re only dating in public. Nothing is going to happen behind closed doors.” She started to list, counting them on off her fingers as she spoke. “Two. We need to establish a story. No one’s going to believe us if our stories don't match.” The blond rolled his eyes but stood silently, letting her continue. Three. If one of us wants to end this, it ends. No questions asked.” Isaac nodded, the only indication that he was actually listening to her was that he started shrugging slightly in agreement.“Sounds good to me.” In Allison’s opinion, he sounded a little too nonchalant, but she decided to let it go for the time being. He pulled out his phone, and Allison snatched it out of his hand, ignoring his protests as she entered her number into his phone, adding a heart at the end for good measure. She handed it back to him, smiling at his frown. “You could have just asked, you know.” He said, shooting her a look as she giggled.“Yeah, but that’s not as fun,” Allison says, stifling a chuckle. “Your reaction was hilarious.” She broke out laughing with a snort, and she noticed as a smile began to tug at the edge of his lips. Usually, whenever she saw him in the halls he was always scowling alongside Erica and Boyd, but it was nice to see him actually enjoying himself for once. The lights that illuminated Lydia’s pool at night reflected off the water and onto Isaac’s face, leaving Allsion in awe of how ethereal he looked. She wouldn’t be surprised if a halo appeared over his messily tousled hair, and angel wings stretched out from behind his back.“You’re staring.” He stated plainly. Allison hadn’t noticed that he’d stopped staring off into the distance to look at her.“Sorry,” She apologized, quickly turning away as she rubbed her neck and blushed. “It’s just- weird, you know?” Allison sighed, letting her hands drop back beside her side. She didn’t know how to phrase what she was thinking into a comprehensible sentence. She had never been good with emotions, her mom had never really had a heart to heart with her and her dad was, well, he was her dad. Allison never really knew how to put what she was feeling into words, and instead she just let her emotions overwhelm her.“What’s weird?” Isaac asked, shoving his hands into his pockets as he spoke. She also assumed that Isaac wasn’t really all that experienced with emotions either. His past had just been revealed to everyone in the supernatural world, out and easy to read like a book. No one really spoke about it, in fact no one had said a word about it, but somehow everyone knew about it. Everyone knew about the boy that took the bite to get away from his father.“Nevermind,” She said softly as she shook her head, whirling on her heels. It had been a long night. Allison just wanted to go home and knock out. She had had enough plot twists to last her a month. “I’m just going to go.” And without another word she opened the screen door and closed it behind her before Isaac could open his mouth to say another word.Allison pushed through the mass of sweaty teenagers as she fought her way to the door, but not before Lydia caught her arm on the way out. With a mumbled I’ll text you tomorrow, okay? She tugged her arm out of her grip and just kept going. The front door was already open, and there was a familiar figure standing outside.“Allison!” Stiles exclaimed, his eyebrows furrowing in concern as she walked down Lydia’s front steps to join him on the tarmac. “I heard what happened. Are you okay?” Allison nodded, and swung her car keys around her pointer finger, making a move to step in the direction of her car before Stiles snatched the key. “There’s no way you are driving home. I saw you drinking.” He said, and with that he grabbed her arm and dragged her toward his beat up blue Jeep. “I’ll drive you home.” He said, opening the passenger door for her like the gentleman he was. She let out a soft laugh as she climbed inside, Stiles rushing to the other side of the car to climb into the driver’s seat.Stiles had driven her home plenty of times before, when she was dating Scott. He was a nice kid. Emissary for the Hale pack and ( in Allison’s opinion ) an undercover genius, Stiles seemed to be the only one who could really balance the supernatural life and his regular life. Everyone else seemed to be too far deep into the supernatural side of things, so it was refreshing to see that at least one person she knew had themselves handled. Allison and Stiles sat in comfortable silence as he drove, the only noise being the soft murmurs of the police channels coming from Stiles’ radio. Eventually he slowed to a stop at the front of her doorstep, placing her keys back into her waiting palm.“Thanks.” She said. She really didn’t know what else to say to him. He was her ex's best friend, and she didn’t want to cross any weird unspoken boundary between them. Allison was never very good with all this teenage etiquette.“No problem.” He smiled at her, not noticing how curt her answer was and how uncomfortable she was standing outside, waiting for him to drive away. After a moment the Jeep’s engine rumbled back to life and he sped off, presumably to go pick up Scott or Malia from Lydia’s party. Fumbling with her keys, she pushed open the front door, only to be greeted by the echoing silence of an empty house. She padded up the stairs and flopped onto the bed, pulling her phone out of the pocket of her jacket. She had a few notifications; mostly just missed calls from Lydia and a few messages.Instagram @ 21:24: @thelydiamartin started a live video! Don’t miss it!Snapchat @ 22:56: scott mccall (2), lydia martin (6), jackson whittemore, danny mahealani (2), malia tateLydia Martin @ 23:46: alli?? you okay?? Lydia Martin @ 23:48: you left your car hereLydia Martin @ 23:48: allison are you okay 3 Missed Calls from Lydia Martin Lydia Martin @ 23:54: nvm, stiles just told me he drove you home. text me back. just want to know you’re okay. After shooting off a quick message to Lydia letting her know that she was at home, and really just wanted to go to bed, her notifications went off one more time. The number was unknown, but she knew who it was seconds after reading the message. 714 - 835 - 2525 @ 00:09: heard u left. meet me at snakes and lattes tmmw so we can talk? i’ll pay. i’m ur boyfriend now anyways ;) ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Allison sits patiently in her wooden booth at Snakes and Lattes. It’s a little café in downtown Beacon Hills where they let you drink and play board games at the same time; hence the name. It’s cute and homey. Scott had taken her there a few times before as a date, so the place wasn’t that new to her. A waiter flitted by and placed the hot chocolate she had ordered in front of her, and she thanked him as he walked away. She couldn’t tell if she was imagining it, but she could see the design of a wolf howling at the moon swirled into the foam of her drink. Before she could ponder any further about it, someone slid into the bench across from her. Isaac, obviously, looking devilishly angelic as always.“Hey,” Isaac settled into the seat as Allison shot him a shy smile and wrapped her hands around the mug. “Thanks for meeting me.” Despite his cocky badass attitude yesterday - or everyday, if she was being honest - , Allison couldn’t help but notice that he was acting a little more timid than usual. That gave the huntress the boost of confidence she needed to sit straight and start talking.“Of course. No problem...” She trailed off, rubbing her neck in a way she hoped was casual. “Look, I was a little drunk yesterday so I understand if-” The brunette started, but was cut off.“Wow, Allison. I didn’t know Argents backed away from a challenge.” He said, a mischievous look in his eye. They had barely spoken, but it seemed that the beta knew just what to say to push her buttons. And as much as she wanted to deny it, she couldn’t help but admit that it was working.“I’m not backing away , per say, I’m just giving you a chance to change your mind.” She countered, attempting to throw his dumb look back in his face, but the werewolf seemed unfazed as he continued.“Really? Because it seems to me that you’ve changed your mind,” He said, making a move to stand up and leave as he spoke. “But that’s fine by me. I’m sure Lydia has another hot date set up for you, ready to go.”“Okay! Fine!” Allison exclaimed, the words slipping out of her mouth before she even realized she was speaking. Isaac sat back down, a smug look of victory painted all over his face. “I’ll… date... you.”“Well, don’t sound too excited now.” Isaac quipped, obviously taking notice of her slightly reluctant tone of voice. Disregarding his comment as she rolled her eyes, she began to speak.“Okay, well, if we’re going to do this we’ll need to establish a few ground rul-”“We did that yesterday.” Isaac quirked an eyebrow at the huntress as she blushed. “Do you not remember?” He asked, and Allison just shrugged.“I wouldn’t say ‘ I don’t remember’; it’s more along the lines of ‘ it’s hazy. ’” She said simply, trying to take a sip of her rapidly cooling hot chocolate as nonchalantly as possible.“What? So then how did you get home?” If Allison didn’t know any better she would say he was genuinely concerned for her well being. But he was Isaac, and she was Allison.“Stiles drove me home. Lydia dropped off my car this morning to see if I was okay.” She replied, toying with the handle of her mug as she spoke.“Morning after valet service? Aren’t I a lucky guy?” Allison sighed as Isaac resumed his previous position of somehow being attractively posed in a casual manner.“Anyways, back to the task on hand.” She said, changing the subject quickly. “How did- How did we happen?” She said, gesturing between them. Isaac pondered for a moment before leaning forwards.“It’s a classic Romeo and Juliet story. Hunter and Werewolf. I ask you on a date. You say yes, thinking you’ll hate it anyways. But you don’t. We continue to date in secret, until now, when we’re ready to come out about our relationship to our packs.” He says, and Allison is actually some sort of impressed. “Wow. Didn’t peg you for the writer type.” She said as he leans back into the back of the booth seat, obviously very impressed with his own story as well.“Thanks. But I’m not,” Isaac tries to hide his slight blush by ducking his head down slightly, but Allison can see the pink tint painted across the pale expanse of his cheeks. “I’m not very good at English.” Allison chuckles as he finally looks her in the eye again.“Okay well, why’d I stay then?” She asks, wondering if he had thought any further than the bare skeleton of their pretend relationship. And apparently he had, because without missing a beat he starts to speak again.“I probably did all this romantic shit. Took you here,” Isaac gestures the the little cafe around them without stopping his stream of thought. “Got you flowers. Actually listened to you speak. I wasn’t a total douchebag.” Allison nodded. Considering the multitude of horrible dates she has been on in the past few months, Isaac’s date actually sounded pretty appealing.“Why this place?” She asked curiously. Isaac seemed pretty infatuated with this place, and honestly, Allison didn’t see why. Nothing really stood out to her in the earnest. The place wasn’t a dump, but it wasn’t exactly her favourite place in Beacon Hills. “I don’t know,” Isaac shrugged, looking down once more. “My dad used to take our family here before…” He trailed off, but he didn’t need to continue for Allison to piece what he was going to say. Before his mom had died. Before his brother had died. Before his dad had died.“I’m sorry.” She knew that he heard this often and that it didn’t really mean anything to him, but for some reason she still felt obligated to say it. She knew the feeling of losing a parent - she had lost her mom - but she didn’t know what it was like to lose everybody .“Don’t be. It wasn’t your fault.” Isaac shrugged her apology off in a surprisingly casual fashion, way too casual for someone who was the last in his own bloodline. Allison honestly wasn’t too sure how he did it. No, she wasn’t all that invested in the daily life of the Lahey household, but she was sure that Isaac had loved his family in some sort of weird, twisted way. They were still the people who raised him and loved him. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that this kid had seen a lot of bodies. Almost more than she had. Isaac cleared his throat, and Allison realized they had been sitting in silence for the past few moments. She opened her mouth to speak, but all she could think of doing was muttering another apology.“I just- I can’t imagine.” She said, and Isaac shifted in his seat silently, his blue eyes flicking away from her face and focusing onto something in the distance behind her. “Anyways. So, are we going to tell everyone tomorrow, or…?” Allison questioned in an attempt to change this subject. This seemed to catch his attention once more, and he turned back to her.“Er, yeah. I think that’d be a good idea.” He said softly, shrugging as he slowly tried to regain his facade form the fatal blow it had taken. “Just make sure Stiles doesn’t zap me into oblivion, or anything.”“No promises. Ever since he’s been able to actually use his powers, he started doing whatever he wanted.” She chuckled and he smiled, drumming his fingers on the table.“Trust me, I know. One time I told him his shirt was on backwards and he threatened to turn me into a dog. Like, an actual canine.” He groaned, and she took another sip of her hot chocolate, shaking her head as she did so.Stiles had recently become the emissary of the Hale pack. Ever since Scott had been bitten, Derek had always hung around the teens, more often than not. Eventually, Scott didn’t have to be around for Derek to be around. He’d pop up whenever trouble was near, or whenever they needed information but were too dumb to figure it out themselves. Which was all the time. Stiles had taken a liking to the older werewolf, and soon enough he had become advisor to the alpha. He didn’t start learning all the rituals and magic until a little later. Derek didn’t seem to trust Stiles with any supernatural ability, - or really anything at all - but somehow the hyperactive boy seemed to convince him.“Yeah, well, one time he was playing my arrows and he turned them all into sticks. All of them. I had to wait for Derek to teach him how to change them back.” She countered, and Isaac’s confidence seemed to be trickling back. He had settled back into his seemingly natural asshole-y attitude.“Damn,” He looked like he was going to say something else, but the chime of his phone interrupted him. He pulled it out of his hoodie pocket quickly, his face falling into a frown. “Shit. I have to go. Derek’s calling a pack meeting or something.” He said, shuffling out of the booth and throwing a five down onto the booth table and shooting her a smile. “For the hot chocolate.” And with that he was out the door, leaving Allison alone.She finished up her drink and set out, heading back home. Allison threw her bag down onto the counter, padding up the stairs before getting caught by her dad on the staircase.“Dad?” She questioned, stopping in her tracks. Her dad was never usually home. He was always on hunting trips, crisscrossing around America or something along those lines. He’d been doing it more often after her mother died, so she never really had gotten the chance to ask what he was really doing.“Allison.” He said curtly, nodding at her as his cold blue eyes assessed her. She swallowed, wrapping her arms around her dad. After a moment's hesitation he recuperated, and she buried her nose in the crook of his neck, breathing in his scent. “Don’t get too attached. I have to go out to South Dakota.” He said in a familiar gravelly voice that only made Allison squeeze her father harder.“Didn’t you just go out there last week?” She questioned, her voice muffled by her father’s shoulder.“I did, but there’s a real bad supernatural problem out there for some reason. I’ll be back before you know it.” And with that and kiss on her head he was out the door again, leaving Allison standing alone in the middle of the staircase. He even closed the door silently on his way out. Desperate for someone to vent to, she sent a text off to Lydia.Less than an hour later she was flopped across the width of the strawberry blonde’s bed, talking as Lydia worked through her stack of Advanced Physics homework.“And he just left!” She exclaimed, flipping from her back to her stomach to look at her best friend and gauge her reaction. “He didn’t even say goodbye! He literally just walked out the door.” Lydia scribbled something down before looking up at the huntress from her spot on the floor, her bottom lip jut out in thought.“Allison, the man is grieving. I’m sure he’ll talk to you when he’s ready.” Lydia said softly, placing her book down beside her and crawling up onto the bed next to Allison.“I was grieving too!” Allison groaned, and Lydia waved a hand dismissively.“Everyone grieves in different ways. Just because your time is over doesn’t mean everyone finished too. These things take time.” Lydia said, grabbing a lock of brown hair in between two of her fingers and fiddling with it. Allison opened her mouth to respond, but her notifications beat her to it. Lydia rolled over and yanked Allison’s phone out of her purse. She turned it on and made the move to hand the brunette her phone but froze half way, a shocked look on her face.“What?” Allison questioned, sitting up as she grabbed for her phone, but Lydia withdrew her hand from her reach. “Is everything okay?” Her tone was urgent now.“I’m sorry. Since when are you texting Isaac Lahey? ” The banshee squealed in disbelief, turning Allison’s phone to show her the notification. And there it was, in all it’s glory.Isaac Lahey @ 15:43: wanna hang out tomorrow?? coffee?? a movie?? the library??“Oh. Oh God.” Allison groaned, flopping back down onto the bed, but Lydia didn’t drop the topic.“‘ Oh God’ is right. Explain yourself!” Lydia crossed her arms over her chest and gave Allison the same look she gives Stiles and Scott when she suspects they’re lying to her.“So…” Allison trailed off, not looking Lydia in the eye. “I’m kind of dating him, actually.”“What?” Lydia exclaimed in disbelief. “You’re lying! You’re kidding, right?” She asked and it seemed to be a serious question; like she really hoped Allison was kidding.“Uh, nope. We were going to tell the pack tomorrow.” Allison finally sat up and looked at Lydia; she had collected herself enough to lie with a straight face.“Seriously? What about all those guys that I set you up with?” Lydia asked, like she was appalled with the idea that Allison would date someone that wasn’t approved by her. The huntress shrugged in response.“Isaac just, uh, caught my eye, I guess. I don’t really know how to explain it.” Allison was grasping at straws at the moment, Lydia had caught her off guard. All the redhead did was cock an eyebrow.“Right. So you’re holding yourself to this?” Lydia asked. The disbelief and shock of Allison’s news seemed to have worn off, and all that was left now was doubt.“What? Of course I am!” It was Lydia’s turn to shrug now.“Alright.” Lydia said in a singsongy voice and Allison scowled as she snatched her phone out of Lydia’s hand. “If you say so.” The huntress ignored her comment and sent a text to Isaac saying she’d love to go to the library, also attempting to subtly add the fact that she had told Lydia a day earlier than planned.“You can’t tell anyone yet.” Allison begged and the redhead scoffed, using a perfectly manicured hand to flip her hair over her shoulder.“Like I would miss out on watching my best friend lie her ass off to the entire pack.” She laughed, and Allison groaned out loud.“I’m not lying!” She protested, and Lydia snorted.“Yeah, right. I know you, and Allison Argent doesn’t date assholes like Isaac Lahey. ” The banshee cocked her head slightly, a condescending look on her face.“He’s not an asshole. And didn’t he ask you out in like, the ninth grade or something?” She asked in attempt to get the heat off of her and Isaac’s relationship and onto literally anything else. “Yeah. But back then he was all bones and floppy hair. Told him to come back when his bike had a chain.” She shrugged, examining her nails as if turning down crowds of boys was something normal people could do on a daily basis.“He wasn’t an asshole then. He’s the same guy, just a lot more, uh, toned? And wolf-y?” Allison tried, and Lydia didn’t even look up from her nails."Oh. So, he gives it good, then?” The redhead asked, and Allison took a moment to process what she said. Lydia took her silence for misunderstanding, and she finally looked up from her nails, her eyebrows raised. “You know? Sex? Is he good in bed?” Allison groaned and rolled her eyes.“God, Lydia. For a girl so proper, you are way to goddamn crude.” She commented, and her best friend simply shrugged.Lydia didn’t stop with the questions the next day, either. On her way to her locker, Allison felt like she was a fugitive being interrogated by the government. Or by her mother when she was out past curfew. Those two situations were basically the same thing in Allison’s opinion.“So, how long have you guys been dating? How many dates? When’d he kiss you? Have you guys even kissed.” Lydia shot rapid fire questions at the huntress, and Allison ignored her, walking faster towards the direction of her locker. When she finally reached it, Lydia seemed to have only one question for her: “Does he make you happy?”“Yeah. Of course. You know I wouldn’t be with him if he didn’t.” Allison replied, pulling her history textbook out of her locker as she spoke. When she slammed her locker shut, Lydia linked arms with her, gripping tightly.“Then I guess I kind of have to like him, don’t I?” Allison laughed, happy to have a supportive friend, despite that fact that she was blatantly lying to her face.In all honesty, Allison didn’t know what she would do without Lydia. The huntress was beyond grateful that the girl had had the courage and confidence to become her friend, because Allison knew that there was no way in hell she would go to talk to Lydia by herself. Before all the supernatural stuff, and even a little bit after, being Lydia’s best friend was like being on cloud nine. She got special treatment because she was popular, and everyone seemed to know who she was. In her other schools, Allison was always the outsider. But the best part was; Lydia never seemed to care. She was always who she wanted to be. She owned the fuck out of everything she did. Allison admired her for that. The brunette didn’t know if she’d be able to make it this far without her best friend.“Allison?” Lydia snapped her fingers in front of her face, and Allison twitched back into reality. She always seemed to slip into her own thoughts, zoning out at the most random times. This time she zoned out during a history lecture, and she probably would have missed the entire thing if it wasn’t for Lydia. Giving her a small nod of thanks, she proceeded to do everything but listen to the teacher.The huntress scanned the classroom, noticing no one else was paying attention to the lecture except for Lydia, who was occasionally nodding while she scribbled down notes. Allison shrugged. She’d just borrow her notes later. Allison spotted Scott sitting next to the Asian girl, who she’d recently learned was named Kira. She felt a pang of jealousy as she watched them pass a notebook between the two of them, presumably carrying on a conversation. She wondered why Scott wasn’t sitting with Stiles when she noticed Stiles sitting next to a brunette girl, who was just straight up sleeping. Allison was pretty sure it was Malia, the girl they had saved, but she wasn’t sure. All she could see was her head of hair.The period seemed like it would never end. Every time Allison glanced at the clock, it seemed like no time had passed. Second period wasn’t any better, either. She used half of her time in second to ponder whether or not she should just drop out of school to hunt and travel with her dad. The other half was spent staring out of the window.Lunch finally rolled around, to Allison’s relief. She settled in at their usual table outside, watching as the people flooded out of the double doors of the school for their forty minutes of freedom. Soon she was joined by Lydia and Stiles, and eventually, Scott.“So, Allison has something to tell you guys.” Lydia said out of the blue, and Allison looked up, her mouth chock full of the sandwich she had made herself that morning.“I dwf?” She asked, attempting to chew and speak and the same time.“Yes, you do. It involves a certain bl-” Before the banshee could she continue, she was interrupted by a cheery voice.“Can we sit?” It was Kira, accompanied by Malia Tate. So, Allison was right.“Yeah! Of course!” Scott offered while moving over, causing Stiles to hang off the edge of the bench. He didn’t seem to mind though, and spoke over Scott to carry on a conversation with Malia, the fact that Allison had something to say seemingly forgotten.“Wait, did you need to say something?” Scott asked, ever the gentlemen as his brown eyes twinkled with curiosity. He always wanted to hear everyone’s opinions and needs, because he was Scott, and that’s what he did.Before Lydia could spill her secret, Isaac took the empty seat beside her. In her shock she turned to him, but he leaned forwards, sealing his lips over hers. Allison wasn’t going to lie, she had thought about those lips more than once, and she couldn’t help but lean into the kiss. The kiss was nice and soft, and Allison couldn’t help but notice that he was quite a good kisser. When he pulled away she turned back to the other side of the table, noticing the shock in their eyes. She hoped that she didn’t look as shocked as they did.“Are you- Are you together?” Scott sputtered in disbelief. Stiles’ eyes were basically bulging out of his head, and Malia and Kira seemed genuinely confused about what the boys were confused about. Isaac slung a long arm around Allison’s shoulders. “Yeah, we are.” Isaac said, turning slightly to face Allison. “You didn’t tell them, babe?” He asked, his eyebrows furrowed slightly in confusion. Allison’s eyes widened.“I was just about to, babe. ” She threw the pet name back into his face, crushing his foot with her heel. She assumed the scent of pain permeated through the air because Scott scrunched his nose in confusion, and Malia muttered something about foreplay to herself. They all sat in awkward silence as everyone thought of a way to either change the subject, but Stiles didn’t seem to get the memo.“Allison, I didn’t know your type was spawns of the Devil?” Stiles said, and Scott turned to him, a dumbfounded expression on his face.“Dude, are you calling me a spawn of Satan?” He asks, and Stiles sputtered, seemingly at a loss for words. Allison had to stifle a laugh as the boy tried to hurriedly explain himself.“You know I love you man.” Is what Stiles settled on, and it seemed to be good enough for Scott. He turned back to Isaac, almost staring him down, as if staring at him hard enough could reveal whether or not he had good intentions. The blond boy shifted uncomfortably in his seat and cleared his throat, his arm still slung around Allison’s shoulders. Scott straightened up, his familiar grin appearing right back onto his face. His optimism was infectious, and Allison found herself smiling along with him. A side glance at Isaac revealed he wasn’t immune to Scott’s attitude either.“Alright, cool. Well, I assume we’ll be seeing more of you, so. Friends?” Scott said, extending his hand. It was like Scott’s version of an olive branch. He was offering Isaac a second chance, a friendship, the ability to repair the bridges that Derek had forced him to burn. All for Allison. Isaac glanced at his outstretched hand, like he was unfamiliar with the concept but after a beat he grasped it, shaking Scott’s hand and Allison let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. The silence seemed to move from uncomfortable to casual as they continued to eat their lunches. Eventually the pack scattered, leaving Scott and Allison alone at the table.“How are you?” Scott asked, his warm brown eyes all inviting, making Allison’s insides melt in turn. Even though they weren’t dating anymore, Scott still had that effect on her. He always would.“Good, good.” She nodded, hastily shoving her things back into her backpack as she spoke. Scott nodded along with her.“Isaac seems nice.” He said, and Allison let out a laugh, leaving Scott with a confused look on his face. “Yeah, yeah. He is nice, really nice. It just- I don’t know how you can be so forgiving all the time.” Scott simply shrugged, looking down and picking at something on the wooden table.“People can’t be judged on the things they’ve done in the past, not all the time. If he’s willing to put the past aside for you, the least I can do is be friends with him.” Scott said, far too nobly in Allison’s opinion. But he was Scott, everything he did was pretty noble, whether he knew it or not. Allison shyly tucked a piece of hair behind her ears and blushed, hoping that Scott wouldn’t notice. “And if he makes your heart beat like that, I’m sure you must really like him.” Allison froze, leaving her bag halfway unzipped as she turned fully to Scott. “Beat like what?” She asked, hoping that it wasn’t beating like crazy right now. “Like, a mile per minute,” Scott said, the ends of his lips quirking up into a small smile. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell him.” He said and checked his phone, quickly standing up. “Shit. I got to go. I’ll see you later?” He said, and Allison offered a smile and little wave, standing up to head to her other classes.Not to her surprise, they were as uneventful as the first two. Leaving her last period class with a ton of bricks on her back she made her way to her locker, where Isaac was already waiting for her, books in arm. She had totally forgotten about agreeing to study with him after school, and the fact that she had given him her locker number.“Hey,” He perked up when he saw her heading towards him. “You ready?” He asked, and Allison nodded, lugging her backpack to the library. With a quick swipe of Isaac’s student card they were inside. The two quickly settled into the two beanbag chairs that occupied one of the back corners of the library. Allison sunk into it, and pulled out her Biology notes, already far too comfortable in the chair to do ant productive work.“So,” She started, half procrastinating starting her science homework, and half of her genuinely being curious about Isaac’s life. “How’s the Hale pack doing?” Isaac looked up from the History textbook and notebook that had found their way onto his lap.“It’s fine,” He shrugged, placing his pencil down into the crevice of the textbook. “Derek’s been weird ever since his sister came back. And trying to teach Stiles all the emissary stuff isn’t really helping his mood, either. We just stay out of his way, mostly.” The way he said it wasn’t disrespectful, but Allison could sense a sort of coldness, like he was bitter about the fact that his alpha was neglecting him.“I’m sure it’ll pass. He probably just has a lot on his plate right now.” She said, trying to offer some sympathy, but all she received in response was another quick shrug.“I don’t know. Derek’s always been used to being alone his entire life. I think he’s a bit too overwhelmed with all the bodies and hormones these days.” Isaac said, and Allison quirked an eyebrow.“Hormones?”“Yeah, you know. Basically everyone he hangs out with is under the age of eighteen. He has three minors living in his house. It’s hard to go from isolation to raising six teenagers.” Allison scoffed.“Well, maybe he should have thought of that before biting three teenagers, then.” She said, and Isaac shrugged. He seemed to be doing a lot of that. Allison hoped that all their conversations didn’t end up like this one.“That’s true. I think that biting anyone older wouldn’t have made such a loyal pack, though.” Ah . Allison thought to herself. So he did admit he was whipped. Or loyal, in his words.“Not entirely. I mean, look at Lydia. Her body didn’t accept Peter’s bite.” She pointed out, and Isaac pursed his lips.“I think that if she did accept the bite, Derek wouldn’t need a pack. He could just use her sheer will to get things done.” Allison couldn't help but let out a laugh, although it was quickly silenced by a passing librarian. Her head snapped up to apologize, but the librarian was long gone. However, she spotted a familiar head of red hair in the distance, accompanied by a boy, whom she could only assume was Stiles.Frantically, she swiped Isaac’s notes off his lap and got up, swinging a leg over it, so that she was straddling him. Lydia already didn’t believe her, and she wasn’t really in the mood to dig herself a deeper hole by trying to lie to her face, so she resorted to other means.“Wha-?” Isaac was perpetually shocked, and Allison glanced over her shoulder for Lydia. The girl was like a bloodhound. She always seemed to know where Allison was, no matter the situation.“Trust me.” She said and promptly pressed her lips to his for the second time that day. After the initial surprise seemed to wear off Isaac melted into the kiss, his hands settling at her waist as she kissed him in the earnest. In all honesty, she didn’t really mind kissing him and almost looked forward to doing it again in the future. After a few moments, someone cleared their throat behind them. Praying to every god she knew that it wasn’t a librarian she detached herself from Isaac slowly and looked over her shoulder. And sure enough it was Lydia, with Stiles in tow.“First off, ew.” Lydia’s hands were on her hips and her nose was scrunched up in disgust as Allison gingerly shot her a smile. “Second off, I was in here to ask if you wanted to hang out with us, but it seems like you guys are far too busy, so.” She said promptly, turning on her heel and grabbing Stiles’ arm and he stared at them, as if it was news to him that people actually made out in public places.“No, we’ll go.” Isaac, said calling out to them as Allison whirled around to look at him. His hair was messy, tousled in the places Allison had ran her hands through it. His cheeks were flushed pink, and she had to stifle a laugh about how debauched he looked, before realizing she probably didn’t look any better.“We will?” She hissed as she climbed off her lap, smoothing her skirt down. He ignored her, gathering his stuff.“Great.” Lydia clapped her hands together as if she was expecting this. Stiles just groaned, but they were both shushed by another librarian. Stiles closed his mouth and Lydia shot the woman a dirty look before turning back to Allison and Isaac who were all packed and standing up, awaiting further instruction.“We’re all heading to Scott’s house.” Lydia grinned a knowing expression on her face. And she did know. She was fully aware that Scott was Allison’s soft spot.“Perfect.” Allison said through gritted teeth, grabbing Isaac’s hand and squeezing to prevent herself from doing something she might regret. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Isaac sat in silence beside Allison as she drove. He didn’t have a car, usually, Derek drove him everywhere or he biked.“I don’t understand what you have against Scott,” Isaac blurted out, not completely out of the blue. His blue eyes scanned Allison, searching for an answer, or even some clue why she was so nervous about hanging out with everyone. “You guys basically dated for all of sophomore year.” The huntress willed herself not to snap at him, gripping the steering wheel so tight that her knuckles turned white.‘It’s not just Scott,” She said calmly, making the familiar right turn into Scott’s complex. “It’s the fact that Lydia just thinks she can stroll into my life and fuck around, just because she doesn’t believe me.” Allison was beyond infuriated. She knew Lydia is trying to have her back, she really did, but this was crossing the line. The redhead was acting extremely unlike herself, and Allison wanted to know why. “Well, I mean, we are lying to her.” Isaac deadpanned, and Allison rolled her eyes. “Thank you for that,” Allison glared daggers at him, but he just shrugged in response. Allison hated the fact that he was so flippant about everything. He never showed any real interest in anything, not entirely. Without an order from Derek, Isaac was a little boring. “But that’s not what I meant.” She focused on parking on Scott’s driveway, and Isaac stared out the window once more. Allison didn't say another word as she swung open her car door and climbed out. Isaac did the same, but far less aggressively. She brought her fist up to knock, but the wood disappeared before her fist could touch it, replaced with Scott’s friendly smile.“Oh! I didn’t know you guys were coming!” Scott leaned against the door frame and Isaac shoved his hands into his pockets as if he expected Allison to take control like she usually did.“Yeah, Lydia invited us.” He wasn’t completely wrong. It seemed like he already knew how to read her. Scott moved out of their way, inviting them inside. She stepped inside and Isaac followed closely behind. She breathed in the familiar scent; it always reminded her of the cottage. Close to nature, but it still had that familiar scent of the city. They lingered around in awkward silence for a few moments. “It’s just a few of us. just watching Stiles and Malia play some video games.” Lydia strolled into the hall on her way to the kitchen, not stopping when she spoke.“More like watching Stiles get destroyed while playing video games.” She added, and the trio chuckled, the air slightly less uncomfortable. Allison let out a breath and shuffled into his living room. Stiles and Malia were perched on the hardwood floor, absorbed in their game as they aggressively smashed the buttons on the controllers. Kira was sat on the couch, her knees tucked to her chest. She didn’t look like she was paying attention, but she let out a whoop when Malia killed Stiles, who let out a frustrated groan. “Come on!” Stiles protested, and Malia just laughed. Kira noticed Allison and Isaac walk in and shot them a wave. Scott rushed in past them and took his seat back beside Kira. He asked her what he had missed, and she launched into a messy explanation.Allison had never felt like an outsider, not in Scott’s house. She was always on the inside, laughing with Scott, teasing Stiles. And now, here she was, standing in the doorway with a guy she had agreed to ‘date’ not less than ten minutes after they had had their first real conversation.Allison was panicking. She took a deep breath, changing her mind as she made a move to turn around. A large hand caught her by the wrist, and Isaac shook his head. She clenched her jaw and almost pulled away from him until Lydia laid a hand on her shoulder.“You okay?” She asked, concerned. Allison thinned her lips into a line and nodded. Lydia raised her eyebrows in disbelief but let the topic go. Isaac took charge this time, stepping forward and sitting down on the couch, the furthest away from Kira. He let her settle in between his body and the armrest. His body warmth came off of him in waves. It wasn’t particularly uncomfortable, in fact, it was oddly comforting. It was like sitting next to a space heater on a chilly autumn day. It was a nice contrast to how cold she was. Stiles eventually gave up and stalked off in frustration. It quieted down after that, everyone in hushed conversations around the room. Allison assumed Isaac had fallen asleep. His breathing had fallen into long and even breaths, much different than the normal rhythm she had grown accustomed to over the past hour or two. She didn’t even bother to look up. He hadn’t said a word or even moved since Stiles had left. The tempo of his breathing was lulling her to sleep too, her eyelids drooping. A rumble of thunder shook Allison out of her trance.She glanced out the window. It was dark now. She wasn’t sure if it was because a lot of time had passed, or because of the storm clouds brewing in the distance. It was raining like crazy, and she was sure she could see lighting. She hoped that it wasn’t anything supernatural and ignored it, instead choosing to settle back into the couch.“Anyone want anything to drink?” Scott called, and people shouted their demands at him, all at once. This roused Isaac out of his sleep as he twitched awake. It was a little violent, and Allison had to lean back. He sat up straight and rubbed his face. “My arm is numb.” He croaked, and sank back down, fully awake now. Allison mumbled a feeble excuse about how she had to go to the bathroom and stood up, leaving Isaac alone. Halfway down the hall, Lydia caught her. She shared a sympathetic smile, which Allison quickly returned.“You okay?” Lydia asked, pausing in the hall of Allison shifted from foot to foot.“Are you okay?” Allison echoed, countering Lydia’s question with the same one as her own. Lydia didn’t appreciate that, and she crossed her arms over her chest. She heaved a sigh as Allison cocked an eyebrow at her.“I don’t know,” She admitted, glancing around the empty hallway of the McCall house, pictures of young Scott, Stiles and Melissa. Lydia pursed her lips. “It’s complicated. I promise I will tell you. Just- Just not now.” Allison took a deep breath but nodded in understanding. She knew what Lydia meant when she said things were complicated, especially since she felt the exact same way. Lydia turned quietly to leave Allison to her business, but instead, Allison decided to follow her back. She didn’t really have to go to the bathroom anyways.When she approached the living room again, there was an empty spot where Isaac was sitting. “Where’s Isaac?” She asked the group, and everyone pointed in the direction of the kitchen. Clearing her throat, she shuffled towards the kitchen, silently nodding thanks to everyone. She was one foot in the kitchen, but she paused at the doorway. Scott and Isaac stood leaned against the island of the kitchen, engaged in conversation. Both were carrying multiple cups. Allison wasn't entirely sure what they were talking about. She assumed something that they had in common, like lacrosse or something about being a werewolf. Scott’s sensitive ears caught Allison’s slight movements, and he turned to her.“You here to help?” Scott asked, shooting her a warm smile. That damn smile, the one that still made her weak in the knees. Isaac turned too, smiling. It wasn’t like Scott’s, it wasn’t big and kind. It was small, leaned to one side of his face, a smirk, really. But Allison knew better. “Uh, no,” Allison laughed, leaning against the doorway of the McCall kitchen. “Why would I help when you have all the manpower you need right here?” She gestured to Isaac, who shrugged. Scott let out a small chuckle of agreement.“I think it’s always nice to have a huntress in the mix, though.” Scott cocked an eyebrow and Allison felt heat rush to her cheeks. After a moment she had to break eye contact and look at the floor to avoid any further embarrassment. Isaac, noticing the situation, cleared his throat. Allison drew her attention toward Isaac, whose smirk was bigger than before“Should we take these drinks to them, or…?” The blond proposed and Scott nodded, heading out of the kitchen. Allison let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and Isaac shot her a look before following behind Scott.Why did Allison think she could do this? She was obviously still head over heels for Scott, who had moved on. She couldn't talk to him without melting a little. Allison was beyond certain that anyone with supernatural could hear her heart skip a beat whenever he looked at her.On the other hand, she was technically dating Isaac. Sure, he rubbed her the wrong way, but she had also found something intriguing about him. Allison was certain that there was another reason that she had accepted his proposition. She didn’t just want to prove him wrong.She wanted the best of both worlds.But she couldn't have it. She wasn't allowed to be selfish like that. “Allison?” Stiles stuck his head into the kitchen, pulling the brunette back to reality. “Everyone’s in the living room if you want to join us. Or you can stay here brooding, whatever.” Allison shot the emissary a pointed look, and he put his hand up in mock surrender.“I’m not brooding.” She replied, crossing her arms over her chest. Stiles rolls his eyes.“Alright, well, when you're finished staring off into the distance with a broody look on your face, come talk to people.” And with that Stiles disappears. Allison lets out a breath and shuffled in behind him. The rest of them have formed a lopsided circle, chatting amiably amongst themselves. Malia is hanging upside down off the couch, turned to face Lydia, who was sat cross-legged beside her. Kira is seated next to the strawberry blonde, her legs extended into Scott’s lap. Allison feels a pang of jealousy in her chest but ignores it. Instead, she takes the spot beside Isaac who is a foot away from anyone else.“They don't bite, you know.” Allison teases, not looking over at the blond. Her brown eyes scan her friends, calculating something unknown. Isaac lets out a soft laugh.“I’m not too sure about that. Malia looks like she does.” He quips back without missing a beat. Allison lets out a chuckle of her own and places a hand on his arm. She notices the way his muscle tenses under her fingertips as he flinches away from her touch. “Sorry.” He mutters as she slowly draws her hand back, placing it on her own lap. She shakes her head and sucks in her bottom lip.“Don't apologize.” She says and watches as he fiddles with the hem of his plain white shirt and fights the urge to apologize again. He turns his head after a long moment and they lock eyes. She searches for something in his eyes - what, she’s not sure. Answers, maybe. Emotions. “You don't have anything to be sorry for.” She says softly.And he almost believed her.But he had quite a bit to be sorry for. A lot to be sorry for. Isaac didn't think that there was enough paper in the world to make a list of all the things he was sorry for. He wanted to tell Allison that. He wanted to tell someone that.“Okay.” Is what he says instead, breaking the silence and their eye contact. He searches desperately in the faces of the people he barely knows until he catches Scott’s eyes. The boy offers him a small smile -one where just one end of his lip quirks up- and Isaac can't help but return it. He quickly thins his lips into a line as Scott turns his head to say something to Kira. Something hilarious, apparently, because she bursts out laughing. Was it about him? He takes a sip of water to calm his nerves. He’s nervous. Or is he anxious? He clenches his jaw and sets the cup down.“You good, Isaac?” Malia questions and he assumes she can hear his heartbeat and smell the whatever he’s feeling that’s coming off him in waves. Everyone’s attention is turned towards him now, and he inhales sharply through his nose.“Fine,” He manages through clenched teeth. He’s tense. Allison notices and tries to rub it out of his back, but she’s kind of making it worse. Isaac's not too sure. “I’m fine.” He is clenching his fists now. His control is slipping through his fingers, and he doesn't know why. “You don't look all that fine, Lahey.” Stiles states from his spot beside Malia’s head. Isaac shoots him what he hopes is a threatening glare. “I’m fine.” He snaps, and he notices everyone jump. He takes a deep breath and squeezes his eyes shut, feeling Allison pat around until she finds his hand. She weaves her fingers with his. He takes exhales and probably crushes the life out of her hand. However, she doesn't react.“Isaac?” Her voice is soft and low, the same voice you use to talk to sad puppies. He turns to her and his eyes fluttering open. She lets out a quiet gasp. “Your eyes.” he turns his head away from everyone else’s peering eyes. He’s breathing heavy now, and he can feel his claws starting to make an appearance."Isaac?” That's Scott’s voice now, and Isaac doesn't need to use his werewolf senses to tell that he’s worried. Because he cares. In fact, Scott had told Isaac those very words. It was the first time anyone had told him that. He feels a warm hand on his shoulder, accompanying the slightly colder one gripping his hand. “Let’s get you up.” And together they hoist them up, his back towards their remaining friends. It’s all just so loud. The rain, the voices, the thoughts racing through his mind. He couldn't think straight. As Scott reached to the handle of his front door, it suddenly swung open. Melissa Mccall stood in front of the trio, bearing three boxes of pizza. She was soaking wet, her usually full curls stuck to her face. “Where do you think you’re going?” She questions, looking them up and down. Isaac's claws and fangs had made their retreat, but his eyes still glowed like molten gold. “I’m taking Isaac home,” Allison responds, and Melissa places her free hand on her hip. Despite being soaked by the rain, she still looks threatening, in a maternal type of way. “He’s, uh, not feeling too good,” Allison says obviously and Isaac represses the urge to roll his eyes.“I’m not letting you drive home in that. There’s a storm warning,” Melissa shakes her head, sending droplets of water flying in all directions. She pushes past the trio and closes the door behind her, beckoning them to follow her. “And I’m sure a confined car isn't great for an anxious werewolf.” She adds after, and Isaac shuts his eyes. If he can't leave, he’ll have to calm himself down. Pinpoint the feeling, is what Derek always says, but Isaac doesn't know what he’s feeling. He tries for his anchor, but that doesn't help either. He thinks about the way his dad used to lock him in that freezer, how he used to claw at the door until his fingers bled. It was what reminded him how human he was.But it also reminded him of how scared he was. Or, at least, it used to.No matter how much he grasped for his anchor, it just wasn’t working. So he resorted to other means. Curling his hands into fists, his claws dug into his palm. A thin trickle of crimson red blood leaked out of his closed fists, and Allison gasped.“Isaac!” She exclaimed, and he looked over at her. His eyes were the familiar blue that she had gotten used to, and his fangs had retracted back. However, there was something off about his demeanour. He looked like a kicked puppy.“Sorry,” Isaac muttered in Scott’s direction and Scott nodded understandably. “I’ll clean it.” He offered, and Scott shook his head with a small chuckle.“Dude, it’s fine,” Scott smiled, but Isaac didn’t look particularly convinced. Isaac cocked his head ever so slightly and opened his mouth to apologize again, but was quickly cut off. “Seriously! Don’t worry about it. I get it.”“I’m not usually like this.” Is all Isaac can say lamely in response. His dry response doesn’t seem to faze Scott in any way because the boy offers him a smile.“Stop worrying. These floors have definitely seen worse.” Isaac doesn’t respond because he’s not all that sure he wants to know what Scott means. Although last time he was in this house he was trying to murder Lydia Martin, so maybe he did know what he meant, in a way.The three file back into the living room, where Melissa had laid out the pizzas she brought. The aura is far more relaxed in their absence, something Isaac has grown used to, even before being turned. He learned to live with the fact that something about him that just put people off. Everyone turned their heads when they entered the room, Stiles holding his slice in midair.“Hey, you okay?” It was Kira, he thinks. Someone who didn’t know what he had done, he noticed. Stiles just continued to eat his pizza in silence, and, he didn’t think Malia cared about him all that much. “Yeah. Thanks.” Isaac replied, running a hand through his hair. She offered him a sympathetic smile and went back to talking with Malia and picking the olives off her slice. By the time he makes a move to return it, she’s already far too absorbed in her conversation to even send another look Isaac’s way. He sighs and takes a seat on the couch.He wasn’t joking when he said that that had never happened before. Derek had trained all his betas well, and Isaac wasn’t excited about telling him that he didn’t have a proper anchor anymore. He remembers his first full moon vividly. The first time he believed Derek was truly proud of him. “You look deep in thought,” Allison commented as she plopped down beside him, two plates in hand. She offered one to him and he gave her a look. “I got it for you.” He takes it slowly, the paper plate denting under his grip.“Thanks.” He replies, looking down at the plate. It warms his legs through the thin layer of paper. Allison takes a bite out her pizza and looks over at him, rolling his eyes. He can tell she’s definitely unimpressed with the way that he’s acting.“Don’t get hung up on what happened. I’m sure it’s just the weird changes or something.” She tries, placing a hand on his thigh in support. Just like a girlfriend would. She leaves small grease stains on his jeans from her fingertips. He decides not to mention it.“It’s lycanthropy, not allergies.” Isaac says as he picks up his slice, and Allison shoots him a pointed look. He takes a bite and gives her a small smirk, feeling a little bit better. “Look, I’m just trying to help. You look like you were having some internalized problems and I just thought, you know, since I’m a supportive girlfriend and all, that I’d try to ease your mind,” Isaac can’t help but let out a laugh and Allison cocks an eyebrow. “What?” She asks, and Isaac shakes his head.“Nothing. I just- I appreciate it.” He replies, and she sits up a little straighter, a little more proud. “Oh!” She says in shock and he laughs again. “Okay.” She shifts and pulls her phone out of her pocket, glancing at the screen.“Anyone important?” Isaac inquires, and she shakes her head.“Just my dad. making sure I’m still alive.” Allison tucks her phone away again, and the end of Isaac’s lips quirk down. He wishes he had that relationship with someone. He could be dead in a ditch tomorrow and he was fairly certain no one would ever know or care. Allison opens her mouth to say something else, but the lights suddenly flicker off, leaving them in the dark. Lydia lets out a surprised squeal.“Shit, it must be the storm,” Stiles says, and everyone nods as Scott scrambles find some flashlights. Melissa jabs Stiles hard in the bicep and raises her eyebrows. “Sorry! I meant shoot.” Melissa seems to accept that and backs down while Stiles rubs his arm in pain.“Here.” Isaac watches Scott hand Allison a flashlight. He also notices Allison’s heart rate jump as their fingers touch. He’s surprised that Scott didn’t notice. She turns it on and Scott is on his way, handing Lydia one as well. “Real subtle.” Isaac comments and she nudges him with his shoulder a little too hard to be friendly. Suddenly, it makes sense why she didn’t want to come.“Where are you going?” Kira asks Malia, who seems to be making her way to the door.“I’m leaving,” She replied, pausing and crossing her arms over her chest. “ I won’t let a little rain stop me.” Malia frowns as Stiles lets out a small laugh. She glares daggers his way and he clears his throat awkwardly. “I’m not letting any of you leave,” Melissa states, and Malia trails back into the living room like an obedient dog. “You all can stay here. I’m sure we’ll have enough space if you guys share.” She says as Lydia tosses a pillow at Stiles. Scott nods earnestly as his mother speaks.“You guys only have three rooms.” Stiles blurts, and Melissa simply shrugs. “Fine, pairs then,” She scans the teens like a kindergarten teacher and points a finger at each of them. “Stiles can stay in Scott’s room, Malia and Kira can take one room, and Allison and Lydia can take the other.” Isaac opens his mouth to speak, but is quickly cut off by Scott’s voice.“What about Isaac?” Scott asks, and Isaac can feel everyone’s eyes on him. “He and Allison are dating, maybe they should share a room? I’m sure they’ll behave.” He offers, and Melissa turns her head towards the couple and frowns.“I suppose so.” She says hesitantly, but then points an aggressive finger at them. “But no funny business.” Isaac puts his hands up in surrender as Allison awkwardly looks down at her lap.“Oh! A bed to myself.” Lydia rubs her hands together with a grin on her face. “Aren’t I lucky?” Isaac huffs out a little laugh and runs his hands through his hair.It was going to be a long night.
10977354	Replay Unlocked	{ "Archive Warning": "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings", "Category": "Gen", "Characters": "Spike (BtVS), Dawn Summers, Joyce Summers, Buffy Summers, Rupert Giles", "Fandom": "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Teen And Up Audiences", "author": "by apprenticebard", "chapters": "4/?", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-23T00:00:00", "words": "17,067", "Additional Tags": "Time Travel, Friendship, Season/Series 04", "Relationship": "Spike & Dawn Summers", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	The house was in that weird zone of hush where nobody wanted to speak out loud and everyone wanted to whisper. Girls had died in the fight against Caleb. Xander had lost an eye. The whole thing was just so visceral and scary and irreversible that the only mature way to handle it was to accept what had happened and carry on. Buffy didn't seem to have any answers. She was adamant that they had to take out Caleb, but she didn't so much as frown at the losses. She just said something along the lines of "we'll deal with it". Dawn knew it was stupid and immature, but she didn't want to deal with it. She'd begun researching the time travel spell months ago, back when the First had appeared to her in the guise of her mother. On the off chance that her mother really was warning her that Buffy couldn't be trusted (which was stupid, but it was good to be prepared, right?), she'd decided to start making a plan B. In her more honest moments, she accepted that she had another motivation as well. She just felt so useless . Buffy was the slayer, Faith was the other slayer, Spike was the super-special souled vampire, Willow was a witch, Giles was a watcher, Anya had a thousand years of useful knowledge stored up, and Xander's carpentry skills had stopped being a joke when he'd rebuilt most of the house to fix the demon damage. Even the teenage girls living with them were basically potential superheroes. The only person less useful than Dawn was Andrew, and even Andrew had projects to work on. They mostly involved his documentary stuff, but whatever. He was recording history, and Dawn could respect that. Andrew's state of relative uselessness meant that he was generally available for conversations about random subjects- like, say, time travel. Anyone else would have been really suspicious by the end of a conversation like that, but Andrew had easily accepted her hypothetical situation. "Well, if you were going back with the intent to alter history, the main thing would be to know about cause-effect chains. You'd have to know which events caused other events. Flow charts would be good. Color-coded flow charts, including branching possibilities." The whole thing was, in a way, her fault. Oh, she didn't necessarily blame herself for it, but the cause-effect chain was obvious. See, the reason they were in this mess now was because of the First. And according to Anya, the First was able to do this stuff because the slayer line was unstable. The line was unstable because Buffy was resurrected. Buffy was resurrected because she died jumping off the tower. And she died jumping off the tower because Dawn didn't jump. Spike had blamed himself for the whole thing that summer, but he was just being stupid. In trying to make sense of Buffy's death, he'd convinced himself that if he'd done something differently, Doc wouldn't have gotten to Dawn, and the portal would never have opened. Dawn hadn't argued with him about it, but he was wrong. He couldn't have saved Buffy. Dawn could have, but she had chosen not to. She was sure that if Spike had been in her position, he would have jumped off the tower, soul or no soul. And then they wouldn't be in this mess. If she could just go back to that night, back to the tower, she wouldn't have to let Buffy talk her out of it. She could rush past her sister and die for humanity. They'd mourn her, but it would be OK in the end, and Buffy's friends would probably support her and keep most of the bad parts of the past year from happening. Dawn had had the power to stop an all of that suffering, and nobody else could say that. Not Spike, not Willow, not Buffy. So it was convenient that the time travel spell would only work for Dawn. She'd found it through a half-forgotten footnote in one of Giles's books about dimensions. It was an ancient Sumerian spell, and the reason why she'd been working on her Sumerian so much lately. (Lucky for Buffy, when they'd needed it for the emergency slayer kit. Ancient Sumerians knew a lot of spells to mess with dimensions and portals.) She had to dig through most of Giles's personal library, but eventually she'd found the source. The spell's description was in Latin (a pain, but she was totally sure of her translation), while the spell itself was a Sumerian incantation. Nobody had seriously bothered to even try using it for more than a millennium, because the material component was the blood of a demon species that had migrated entirely out of this dimension sometime before the fall of the Roman Empire. They were known for their ability to move through time and space- even into other universes entirely- by unraveling and re-spinning dimensional walls so as to slip through them without disturbing the order of the multiverse. Any substitute material component would need to have that same quality, the ability to open dimensional rifts and re-seal them under certain circumstances. Kinda like the Key. Until now, the spell had remained a leisure project, albeit a very involved one. The spell was not particularly exact, especially with the substitution, so at first her plan was to deliberately overshoot by a few months and kill herself before Glory even got wind of her. It seemed really morbid, but she reasoned that it wasn't suicide if the purpose was to save the world. Of course, then she'd wondered whether she could get the same result by killing Ben. Then she'd gotten to thinking about all of the other things she could change, and she'd ended up making more branching flow charts than even Andrew could have anticipated. She had a timeline nailed to the wall of her room, with notes dating back from Buffy's calling in LA all the way to the present day, with a special focus on the year or two before Glory tried to rip the dimensions apart. She didn't know a whole lot about slayer business back then. After all, Buffy hadn't stopped trying to shelter her from the evils of Sunnydale until this past summer. Dawn made up for this lack of knowledge by reading Giles's watcher diaries- she wasn't a thief anymore, but that didn't mean she wanted to lose her sneaky skills. They were extremely thorough, although of course they reflected all of his biases and were based on the knowledge he had to work with at the time of writing. There was a lot of insulting Spike, for instance, and a really impressive amount of speculation on Buffy's mental state. Dawn thought most of his speculation was flat-out wrong, but Giles wasn't one to neglect factual information, so in the end she had to be grateful to him. She hadn't told Andrew about it, much less Buffy or any of the scoobies. If they had any idea her plan B was to go back in time and most likely kill herself, they would freak. At the same time, Dawn didn't really feel guilty for hiding it. Despite all the work she was putting into plans, she had never really thought that she would use the spell. Not before the potentials died and Xander lost his eye, anyway. She'd overheard Buffy talking about going back to the vineyard, and if that was the new plan A, Dawn figured it was past time to bust out plan B. And that was why Dawn, in keeping with the general hushed atmosphere of the house, rapped softly on the basement door before easing it open and calling down. "Hey, Spike? You awake?" "Yeah." "Can I come down?" "Sure." She snapped the basement light on and descended as quietly as she could. It wasn't like she was hiding anything, really- after all, she was just getting her own stuff. It was just that making any more noise than necessary would have been wrong. "Couldn't sleep?" Spike's tone was conversational- not a whisper, but also not very loud. He didn't have any intention of breaking the hush, either. "I'm OK," lied Dawn. "Just working on something. It's good to keep your mind off this stuff sometimes." Spike nodded, understanding. He returned to sitting on his cot in what appeared to be quiet contemplation. As far as Dawn was concerned, Spike being contemplative pretty much proved that they were all doomed. It strengthened her conviction that she was doing the right thing. She unearthed a cardboard box labeled "small magic-y stuff" and began quietly rummaging around, eventually pulling out her prize. It was a dagger, about six inches long with a blade covered in ancient runes. "Now what are you planning on doing with that?" Dawn considered herself to be good at lying, but Spike was really hard to fake out. Besides his natural people-reading skills, he could hear a person's every heartbeat and breath. It gave him a majorly unfair advantage at things like this, and made him unnaturally good at certain card games. "Just wanted to keep it close. You know, with all the stuff going on." He raised his scarred eyebrow. "You're in a house with two slayers and a vampire, and you think one rusty knife's gonna be the thing to keep you safe?" "It's not rusty," she protested. "It doesn't get rusty. It's enchanted." "Magic knife, eh? Lemme see." She handed it to him, and he unsheathed it. "Don't recognize the script. Looks old." "Norse, I think. It's the spell inscription. 'May this knife be ever sharp', or something like that," shrugged Dawn. "I'm just going off the translation from the box, though. I don't even know any regular scandinavian languages, let alone this archaic stuff." "Where'd you get it?" "Anya. Last year." "What, shoplifted from the Magic Box and never returned?" He looked at her disapprovingly. It took her a second to realize that he actually did disapprove now. Weird. Especially given that they'd become friends after he'd helped her break into the place. "I gave all that stuff back. Anya missed my birthday, and when she found out she decided to give me the knife," huffed Dawn. Seriously, Spike, like you're allowed to take the moral high ground on literally any subject. "I don't believe it. Not like her to give away merchandise." "There might also have been negotiations involving secret child labor. I wanted the knife." "Yeah? Any particular reason?" Dawn crossed her arms defensively. "It's pretty." Unexpectedly, Spike didn't laugh. "I'll give you that. Fine little thing. Almost dainty." "It's a knife. Knives can't be dainty," said Dawn, rolling her eyes. "Can so," insisted Spike. "Jus' because a thing can kill doesn't mean it can't be small an' pretty while it does it. Sharp little knife for a sharp little girl. Not so little anymore, but the point stands." Dawn was skeptical- about the particular adjective, if not the principle behind it- but she accepted both the compliment and the knife as he handed it back. "Thanks." "Probably best you have something with you, anyway." "What happened to 'you're in a house with two slayers and a vampire'?" "You are," he said seriously, "And I sincerely hope you never have to use that thing. But it's best to have a weapon on hand, and I'm not going to discourage you from carryin' it. Jus' want you to know there are a lot of people here who would die before they let anything get its claws on you." Dawn knew all too well. She clipped the sheath to her belt and gave him a nod before going back upstairs. If he noticed any fluctuations in her heart rate or respiration, they didn't arouse his suspicions. He probably figured she had reason to be on edge, even around him. Maybe he thought it was because she was around him. Sad that their relationship had deteriorated that much over the past year, but hey, trying to rape a girl's sister will have consequences like that. Not that she held it against him too much. Dawn still wasn't a huge believer in the importance of souls, but she understood the gesture, and it had done a lot to convince Buffy that Spike was serious about trying to be good now. Buffy trusted Spike, and Dawn trusted Buffy. Ergo, Dawn trusted Spike. Granted, she might have spent more time questioning the wisdom of that call if not for the spell, but the spell was gonna happen. Whatever had gone on between them last year, Dawn was about to erase it. She wasn't overly happy about it, given that it meant she was also going to erase just about every good thing Spike had ever done, but it wasn't enough to make her hesitate. If the price of saving the world was the life of a sharp little girl and the redemption of a former monster, then that was that. Fair enough trade. Dawn made her way back to the spellbook on the kitchen island, took a moment to re-read the incantation, and began chanting the short phrase over and over. She pressed the knife into her arm before she could change her mind. Every drop of spilled demon blood was good for about a month of backwards time travel. The tower was a little under two years ago, so she figured twenty-four drops should be plenty. Unfortunately, the blood didn't actually come out in distinct drops. It ran down the knife in a little red river, and then the river wasn't so little. She was reminded of the time she cut herself to see if she would even bleed red. This wasn't that bad, but she was starting to think that she should have cut her finger instead of her arm. She heard hurried, thudding footsteps on the stairs. The basement door slammed into the wall as it flew open. There was a flurry of whispers from the living room, and then Spike burst into the kitchen. For a second they just stared at each other in silence, Dawn's chant interrupted by the look of confusion and genuine concern on Spike's face. She'd known that he would smell the blood as soon as it wafted down to the basement, but she'd been confident that she would be able to complete the spell before that happened. He took a cautious step towards her. She thought she saw anger in his expression, which wouldn't be at all surprising. It reminded her of when he used to threaten her with ridiculously grisly death every time she did something stupid or dangerous. The violent descriptions had quickly become oddly comforting, because at least they meant he noticed whether she was OK. The surprising thing was how quickly the controlled anger now gave way to pure concern. He looked at her in a way he hadn't since last year- at least, not while she was paying attention. Like he didn't know what to do, and was worried that he'd somehow failed her. Like he cared. Why the heck is that surprising? He cared about you even before he got a soul. Why did you expect him to stop now? In what universe does undergoing torture for the chance to become a better person signify a lack of caring? "Dawn?" He made her name sound like a hundred different things- Put the knife down. It'll be OK. Tell me what's wrong. You're important. I'll protect you. I'm sorry. Please don't do this, Bit. If she hadn't already finished the spell, it would have been enough to stop her. She hadn't realized just how fragile her resolve was. "I have to do this," said Dawn, but it sounded false even to her. Her statement fell on an empty kitchen. The house, full of whispering only a moment ago, was now so still that Dawn knew it was nearly empty. If she'd gotten the chance to think about it, she probably would have cried, because now she couldn't tell him that she was sorry. She would never get the chance to tell Spike anything ever again. "Is someone there?" Joyce walked into the kitchen, and they stared at each other for a full three seconds. Dawn was shocked to see her mother alive. Her mother looked shocked, too, but for very different reasons. "What's going on here?" Dawn glanced at her arm, still covered in blood. She pulled the knife out, wincing at the pain. "It's not what it looks like, Mom." "Who are you? What are you doing in my house?" Dawn froze. "Mom? Don't you know who I am?" It was definitely her mother, but she stared at Dawn as though she were a stranger. There was no sign of recognition before she spoke again. "What are you doing here?" "I was, uh." Dawn looked back at the knife in her hand and decided it looked unnecessarily gruesome. Not to mention scary. She sheathed it, then tried again. "I need to speak to Buffy." "Buffy? She's not here. Is this about vampires?" "Yeah," said Dawn. She decided the situation did tangentially involve vampires, sort of. "Could you call her? I'll clean this mess up," she added, looking at the small puddle of blood on the kitchen island. Her mother was obviously shaken, but she went to get the phone. Dawn threw some paper towels on the blood puddle before washing her cut off in the sink. Ever-sharp or not, it occurred to her that she hadn't actually cleaned the knife before slashing herself with it. It was such a spur of the moment thing that the details got lost in the wake of the larger decision. She hadn't wanted to talk herself out of her own sacrifice. Something about the sink seemed weird, and she realized with alarm that it was taller than it was before. Or, more accurately, she was now shorter. She tried to figure out why her body had regressed, but the spell's description had never been that specific. She'd simply assumed that her body, like her mind, would remain intact. She looked down at her chest and frowned. Her clothes, unchanged, hung somewhat loosely over a very girlish figure. Yup. Barely pubescent. "Willow? Yes, I need to speak to Buffy. Yes, it is." Joyce covered the receiver and looked at Dawn. "How urgent is this?" "I can wait a few hours, if she's busy," said Dawn. She tried to nonchalantly stick her hands in her pockets, but very noticeably winced when it made the cut come into contact with the fabric of her clothes. It kind of ruined the effect. "Do you have any bandages?" "Under the microwave," said Joyce, pointing. "Tell her to call me when she gets back. No. No, a girl I've never seen before is in my kitchen cutting herself with a knife, and she says she has to speak to Buffy. No, I don't. Well, at this point I really try not to think too hard about these things. Not yet. She doesn't seem the type. I don't think so. Thank you, Willow." Joyce hung up the phone and stared at Dawn, who was busy dressing the wound she'd given herself while trying really, really hard not to think about the implications of her own mother not remembering her. "So. Can I get you something, Miss...?" "Dawn," said Dawn. "And I'm good, thanks. Though I wouldn't say no to ice cream." "I'll see what I can do," said Joyce, opening the freezer. "Forgive me if this is a silly question, but you are a friend of Buffy's, aren't you?" "Yeah, I guess that's what I am," said Dawn, trying to hide the quaver in her voice. Be strong. You can do this. You're a sharp little girl with a sharp little knife, even if you're a little more little than usual. You have staked vampires. You have faced down a hellgod and lived to tell the tale. You can totally handle this nobody having any idea who you are thing. "You guess?" Joyce was frowning at her, probably trying to determine whether she was some kind of demon. Dawn tried not to take offense. After all, demons totally did look like innocent little kids sometimes, and the situation with Eve had reminded everyone that you couldn't always rely on appearances to distinguish the humans from the incorporeal entities of pure evil. "Well, I don't know how she's going to react. But I'm totally here to help," clarified Dawn. She was again overwhelmed by the fact that her mother was alive. She tried to stamp down the feeling to keep herself from tackle-hugging the lady currently doling out double fudge ice cream. "What exactly does Buffy need help with?" "Oh, you know, the usual. Apocalypse stuff." Jeez, mom didn't give Spike the third degree when he came over and asked for hot chocolate. Oh gosh, Spike. Is he still evil? What year is it? If mom is here, it's definitely before the tower, and Buffy's already graduated from high school, but other than that - "There's an apocalypse coming?" Her mother looked truly alarmed, like apocalypses weren't business as usual around here. "Well, uh, no. Not exactly. Not right now? Not to be weird, but what's the date?" "January 18th, 2000," said Joyce, handing her a bowl with two scoops in it. "Oh," said Dawn, picturing the timeline in her room and placing herself. She was about eight months before the little flashy diamond labeled Dawn is created. "Oh, crap." Meaning Dawn was now stuck in the body of a thirteen-year-old girl, despite the fact that she had never actually been a thirteen-year-old girl. Technically, she ought to be a glowing ball of green light right now, since the monks had very obviously done neither the transformation spell nor the memory alteration yet. Was she the only Key, or was the past version of her still in play? Why would she regress if there were two of them? Why wouldn't mom remember her if she was going to regress to a state she was never in before? The whole thing made her head spin. She checked the impulse to run to Willow, knowing Willow would have no idea who she was. Maybe Andrew would listen to her, if she could figure out where he lived. She suspected that Andrew would jump at the chance to talk about time travel with anyone, even if "anyone" was a thirteen-year-old girl he had never seen before. She realized with a start that Andrew hadn't killed anyone yet. If she could get to him before he joined the trio, he might not turn evil! The trio might not even form, and Warren might never kill Tara! Woah, were Willow and Tara even dating yet? "Is that bad? Is it too late?" Dawn blinked and brought her reeling thoughts back to her very alive and very worried mother. Who didn't remember who she was. "No, it's way earlier than it's supposed to be. Man, the stuff with the Initiative hasn't even gone down yet." "I'm sorry, are you saying you can see the future? Are you some kind of witch? Or a demon?" "Nah," said Dawn, stabbing a spoon into her ice cream and sounding about a thousand times more self-assured than she actually was. "I'm a time traveler." ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Buffy decided to skip calling and run right over to her mom's house. The idea of a strange girl sitting in her kitchen and cutting herself with a knife sounded distinctly the opposite of good. She didn't even bother ringing the doorbell, just barreled in the front door. Her mother was eating ice cream with a young girl with a bandage on her arm. She certainly didn't look like a demon. She looked like a middle-schooler- pale, weak, mostly limbs, and very into her double fudge ice cream. A human, the sort of person Buffy was supposed to protect. "I heard someone wanted to see me?" said Buffy, trying for lighthearted and mostly making it. "Yeah, I need to tell you some stuff," said the girl. "Spill. And no cryptic, because I am totally over weird strangers showing up with cryptic warnings. State your business and get a move on," replied Buffy. For a moment the girl looked hurt, like she was really looking forward to giving cryptic hints or something. "I'm your sister, and I came from the future to warn you about a hellgod that's going to try to kill you because she wants to destroy the entire multiverse." Buffy pretty much stopped listening after the first three words. "You're my sister ?" "Yeah," said the girl, obviously not comfortable with Buffy's incredulous response. Buffy made a token effort not to jump to conclusions, and promptly gave up when she realized how freakish it was for a random stranger to claim she was her sister. "Is this a mystical prophecy thing? Or are you saying you're a slayer? Is Faith dead?" "No, I'm your biological sister," insisted the girl. Which makes no sense. Unless- "Did dad have an affair or something? How old are you?" "It's not like that! There were these monks-" "Oh, so now people are having affairs with monks. Did you know about this, mom?" "I've never seen her before," confessed her mother. "Buffy, listen to me," said the girl. "I know it's weird, but-" "It's not weird . It's impossible. I don't have a sister." She hadn't meant for the words to come out sounding as harsh as they did, but it obviously didn't work. The girl's face shriveled up like she was about to cry. Before any tears could be shed, she tried to rush past Buffy and out into the night. Buffy figured she would have been totally justified in letting her (hello, she wasn't a babysitter), but she wasn't in the habit of making little girls run away crying. So she grabbed her. "Let me go!" screamed the girl. It was a terrible, ungodly scream- if Buffy had ever heard a sound that was physically painful to listen to, it would have been that scream. At the same time, the girl made almost no attempt to struggle. She was obviously upset, but she didn't seem afraid. "Calm down. Look, I have no idea who you are, but we can talk about this. Now sit back down." The girl made a heavy sighing sound, then reluctantly sat on the couch again. "We can come back to the sister part. The important thing is that I'm from the future, and I've traveled back in time to prevent an apocalypse." "Solid reason," said Buffy. " I thought so," said the girl, as though there had been disagreement on this point. "The easiest way to stop it is to prevent your death, and given that you're my sister , I sort of want to avoid that anyway." "Also solid. Down with the not dying," said Buffy. She felt like she should be surprised by the revelation that she was dead in the future, but- ah, screw it. Most slayers didn't live half as long as she had, and she didn't know how far in the future the kid came from. Of course she was dead there- or then, as the case might be. It occurred to her that she was already buying into the time travel thing, at least for the sake of discussion, and that was maybe a little naïve. But given how much weird stuff she'd seen, it could just as easily be naïve not to believe her. "There's this god, OK? Named Glory. And she's gonna try to kill you. And me. And- do you even know Tara? Anyway. She's gonna try to kill a bunch of people, and you're not gonna be able to stop her without giving your own life. Er- I mean, that's what happened last time. But it doesn't have to happen that way this time, because I'm warning you." "Cool," said Buffy, taking the news in stride. I was killed by a god, and I took her out with me? If I have to be killed in combat, I guess that's the way to go. Yay future-me. "But I overshot the mark, so she isn't going to show up for, like, almost a year." "Also cool," said Buffy, though she was kind of hoping she'd get to live longer than just one more year. "I take it this lady has weaknesses?" The girl's eyes widened. "Uh... no, actually. That's what made her so scary. She's unkillable." Buffy blinked in confusion. "But I thought you said-" "I don't actually know how we killed her last time, but I'm pretty sure - the only way to actually get rid of her is to kill Ben. Her, uh, human host." Buffy's mind ground to a halt. "You want me to kill a human?" The girl frowned, like she had somehow forgotten that she was calling for murder. "Uh. Yeah. Yeah, I guess I do." "An innocent human being? Is that what I'm hearing?" "I guess . He did try to kill me, but I guess that was arguably just because he didn't want to die. So, I mean-" "No," said Buffy. The girl's mouth fell open, like she hadn't even considered the possibility that Buffy might be against murder. "But-" "No," repeated Buffy, more surely this time. "I don't kill humans." "But you have to," said the girl. "Look, even if you're on the level with this time travel thing, there has to be another way. There always is. If you've got any other information on this thing, then I'll be happy to hear it, but I'm not going along with any plan that requires me to murder innocent people. If that breaks your brain for the moment, it's just as well. It's late. We can finish this another time." The girl stared at her in shock for another few seconds before she seemed to realize that that was her cue to leave. Her eyes narrowed, but she did stand up and walk over to the door. She slammed it on the way out, and Buffy belatedly remembered that she hadn't wanted to send the kid out after dark. Oh well. She could probably take care of herself, if she was powerful enough to travel through time. "Do you actually believe any of that, Buffy?" asked her mother. Buffy was kind of surprised that she'd stayed quiet during all the slayer talk. "The 'murder is bad' stuff? I do have some standards, mom." Her mother smiled at that, but it looked forced. "I meant the part about you dying." "Oh." Of course that would be what mom would focus on. "Well, it doesn't sound that far-fetched. Much less weird than the actual time travel. Being the slayer isn't exactly the safest job around, and I imagine the presence of raging hellgods would make it even worse." She frowned. "Crap, I didn't even get her name." "The hellgod?" "The girl," said Buffy. She actually did remember the god's name: Glory. Lucky it was actually something easy to pronounce this time. How often did that happen? "I mean, she is in the pro-murder camp, but I still feel kind of rude forgetting stuff like that." "Her name was Dawn," supplied her mother. Dawn, huh? If nothing else, it wasn't the sort of name you wanted to immediately run away from. Kind of the opposite. It made her think of sunlight, which was inextricably linked to safety. Sunlight, safety, and new beginnings- all very good things, as far as Buffy was concerned. Wouldn't it be super ironic if she turned out to be pure evil? --- Dawn didn't let herself cry until she was well out of sight of the house. She knew it was stupid, but she felt a certain sense of betrayal that Buffy would even let her run out like this. She always used to be so worried about her- but of course, that was back when people remembered who she was. Everyone had been angry about having their memories altered, but now Dawn was wondering if the monks weren't actually much smarter than they'd given them credit for. She would have hated to be brought into the world without a starter pack of friends and family. Without her slayer-based support structure, Dawn had no idea where to run. Her first thought was Giles. He'd never much liked her, but if anybody would know about time travel or its effects, it would be him. It was a plan, if not a good plan. She ran across town to his house. She pounded on the door and rang the bell several more times than was necessary or polite, but nothing inside the house stirred. His car was in the driveway, so evidently he was there, but not waking up. Stuck outside in the middle of the night, every little noise made her want to jump out of her skin. Dawn was suddenly very glad that her knife had traveled through time with her. It wouldn't do a whole lot of good against a vampire, but it was better than nothing. Even so, she had to find shelter. She ran through her options. Willow was living with Buffy, and even if Dawn hadn't just left her house, the university was too far. Xander was an option, but her timeline told her that he was still living in his parent's basement, and she really didn't want to deal with his parents. That left Spike's crypt. It wasn't ideal, but she knew he was chipped at this point, so it wasn't like he could hurt her. Staying with Spike sounded a lot safer than wandering around Sunnydale at 3 AM, so without giving the matter a second thought, she took off towards the cemetery. Nobody ever knocked at Spike's door, and since she wasn't about to break with tradition now, she waltzed right in. The crypt looked like a crypt. Which is to say, it looked like a crypt that nobody had ever even thought about turning into a home. The sarcophagus was covered in dirt, and the corners were filled with cobwebs and dust. The ladder that normally led to the downstairs was not in evidence, just a dangerous-looking hole in the floor towards the back. Spike, obviously, was nowhere to be seen. Dawn stared at the empty place for several minutes, hoping that if she kept watching, Spike would magically show up. When that didn't happen, she walked numbly outside, collapsed at the entrance, and gave up on trying not to cry. She was a little worried that her sobs would attract vampires to the area, but she decided that it didn't matter. After all, the whole point of coming back was to stop Glory's ritual. Maybe Buffy and the world would be better off if she had never existed at all. The Knights of Byzantium had certainly thought so. After several minutes of uncontrolled sobbing, her breathing became a little more even and her thoughts became a little more morbid. She looked at her white wrist and unsheathed Eversharp. Better her than the world, right? But as soon as she broke the skin, her sister's words flew into her mind. The hardest thing in this world is to live in it. Dawn stared at the small trickle of blood that was falling down the knife, and pulled it out again. Buffy had wanted her to live. She'd wanted her to live so badly that she was willing to give her own life in exchange for Dawn's. That settled it- as long as she had a shot, she had to find a way to save herself and the world. That was what Buffy would have wanted. The whole world might be against her- heck, it might not even know she existed- but Dawn was going to save it anyway, because that's what scoobies did. One order of saving the world, hold the gratitude . "Well, well. What's this? A little girl out in the cemetery all alone at night, and already bleeding. You'll attract all manner of beasties if you keep that up," said a distinctly British and very deliberately evil voice. Dawn stood and whipped around immediately. Sure enough, there was Spike, holding a radio and grinning at her maliciously. Behind her tears, Dawn positively beamed. She wasn't going to say that she had never been so happy to see him, but this was a very close second to when he'd appeared to save her from Doc. Or, well, tried to. "Spike! Thank God!" His grin immediately turned into a scowl. "Oi! Don't you be thanking God for this! Do you have any idea what I am?" "You're an evil vampire with a chip in his head who can't attack humans," said Dawn, in her best I-am-so-utterly-unimpressed voice. She tossed her hair and tried to look tough. "And you look kinda famished. Haven't you been eating?" "Well, no, now that you mention it! Bit hard to do that when you can't attack people!" "You're not buying pig's blood?" Spike actually spat at her, which she really hadn't expected. The chip didn't appear to object. It did something- if not much- to dull Dawn's enthusiasm. "Stupid girl." "I'm not stupid," said Dawn, frowning at the spit on her shirt. It was only a few hours ago that he'd called her sharp. Or, well, more like three years in the future, but still. "Yeah, you are. Wandering around a cemetery, alone, at night? In Sunnyhell? You're lucky you're not already dead. Think I'll stick around and watch until someone else kills you for me. Little girl like you, ought to be safe at home in bed at this hour." Dawn's frown deepened. She wasn't about to tell him that she didn't really have a home anymore. She suddenly realized that he didn't, either, which was probably why he looked so hungry. He'd just moved out after being the scoobies' hostage, and other concerns were secondary until he found a place to stay. Which was why he was at the crypt. Except that she had gotten here first this time. "This is my home," she told him proudly. "It's basically the best crypt in the whole town. Two floors, sewer access, lots of space, and an electrical wire runs right below, so as soon as I get patched in I'll be able to watch TV and stuff. It's the only one with all those amenities." It was almost word for word what he'd once told her about why he never moved out, despite the fact that his enemies knew exactly where it was. She suspected he was just stubborn, but whatever. "That right?" asked Spike, eyeing the place. "Well, soon as some beastie kills you, I'll be free to move in. Any minute now." "Or you could, y'know, move in anyway." "What?" Dawn hadn't even stopped to think about how weird the invitation sounded, so she missed his complete lack of comprehension. She went on as if he were just making sure she meant it, not making sure he wasn't hallucinating. "You could take the downstairs or something, so you could have your own space. That'd be good. And the advantage to living with a super strong vampire is that you'll keep the rest of the monsters away." For the second time that night, Dawn tried to nonchalantly stick her hands in her pockets. Since she'd managed to cut herself again since then, she met with the same result, and ended up staring at her wounded wrist. "I am not living with some lack-brained girl who's dumb enough to invite a vampire into her home. If it even is your home, which I very much doubt," said Spike. "What, so you're going to give up the undisputed best crypt in town because some girl happens to have gotten there first? That doesn't sound very evil." "You watch your tongue, Platelet. Any second now, some other vamp is gonna come drink you dry. Soon as I kill him, I'll have your place all to myself." Dawn considered doing something very stupid, but decided against it on the grounds that it was, well, stupid. And that Buffy would probably have an aneurism if she found out. Then she remembered that Buffy probably didn't care about her at all anymore, and that this entire going back in time thing was turning out to be pretty stupid in the first place, so one more stupid decision probably wasn't going to make much difference. She held out her bloody wrist to the extremely hungry vampire. "Want some?" --- Spike couldn't decide if he admired the girl's foolhardy courage, or if she was the most dimwitted creature on earth. As soon as she offered him her blood, he decided that it was the latter. But hey, he was evil, and he hadn't had human blood in a solid month. "Yeah, alright." He'd almost forgotten how sweet human blood tasted- he'd gone without for far too long. Too quickly, she pulled her wrist away and inspected it. He would have taken it back and drunk more of the delicious stuff, but he was beginning to actually remember the chip before he tried attacking people. "Alright, you should be good now. Wish I had another bandage. I've gotta stop cutting myself on this thing," she said, apparently to herself. She held out her hand again, only this time it was obviously for a handshake. "It's Dawn, by the way." The sky was lightening behind her, the sun just under the horizon. "Looks like." "No, I mean, people call me Dawn. Or, well, technically nobody calls me anything anymore, but if they did , they would call me Dawn." Spike ignored her outstretched hand. He really wished he could tear her throat out. She wouldn't be making those annoying sounds then, and he could get to the rest of the blood that was pump-pump-pumping away through that little heart of hers. He noticed with some displeasure that her heartbeat was completely even, as though he didn't inspire even the tiniest amount of fear in her. Another reason she was obviously dim. "So, why do you have a radio?" Spike stared at the radio in his hand. He hadn't wanted to leave Xander's place empty-handed, and this was the result. He wasn't even sure the thing worked. "Nicked it." "From who? Not a store, cuz that thing looks too beat up to be sold in a secondhand shop." Her nose scrunched up. "You take it from Giles?" "You know the watcher?" "I guess you could say that. He never liked me," said Dawn. "Then again, nobody does right now, and that's OK. I don't need them." She spoke the words with such conviction that despite her red and swollen face, he felt a flicker of kinship for the girl. He told himself it was just the chip- normally he would have killed her by now, and her personality was only distracting him because he couldn't do that. "Well, yeah, I wager you don't. Nancy boy never did any good for anybody." Dawn shrugged. "You know, the sun is coming up. You should come inside before you fry." She was right. "You're a real idiot, inviting a vamp into your living space." "Well, you're an evil vampire," she said matter-of-factly, "which means taking advantage of people's idiocy is basically your job description." She had a point, and he felt like he was starting to sizzle, so he walked into her crypt and set his radio down on the sarcophagus. "God, I'm going to be stuck in this dank place all day." "Yeah, it kind of sucks right now," she agreed. "We can see about furniture later, but right now any money I get is going towards food and blood. Speaking of which, I'll be back before dusk." "There is no we!" he called, but she was already striding out into the sunlight. Bloody hell. At least she hadn't insisted on tying him up while she went out. When he realized that made this an upgrade compared to yesterday, he felt an unusually strong desire to kill someone. But of course, he couldn't do that. He really was doomed. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Dawn was as good as her word, arriving with a pint of pig's blood, a band-aid on her wrist, and a bag of various other things sometime before noon. Spike didn't ask how she got any of it. He considered refusing the pig's blood on principle, but he was still hungry. The blood would spoil soon, and he was obviously not getting any more human for a good long while. He swallowed his pride along with the blood and drank. While she ate her own food, she arranged her new belongings on the floor. It wasn't particularly impressive- a packaged sandwich, a deck of cards with serious water damage, some beat-up notebooks, some pens, a couple shirts and a pair of sweatpants that looked like they'd been stolen from a Goodwill donation bin, and an army green sleeping bag that smelled very distinctly of dead cat. There was also a pack of cigarettes, which she promptly tossed to him. That, at least, she had to have stolen. "So you're serious about the whole living in a crypt thing," he said, pulling out his lighter. Apart from smoking, he realized that he had nothing better to do than converse. The 'sewer access' Dawn had spoken of consisted of a couple mostly-blocked pipes that ran through the hole she referred to as 'downstairs', so he couldn't get out that way without doing a fair bit of digging. He'd tried and failed to get some electricity to power the radio, but while he thought he could get it working if given enough time, he was going to need more materials. For later, when the girl was dead and he had the place to himself. "Yeah," she said simply, looking for clear spaces to write in the notebooks. "The other option is to go crawling to Giles, and I don't really want to do that. Once it's fixed up it won't be so bad." Spike had to admit that he could easily see the place's potential. Dank as it was right now, it had a good layout, and the possible access to electricity was a definite bonus. "Planning on furniture? You could do the sarcophagus as a bed." "Over there's gonna be the kitchen," she said, motioning to a part of the room that had space for a fridge and a couple of cutting boards. "And over there's where the TV goes. And that's where you'd put the recliner, or maybe a couch. Could go either way. It still needs a ladder, too, to get to the downstairs." Her vision for the place was remarkably similar to his own, and she seemed to be very confident about it. "You'll have trouble getting a recliner in. You being all bitty and all." She waved the concern away. "I'll find someone to help me carry it. It'll work out." She yawned. "Ugh. It's probably been, like, forty hours since I went to sleep last. There was the raid on Caleb's vineyard, and then nobody slept all day because they were reeling from the fight, and then the spell was that night, and then there was another night. I guess it's lucky I didn't fall asleep before I got back here." Spike ignored her and whatever she was talking about, opting to help himself to the cards and prepare for a game of solitaire. Dawn settled in on the dead cat sleeping bag. "Wake me up at dusk, 'kay?" Spike snorted. He'd do no such thing, and he suspected the girl was too tired to care. When dusk finally did arrive, he promptly left, threatened a man into giving him about thirty dollars- sodding cheapskate- and bought a bag full of various other essentials. He was in decently high spirits when he made his way back to the crypt, hoping that Platelet would be a thing of the past. He'd behead whoever killed her and take over the place himself. It was just as he was getting back to the crypt that he noticed the Fyarl demon, and at once felt even more pleased. "Oh, a demon. That would be, oh, right. The things I can kill." "Spike. Wonderful, a perfect end to a perfect day," sighed the Fyarl. There was something terribly familiar about the way the Fyarl demon spoke to him. Spike frowned. "Giles?" "Go on, then. Let's get with the fighting- you understand me?" "Of course I understand you." "I'm speaking English?" "No, you're speaking Fyarl. I happen to speak Fyarl. And by the way, why the hell are you suddenly a Fyarl demon? You just come over all demony this morning?" Spike was used to strange happenings on the hellmouth by now, but between that Dawn chit inviting him into her crypt and Giles suddenly turning into a demon, he was beginning to wonder if he hadn't actually staked himself last week and ended up in some kind of increasingly ridiculous afterlife. "As a matter of fact, I did." It was at that moment that Dawn came stumbling out of the crypt's entrance. "Told you to wake me up," she said, weakly punching Spike in the arm. "Vampire, Platelet. Not big on the whole promises thing." "You are so," said Dawn. And it irked him, because she was right, he did have a tendency to take his promises seriously. Unless they were outright lies, he stuck to his deals. How the hell did she know that? "I didn't realize you were consorting with children," said Giles, the disgust in his demon voice apparent. Spike hoped he didn't look as offended as he felt. He might be evil, but he had standards, damn it. He just wasn't sure he wanted that fact getting out. Dawn seemed to notice the Fyarl demon for the first time. Rather than scream and hide, as Spike might have expected, the girl simply gave it an unenthusiastic wave. "Hey, Giles." Giles looked about as baffled as he could with his Fyarl face. "You can understand me, too?" The girl turned back to Spike. "What's he saying?" "Wants to know if you can speak Fyarl." "Nope. Just Sumerian, Turkish, Latin, Greek, and some sub-par Spanish. I'm working on French, but no demon languages yet." The girl didn't look old enough to be in high school, and already she spoke almost as many languages as he did. Well, she didn't need to brag about it. "How did you recognize him, then?" Dawn graced him with a devilish smirk, which looked somewhat less ridiculous on her than he might have expected. "Stop me if I'm wrong. Giles got transformed into a demon by Ethan Rayne last night, and now he's gotta find him before he leaves town and make him undo the transformy mojo. And he's gonna ask you to help." "Good lord," said Giles, sounding like he might actually faint. Under different circumstances, Spike would've found it hard not to snicker at the image of a Fyarl demon fainting. "Who is she?" "'S what I'm wondering," said Spike. "I know where Ethan is," said Dawn, obviously enjoying her chance to be mysterious. "We can help." Spike didn't like the sound of that. "We?" Dawn nodded at him, perfectly serious. "I don't know how to drive, and Giles is too big to drive, and the driving might get exciting. So yeah, we're gonna need you along." "Hello, evil. Got no reason to help you sodding white hats." "I can pay you money," said Giles, reasonably. Spike changed his tune immediately. "Ooh, I like money. How much?" "I want three hundred dollars," said Dawn. "Two for Spike and one for me." "I, uh. I can do that," said Giles. "What's he say?" "Says he'll do it," said Spike, the venom momentarily leaving his voice. "Alright, tell us where the motel is." "See, I don't actually-" "You said you knew!" "I do, I just don't know the address or anything. I'd better just gonna come along," said the girl. Great, more yapping. He consciously shifted into game face and gave her a wicked grin. "Sure you're not afraid to be alone with us monsters?" Dawn looked at him like he was a complete idiot. "Let's go." Despite the company, Spike found the mission a decent distraction from his lately less-than-optimal unlife. Dawn gave fairly sensible directions from the backseat of Giles's beat-up car, and Spike made nearly civil conversation with demon-Giles. It helped that Giles was in a ridiculously violent and impulsive mood, which Spike delighted in setting loose on the town. At one point the watcher actually got out of the car and scared a passing woman. Minutes later, both he and Giles were still laughing about it. Dawn once again looked at him like he was an idiot, glaring at him in the rearview mirror. A moment later he saw something else in the mirror, and sped up. "Commandos. Looks like we have company." "Initiative," supplied Dawn. "You probably wanna get out of the car, Giles. Motel's at the end of this street on the right, room 124." "Right, I'll go then," said Giles. "Oi! Maybe I want to keep you around, spilt the goons attention while I make a break for it," said Spike. Giles offered them another hundred, and in a moment he was leaping out of the car, nearly tearing the door off in the process. "They're catching up," said Dawn. "You got this, right?" "Lemme put it this way, Bit," said Spike, rolling across two lanes. "If anyone can shake these gits, it'd be me." She didn't argue with him. In fact, her glare had been replaced by a look of true admiration, like she didn't doubt that he could do absolutely anything if he set his mind to it. It made him feel a bit better, considering how many people had written him off as toothless in the last few weeks. When he did finally shake the last of the soldier boys, he was so wrapped up in the moment that he ran right into a wall. He exulted in the mayhem even as he staggered out of the wreckage, forgetting completely about the little girl in the back seat until he heard her ungodly high-pitched shriek. Niblet had a set of lungs. She crawled out through a window, apparently uninjured, though her heart was hammering faster than it had at any point in the less than a day that he'd known her. It was only a moment before she drew herself up and marched over to him. "You are insane," she informed him. "Maybe a bit," he allowed, unable to keep the grin off his face. "So, we should probably get away from the wreck before the cops show," she said, walking off in an apparently random direction. He fell into step beside her. The girl obviously had a death wish, yeah. Bitty little slayer or something. But on the other hand, there wasn't any reason she couldn't be that and admirably courageous at the same time. "Wanna see if we can find a recliner at the dump?" "Yeah, alright." He didn't bother to contradict the assumption that they would both be dragging the ratty thing back to the crypt. Might be easier to find the prize with a second pair of eyes, and besides, he'd be alone once the other vampires in the cemetery wised up. Until then, he'd had worse roommates. Many of them in the past few weeks. "Cool. So, you know anything about how we can hook up a TV? Cuz I know a lot of stuff, but electrical engineering's not on the list." "I could figure it out. That's priority number one, you know. I don't want to miss Passions ." She giggled. It wasn't the sort of sound a vampire ought to appreciate, but somehow he didn't mind so much. --- "This one's mostly intact. I think the cushion's moldy, though," said Dawn, eying a metal stool. "It doesn't need a cushion, does it?" "Not unless you can find a better one. Metal's better than wood. Wood's dangerous, and it'll rot if it gets wet," said Spike, from behind another mound of trash. She heaved the metal stool towards the pile of interesting-looking stuff they'd found. Most of it was indistinguishable from the surrounding junk, unless you knew what you were looking for. She wondered whether Spike had made a habit of going to junkyards at any point in his past, but she wasn't sure why he would have. He was probably about as new at this as she was. "Find a recliner yet?" "Nah. But- hey, look at this! TV looks like it might still work." Dawn did the funny little dance that was required to navigate the dump without falling into a puddle of pure nastiness. When she finally did get around to him, she nodded approvingly. The TV was obviously old, but it didn't look like there was any serious internal damage. "Wanna just haul it back and come back for more some other time? I dunno how long we have until sunrise." "Another three hours, at least. We have time," said Spike, reclining against a mangled old mattress. "Anything else you want?" Dawn shrugged. "Lots of stuff. Some of it we'll probably have to buy. I doubt we're going to find a working mini-fridge around here." "You might be surprised. But yeah, we will need some money eventually. Any plans on that?" "I haven't thought about it much. It's not like I've got contact information. Or like I have a legal identity. Or like I'm old enough to work." She frowned. "This sucks." "Welcome to life in the underworld, Bit," smiled Spike. He lit another cigarette. She wondered how many he usually went through in a day, and then reminded herself that it was so totally not her concern. She couldn't even legally buy them, so there was no way anything she earned was going towards his yucky smoking habit. "I'll figure something out. I've got skills. Worst-case scenario, I can swipe stuff until I work out something legitimate. Normally I'd say I'm past that phase, but I think I can make an exception to avoid literally starving to death." "That right? Experienced little urchin, eh?" "No," snapped Dawn. She would have been even more annoyed if he'd assumed she was just making stuff up, but Spike had a talent for making every conceivable response sound as annoying as possible. "I've just got a lot of practice shoplifting. Half of it I learned from you anyway. Though you never did teach me how to pick locks." His eyebrows shot up, and Dawn chuckled. "Y'know how I knew about your chip, and about Giles's demon thing?" He waited for her to continue. He was wearing his I'm-interested-but-I'm-not-going-to-tell-you-that face, which Dawn had gotten pretty good at recognizing. She considered going for drama, but it came out like she was good-naturedly bragging to him about a good test score. She'd done that more than once with him, back in the day. "I'm an artificial human from the future." "That's a new one," said Spike. "Yeah. I'm not supposed to exist yet, so nobody remembers me. It kinda sucks." "Sounds like it. What is this, change the past to fix the future?" "Something like that. Though it's more like stop the world from totally ending. Gonna make Acathla look like cake if we don't do something about it. Of course, it's going to be kinda rough given that Buffy won't listen to anything I say." "She's like that. I've found that 'I want to save the world' generally stops her in her tracks." Dawn rolled her eyes. "Only cuz you're evil. I tried that, and she didn't care." "Gotta try again, I expect," said Spike, like he was dishing out actual good advice. Come to think of it, that wasn't surprising- Spike was a proverbial fountain of good advice, even when he was evil. It was just that most of his advice wasn't family-friendly, and there was usually some really bad advice mixed in. Learning anything from Spike required full use of a person's critical thinking skills, but in Dawn's experience, it was generally well worth the effort. "So what about you? Any particular plans?" "One, get this chip out," he said, gesturing to his head. "Two, become an evil monster again. Three, kill the slayer and brag about ending three of 'em." "Ambitious," said Dawn, trying to sound approving despite the fact that his goal made her stomach turn. Not so long ago, she'd asked him if he loved her sister, and if her timeline was right, that was just before the attempted rape. Not exactly the reaction Dawn was hoping for. If he could hurt her that badly when he was head over heels for Buffy, Dawn figured she'd better take him at his word when he said he wanted to kill her. She'd just have to make sure he didn't get the chance. Maybe it was a good thing she was keeping an eye on him, as long as she remembered that he was totally serious about the murder thing. "Yeah, well, sky's the limit and all that," said Spike. "I'll grant you it's not as useful as saving the world, but hey." "I didn't have anything better to do," admitted Dawn. "Hey, that can't be true. You must have known me, yeah?" "Yup. You're the only person who doesn't treat me like a little kid all the time, so that's cool. And you're the only person who's as strong as Buffy, which is also cool. Except maybe Faith, but I think she's in a coma right now." That was the trouble, really- Dawn sort of wanted to like Spike, because she knew he could be a fairly good person under the right circumstances. He was also, without a doubt, one of the coolest people she knew. Remembering the "actual serial killer" bit was going to be sort of hard. He grinned, unaware of her inner turmoil. "So, you can tell the future. Tell me whether I get this bloody chip out, whether I kill Buffy? Get Dru back? The lot?" She smiled, hoping it looked more confident than she felt. "I could. " "But you won't," he finished. "Color me completely unsurprised. You know, trick like that could probably find you some cash. Figure there are all sorts of demons that'd want to know what's in store for them." "It's not like I'm a seer. I just know about you and Giles because I happened to know you guys. Plus I read his watcher diaries, which is how I found out about the Fyarl demon story. But I can't tell just any old person's future." "Figures. You'll have to earn your keep like the rest of us." "What about you? Got any plans to make money?" He shrugged. "What'd I do last time?" "You were poor last time." "Oh. Huh." "You could start a mercenary business," said Dawn. It was half serious suggestion and half ridiculous fantasy- precisely the kind of thing that seemed to appeal to Spike. "I mean, you can kill demons, and there've gotta be lots of people who'd pay you to kill the right demons around here. It'd be violent, and lucrative, and exciting, and give Buffy less than no reason to stake you. Totally your speed. Oh, and I could handle clients and stuff, keep everything organized-" "Hold up, Bit. Do you know the first thing about what you're talking about? That'd make me enemies with the whole demon underworld." "Not the nice ones," objected Dawn. "Cuz you wouldn't be killing the nice ones. And you only play poker with the nice ones anyway." "I do not! And yeah, I'd have to kill whoever they paid me to kill, including the 'nice' ones." "Nuh-uh. It's not like you let them make you sign a contract. They'd be all 'Spike, a pair of vampires is threatening to kill me if I don't pay off my debt by tonight! Please slay them!'" "Sounds heroic," snorted Spike. "You come out with stakes, and the vamps are all 'two against one, easy!' And you have an epic fight and they get dusty. Then you go back to the client and say 'all in a night's work, sir'. Not the sir part, because you'd never call anybody that. But then they pay you for doing something you had fun doing anyway," continued Dawn, practically acting out the explanation. She knew her various voices were terrible, but it was fun anyway. Maybe Andrew was rubbing off on her. "Tempting," said Spike, but she couldn't tell if he was actually tempted. "You should think about it. It'd totally earn you more than scaring random people on the street. Be more fun, too." She looked up at the sky, wondering if it was getting any lighter. "So, home?" "Home. Grab whatever you want, I got the TV," said Spike, dropping his cigarette and stamping on it. She grabbed the metal stool and followed him out of the dump, thinking happily about all the cool stuff Spike could do as a mercenary vampire. Things were looking ever-so-slightly up, and she was sorta-kinda-maybe-almost friends with Spike. Who still wanted to kill her sister, but hey. Dawn had learned by now that it was easier to look for clouds with silver linings than to expect anything resembling an actual gift while living on the hellmouth. It was all about learning to appreciate what you had. Right now, she had a chipped vampire and a beat-up TV, and she figured that was a lot better than nothing. --- Spike hadn't intended to tell Dawn that he was seriously considering her mercenary idea, but as usual, she was in exactly the right position to pick up whatever scraps of information she wanted. He found her working the cash register at the local magic shop. He didn't trust magic, as a rule, but it was also the best place to pick up a few solid anti-demon weapons. Spike didn't feel like getting himself killed before he managed to kill Buffy. "Nice battleaxe ya got there," observed Dawn. "Gonna cost you a pretty penny, though." "What are you even doing here, Bit?" She crossed her arms and glared at him. "Human living expenses are crazy expensive, even without having an actual house. Since I'd prefer not to spend tomorrow eating out of a dumpster somewhere, I'm taking steps to get money. My only marketable skills involve mostly theoretical knowledge of magic and the ability to translate stuff from five or so languages, and both of those are prerequisites for working here. They pay more than minimum wage, and apparently magic shops are understanding about the whole 'I don't have contact info because I kinda sorta live in a crypt' thing. Not that I told them that," she added hurriedly. "I think they're just happy to have someone who understands magical theory and doesn't have a face made out of snakes." "You said you weren't old enough to work." She smirked like she'd just won first prize in a school science fair. " They don't know that. It's illegal, OK, but it meets my standards for earning an honest living, and that's all I care about. So, you gonna buy the battleaxe in the next five minutes? Cuz I get a percent, and my shift's almost over." Spike handed over a wad of cash, and Dawn tucked several hundred dollars away in the register before looking up at him. "Uh, anything else?" "Said your shift's over in five?" She nodded. He wasn't going to say he would walk her back to the crypt, so he simply browsed until she was done, and they left the store together. No reason to let the girl walk home without protection from Sunnydale's nasties, especially now that she was making herself useful. "So, where'd you get the money?" she began, seizing the chance to converse about something. "Advance pay. I clear out a shed full of Saralu demons, and I get twice that when the job is done. Saralu don't die until you cut the tails off, so I figured it'd be good to have a blade handy." "It's always best to have a weapon on hand," said Dawn. "S'pose so. Though there's something to be said for fighting with nothing but your own skills. Fists and fangs and sod all else. Miss that." "Well, I miss living in a house with indoor plumbing. We can't always have what we want," snarked the kid. Spike raised an eyebrow. He wondered how much her sense of humor had been shaped by him. How well, precisely, had they known each other? Well enough that she felt safe living with him, which was something of a blow to his vampire pride- but then again, the kid apparently felt safe enough living in a crypt by herself, so it might not mean very much. "Speaking of which, can we get indoor plumbing? Cuz I dunno if you pee, but you totally do have to shower, so it's not like it'd be just for me," continued Dawn. "We can't always get what we want," said Spike, enjoying the girl's scowl of disapproval. On the other hand, it was a very real concern. He reminded himself to look into it as soon as he got enough money that buying blood was no longer a financial hardship. "So, I guess Giles hasn't paid us yet?" "Not yet. He will, though. Watcher boy and his team of do-gooders are all into that whole honor business," said Spike. "Not always," muttered Dawn. "You know something I don't?" "Lotsa stuff," she chirped. "And if you're good, I'll tell you some of it." "Then I say ignorance is bliss," returned Spike. Dawn shrugged like she didn't care, as though she consorted with black hats every day. For all he knew, she did. They approached the crypt door, and Dawn ducked inside. "Hey, do you think the crypt actually counts as a human house?" "No idea. Just don't invite the nasties in. And if they come in anyway, scream real loud and hope to God that someone else hears you, because I'm off." The girl pulled out a knife from the sheath at her hip and brandished it menacingly. "And if nobody does, plan C is decapitation." "You know what? I see why Mum and Dad are making you live in a crypt." She stuck her tongue out at him. Brat. If he was lucky, she'd be dead by morning. What was he even doing, walking her back like he cared whether she met any of those nasties? It wasn't until he came home an hour before sunrise, covered in Saralu gore and several hundred dollars richer, that he remembered. She was curled up on the dead cat sleeping bag, staring at the entrance and clutching the knife, even as she hugged her knees to herself. There were tears on her face, but it looked like she had finished her crying a while ago. "See any nasties?" he asked. She shook her head, sniffling. "You get the demons?" "Yeah." "Cool," she said, sheathing the knife and curling up on her side. "See ya in the morning." She was quiet then, and after a few minutes her breathing evened out. Third night out in the cemetery, all alone except for the murderous vampire a few yards away, and the kid was sleeping because she knew she had to keep her strength up somehow. She was going to survive- if he took her word for it, she was going to save the world. Maybe some part of him was reminded of himself, way back when he was first turned and decided he'd do great things or die trying. Angelus had tried to beat the tendency out of him, but look how that turned out. If there was one thing Spike wasn't , it was another bloody Angelus. The ponce couldn't handle an upstart with ambitions, but Spike thought the whole thing was marvelous. This Dawn kid had heart, and that was reason enough to like the girl. She'd sink or she'd swim, but if she happened to swim, then Spike sure as hell wasn't going to get in her way. --- Giles put off going back to the crypt as long as he could, but after a week there was simply no excuse, even if Spike was unrepentantly evil. There was still that girl to think about, assuming she wasn't a vampire herself. What she was doing with Spike was anyone's guess, but she must be rather desperate, and paying her was the least he could do. He went around lunchtime, and was surprised to find both of them sitting in the crypt. Spike was drinking blood mixed with God knows what else, and the girl was eating an apple. They appeared to be playing rummy, which was almost as surprising as the fact the girl was there at all. "Hello, Rupert. Here to pay me for my services?" smiled Spike, without looking up from his hand. The girl did look up, and threw a half-hearted smile and wave in his direction. Evidently that was her usual reaction to him, not just brought on by his demon form the other night. "Yes, I suppose I am," said Giles, fishing the money out of his wallet. "Who's winning?" Spike jerked his head in the girl's direction, and the child smirked. " Dawn here is obviously a professional gambler. 'S the only explanation." "I should think she would be a professional student, at her age," said Giles. "What are you doing here, anyway?" Dawn met his eyes for the first time, looking positively alarmed. "You mean in general, or now? Cuz right now it's my lunch hour." "They give you a lunch hour at the middle school?" She rolled her eyes. "No, they give me a lunch hour at work. The Magic Box. And speaking of work-" "Yes, right," said Giles, handing over the two piles of cash. "That's three hundred for Spike and one hundred for, uh, Dawn, although honestly, I think she was significantly more helpful." Dawn shrugged. "Spike's gonna pay for the stuff to hook the TV up, so it works out in the end." "Right, then." He glanced at Spike, who was counting his money. Something about the way he and the girl were interacting caused Giles to think of his earlier musings on the situation. As a former watcher, of course, he realized that vampires were evil beings that were likely to do evil at every opportunity. He knew this- but Giles had also learned that there were exceptions to every rule, and now that he'd come to work with Spike, he wondered if the vampire wasn't more human than they had previously given him credit for. "You know, I was thinking about your affliction, and, uh, your newfound discovery that you can fight only demons; it occurs to me that, well, I realize this is completely against your nature, but-" "Got another job for us?" chirped the girl. Spike looked up from his money for a moment, but didn't say anything to interrupt her. "Not at the moment, no. But there's never any shortage of demonic activity in Sunnydale, and every advantage we have is worth pursuing," said Giles. "Sure. But we're not exactly rich here, so I think you know what the catch is," she smirked. "Money? You want me to pay you every time we need help?" asked Giles. He sounded a bit too incredulous even to himself. "Well, yeah," said Spike. "What did you think we were gonna do, help you out of the evilness of our hearts?" "I'm not evil," put in Dawn. "But I like being able to buy toothpaste. And food is nice. Taking out the forces of darkness for cash, that's kind of our shtick now." "Not limited to darkness, bit," grinned Spike. "And the forces of demonic vermin," she added, crinkling her nose. "We're turning out to be more like superpowered exterminators than legitimate mercenaries right now, so if you want to give us something more interesting to do, that'd be cool." "You two are mercenaries," said Giles, making sure he had this right. "Yep!" "Yeah." "I see," said Giles, wiping off his glasses. "Well then, the next time I have a situation that would benefit from the services of a vampire and a, uh, Dawn, I'll be sure to drop by and discuss it." "Nice," said Dawn. "See? Tolja things were looking up." "That they are," said Spike, laying down a group of cards as Dawn stuck her tongue out at him. "Not sure it'll help business in the long run, though, if it gets out that we're taking jobs from watcher boy here." "Will if we take human clients," argued Dawn. "Humans have more money anyway." "Point." "Yes, well. If any of my friends need a good demon exterminator, I will let them know that you're in search of gainful employment." Giles couldn't help smiling at how well they'd taken his offer. He still wasn't entirely sure that it was ethical to work with a vampire, but there was no question that Spike could be a tremendous asset if he so chose. "Speaking of gainful employment, I totally just won, so I will see you monsters later," said Dawn, discarding her final card. Spike let the rest of his fall in resignation, and Giles was amazed at how civil they were with each other. Surprising enough that Spike wasn't insulting her every chance he got, but the girl also seemed to be genuinely friendly with him. He watched as she scampered out into the sunlight, proving once and for all that she was not a vampire, and that a perfectly human girl had somehow decided it was a good idea to take up residence with one of the most notorious vampires in history. "So, ah, did you figure out what exactly Dawn is?" "She's an artificial human," said Spike, lighting a cigarette. "From the future." "Ah. Of course," said Giles, unable to think of any other response. "Perhaps she'll grace me with the tale sometime." "She'll probably expect you to pay her. Greedy chit, she is. You know she read your diary?" "She- Those entries are only for the eyes of select members of the council!" Spike smirked. "Yeah, well. Sounds like she doesn't play by your rules." Giles's anger fled when he remembered that he didn't always abide by the rules. His current conversation was a result of that, as was any and all information he gleaned from it. If Dawn actually turned out to be from the future, as absurd as that sounded, it might well be a good thing that she had as much information as possible. He just hoped he wasn't a fool for believing her when she claimed she wasn't evil. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- "Giles, Spike didn't come home last night and we need to- oh." Dawn bounded a good fifteen feet into the house before she realized that Spike, Xander, Willow, Anya, and Giles were all inside. Spike was sprawled out on his stomach, with the scoobies gathered around him like back-alley doctors. Giles prodded at the wound on his back while Xander held a flashlight, and Willow fussed over spellbooks. Spike wasn't actually unconscious, but he looked pretty darn close. "What did you do to him?" Sure, OK, Spike was evil and probably deserved whatever it was, but he was all she had at the moment. Besides, the scoobies weren't supposed to be cruel, even if the object of cruelty did have a history of murder and brutality that would make Jack the Ripper jealous. "He's only drunk," said Giles. "He'll be on his feet soon after we get this, ah, blinking thing out." "Tracer," supplied Xander. Dawn nodded weakly. She'd seen Spike drink himself into a stupor before, but generally not while people were digging things out of his back. "You're sure he's OK?" "He's as OK as he can be with a gash in his back the size of Texas," said Willow. Her eyes widened when she saw Dawn's expression. "Oh! No, it's really not that bad, I'm exaggerating. Giles is being super careful. Well, medium-careful. Um, who are you? I think I mighta missed the introductions there." "I'm Dawn," said Dawn, letting herself sink down onto the couch cushions. She was vaguely aware that a more complete explanation was called for, but she didn't have the energy. Later. I will tell them later, after all this random panic goes away. "Dawn is an associate of Spike's," said Giles. "Apparently, she and Spike have decided to take up some form of anti-demon mercenary work for the foreseeable future. That is, in large part, why we're helping him now." Thank you Lucky Charms for Rupert Giles. "Wait, wait. Spike's a good guy now?" asked Xander. "No," said Giles and Dawn, simultaneously. Dawn felt the need to clarify that , if nothing else. "He needs money and likes violence. We're aiming a loose canon in roughly the right direction, but he's not a good guy yet, and he'd probably jump at the chance to kill all of you if he could." Nobody caught the "yet", and the others returned to digging the tracer out of Spike's back. Tension was high until Xander flushed it, and it was only once everyone relaxed a little that anyone thought to further question Dawn's presence. Dawn herself wasn't going to relax until Spike was sufficiently healed, which she figured would require feeding him. Giles didn't object when she went through his fridge to confirm that they had leftover blood. She hadn't expected him to be the second member of the "Spike might possibly be sort of OK" club, especially given that he'd tried to kill Spike even with a soul just a few weeks before her time travel spell. But like present-day Giles, Dawn wasn't eager to examine such alliances too closely. Help was help. "Are you another recently-human demon? Is that why you're working with Spike?" asked Anya. Dawn was thankful that her face was still buried in the fridge. It gave her a second to wipe the near-panic off her face. She decided against actually answering the question, emptying a bag of blood into the nearest probably-clean mug. "I've never been evil. Well, sometimes I shoplift stuff, but I was never evil ." "So, what exactly are you?" asked Xander. "I'm a girl," said Dawn pointedly, as though no other explanation was required. "I'll talk to Giles about it once I know Spike's gonna be OK. If that's OK?" "Certainly," said Giles. "Spike did say a few things after you left the other day, and I would appreciate some manner of elaboration on certain aspects of your, ah, situation." Thank you Lucky Charms that Giles knows the word "subtlety". "Yeah, no problem. There's a bunch of stuff I actually really need to tell you, in that department. It's, uh, sensitive information, though, so if we could-" "Would it help if we left the room?" asked Willow. "Nah," said Dawn. "Like I said, later. How do I work this microwave?" By the time Dawn had figured out the microwave and persuaded drunk-but-at-least-somewhat-aware Spike to drink the blood, the other members of the scooby gang were mostly concerned with discussing the Initiative and its possible evilness. "You're gonna be OK?" Dawn knew the answer, of course, but she needed the reassurance. She'd already lost mom and Tara, and spent a whole summer thinking she'd lost Buffy. Given that the people who were supposed to be taking care of her were no longer doing so, she decided she really, really wasn't ready to lose Spike. "Will be," said Spike, "soon's the room stops spinning. When did you get here?" "About half an hour ago. Got worried when you didn't come home last night." "Yeah?" His eyebrows shot up in a way they never would have if he were completely present. Now his surprise was unfiltered- he genuinely couldn't believe that anyone had gone looking for him. She'd felt that way herself, in the not-so-distant past. When she had gone missing, half the time, it was Spike who ended up finding her. She was personally offended that he didn't realize she owed him- for that and for a dozen other things- so she rolled her eyes and gave him her best are-you-completely-stupid look. The one she'd learned from him. "Well, duh ." As soon as he was mostly-sober (which didn't take that long, all things considered; Dawn wondered how much of it was vampire metabolism, and how much was that Spike was a licensed professional at getting totally wasted), Spike got dressed and began insisting that he wasn't going to leave town until the Initiative changed him back into a remorseless killer. Dawn found it easy to bite back her smile when she reminded herself that he was serious. Giles took the opportunity to solidify his position as vice president of the Spike-might-possibly-be-sort-of-OK club. "Spike- lord knows why I'm telling you this, but it's for your own good. As long as the Initiative is in operation, it's not safe for you here." Dawn didn't realize that Buffy was in the room until she spoke. "No. It's not safe for any of us." With the dramatic opening out of the way, Buffy went on to explain that Professor Walsh had set her up to be monster chow. Dawn knew the basics, though neither she nor Giles believed the particulars of the plan worth recording. Instead, Dawn thought about how the group split itself up. Buffy was in the center, both because she was the slayer and the person who currently had the floor. Giles, Xander, and Willow surrounded her. Anya was in a similar place, since she was glued to Xander. Dating one of the core scoobies, Dawn noted, was the main method of joining the group, and probably the only way to do so successfully (not counting being magicked in by Czech monks). Interestingly, that rule applied only to Xander, Willow, and Giles's love interests. Whether due to some unwritten rule that the slayer ought not have boyfriends, or due to the fact that her boyfriends just happened to never see eye to eye with the rest of the scoobies, they never really integrated the same way. Case and point, Spike was on the stairs, at the edge of the group and not really participating in discussion. Wait, no, not case or point. Spike and my sister are not together. They weren't together in any sense until after she died, and with any luck, they won't be together at all this time. I mean, unless they can do it without it being awful, or if Spike gets a soul first , or something, because that might be OK. Otherwise, badness. Since Dawn was sitting next to Spike at the foot of the stairs, his comment jarred her out of her thoughts. "Gotta hand it to you, Goldilocks. You do have bleeding tragic taste in men. I got a cousin married to a regurgitating Frovalox demon who's got better instincts than you." Dawn held her breath and tried not to giggle. It wasn't funny. Buffy did have terrible luck with this stuff, and the fact that Spike was inadvertently insulting himself didn't make him any less right. "What does my taste in men have to do with this?" "You think Riley was off knitting booties for your future offspring while Maggie was stringing you up?" Dawn supposed that there probably wasn't a polite way to say, 'by the way, your boyfriend was probably in on the plan to get you exterminated', but it was hard to watch Buffy's face crumple. No wonder she and Spike were always trading jabs before- it was like you needed an emotional suit of armor to even talk to Spike-from-2000. "You guys think Riley had something to do with this?" Poor Buffy . I mean, it's not like I know anyone whose romantic relationships have actually turned out well, but it'd be nice if Buffy could find someone who wasn't literally planning on killing her. I mean, there was Angel, with the going evil and trying to destroy the world. And then Riley, with the actually being part of a secret organization that tried to kill her- and I so wish I could remember how loyal he was to the Initiative at this point. And Spike... well, Buffy met Spike because they were trying to kill each other, so it shouldn't have been a surprise when he, y'know, did things that merited perfectly serious threats of flamey death. Except it was a surprise. We're dumb that way, I guess. Maybe she's even dumber for still liking him- and everyone knows they still like each other. I mean, Andrew'd say they're freaking Romeo and Juliet, although he'd probably reference some really obscure show about aliens instead of Shakespeare. Xander'd insist that she never would have looked at him if not for the whole torn-out-of-heaven-and-clawed-her-way-out-of-her-own-coffin thing, so she's gotta be totally over him now and probably doesn't even really care about him outside her general goody-good desire to be helpful. But then Giles said that her reliance on Spike was coloring her judgement, so obviously me and Andrew aren't the only ones who're thinking it. And I don't even know what exactly I'm thinking. He loves her- that's not even a question. It's been obvious since forever, and even if it weren't, the soul would have been a giveaway. I've got no idea where Buffy's at, and I'm not sure she has any idea, either, but she's definitely more with the Spike-liking than she wants everyone to think. Granted, there's still the fact that he tried to rape her last year. You'd think Buffy would hate him, but she actually totally doesn't, and maybe it's stupid, but I get it. Then again, we've established that the Summers clan is stupid in the trusting vampires department. Case and point, one Dawn Summers, who knows how miserable Spike can make everyone in this room, and who has nevertheless chosen to live with him in the very recent past. By this point in Dawn's inner monologue, the scoobies had progressed to passing out weapons and discussing where they were going to hide. They were obviously scared of the Initiative and its newly-discovered homicidal tendencies, although Dawn had to admit that she wasn't too terrified. The Initiative wasn't exactly on her list of the top ten scariest things in the universe. In fact, "Scoobies hating each other" was much higher up on said list, as was "otherwise cool soulless vampires trying to rape Buffy". She glanced over at Spike, whose fear was concealed but definitely present, if you knew how to read him. And I do know how to read Spike. When did that happen? Well, duh- it was Spike. Spike, who had once ordered a sexbot version of her sister, and then endured brutal torture for her sake before she could get used to hating him. Spike, who never stopped blaming himself for getting thrown off that tower. Spike, who openly wept at Buffy's funeral, even though only a year before he had been the one plotting the slayer's demise. Spike, who taught her how to cheat at cards over the long summer while he watched over her in Buffy's stead. Spike, who told her stories about his days of unrepentant evil, but edited out the really awful parts so everything stayed PG-13. Spike, who had finally done something so personally harmful to her that she was sure she would never forgive him, only to come back with a soul in tow. Spike-from-2000 didn't have even one of those memories, and for the first time, it really hit her that she'd allied herself with someone whose only interest in Buffy was his desire to rip out her throat. Her thoughts snapped from will the Buffy and Spike of 2003 ever make up and be a happy couple? to whoops, it's early 2000 and those versions of Buffy and Spike aren't here, so this pointless speculation about Buffy's love life and Spike's possible redemption is actually extra-pointless speculation about a couple of people who don't exist, will never exist, and whose closest existing approximations happen to be mortal enemies right now. Way to focus, Dawn. In fairness, it had been less than a week since the spell. While Dawn was adaptive, she couldn't let go of people that quickly. Of course, Joyce and Tara were alive right now, so she was easily able to say that things were better this way when she actually took the time to consider it. It was only Spike that she really felt sad about. He'd worked so hard to become part of the team, and now he was totally not. Although they're weirdly cool about helping him. I mean, Giles and Xander were totally down with keeping him from getting caught by the Initiative, and I wasn't even here to ask. She hoped that meant he could be welded into the group anyway. It might even be significantly less painful, if she could keep him from doing whatever it was that had made them all hate him so much more than this the first time. If she could just think about what that might be- No. Slayer business now, figure out how to push Spike towards scooby-dom later. As if to join in on her inner criticism, the front door flew open and nearly hit her. Dawn flinched out of the way just fast enough to avoid being smushed, and Riley Finn barreled into the room. The please-God-let-Buffy-be-OK tension left his shoulders for a split second when he saw that his girlfriend was in one piece, only to be immediately replaced with about six other kinds of tension. Buffy looked about the same- relieved to see him, but also obviously nervous. Spike looked tense, too, but in an "oh shit, here's that guy who wants to lock me up and vivisect me, I'd better not show any weakness around him" sort of way. Dawn sighed- "That's Hostile 17." -and then stood up protectively, because darn it, Spike was an evil vampire, but she sure as heck had more claim to him than Riley did. Spike needed all the help he could get, because his idea of throwing Riley off the scent was claiming to be a friend of Xander's in some kind of God-awful Texas accent. So awful, in fact, that he gave up after one sentence and decided that vivisection was preferable to making a fool of himself. Luckily (and surprisingly, because hey, weren't they supposed to be enemies still?), Buffy decided that it was a good idea to get between Spike and Riley before things got ugly. "This is Spike. He's, uh. It's a really long story. But he's not bad anymore!" "Hey!" protested Spike. Dawn kicked him immediately, as hard as she could- she was pretty sure she couldn't actually hurt him, but it did surprise him. Spike didn't seem to think it worth the effort to continue, but his silence was far from enough to placate Riley. "We've been looking all over the place for him, but you've known where he's been all along?" "It's not like that," said Buffy, even though it was pretty much exactly like that. "Then what's it's like? What's he doing here?" asked Riley. Buffy visibly drew a blank. Dawn had some idea why she was sheltering Spike, even without knowledge of who he might become- sure, he was a serial killer who undoubtedly deserved to end up on the pointy end of a stake, and given that he was still offended by being called not bad , he probably didn't have plans to be anything else. But he was helpless, and not killing, so staking him wasn't really going to protect the hapless citizens of Sunnydale. It wasn't like Buffy killed vamps for the fun of it (well, not primarily ); she killed them because they were evil and dangerous. Spike might have the evil part in spades, but if he wasn't a threat to anybody, killing him didn't line up with Buffy's goals. It might not have been wrong , per se, but it wouldn't have had anything to do with protecting people, and therefore wasn't in the spirit of her sacred duty. But even if Buffy realized that on a conscious level (and that was a big "if"), she definitely hadn't figured out how to articulate it. She hesitated way, way too long, and Spike filled the silence. "Leaving your swabs to your dramatics. Thanks. I've got my stories on the telly for that. By the by, if you're trying to kill her-" He grinned and gave an enthusiastic two thumbs up, pulled his duster over his head, and ran outside. Dawn frowned and shut the door behind him, watching him through the window. She waited until he rounded the corner- OK, they can't follow him now- before returning her attention to the conversation. Giles had the floor. "I've heard rumors that the Initiative wasn't all that we've been told. That, uh, secretly they're working towards some darker purpose. Something that might harm us all." "No!" insisted Riley. "That's not what happens there." "Yes it is," said Dawn. Riley turned on her, and she winced. On the other hand, Giles looked intrigued, and hey. She owed him. The Spike-might-possibly-be-sort-of-OK club had to stick together. "They're not good guys. Really, that much ought to be obvious now that they've tried to kill Buffy." "And who are you supposed to be?" asked Riley. "That's Dawn," said Buffy. "Which is a much shorter story, though no less confusing." You don't know the half of it. "I don't remember everything, but project 314 is this thing called Adam. Some kind of really strong cyborg-demon-thing they're working on-" "Woah, wait, the Initiative is making demons stronger ?" asked Xander. "That's completely ridiculous!" said Riley. "I thought so, too," said Dawn. "But my sources aren't wrong about this." "Your sources ," said Riley, in that tone that people use when something sounds so crazy that they don't want to dignify it with an argument, and instead rely on sarcastically repeating whatever the other person said, as though this adds anything at all to the discussion. This tactic was reason #547 why Dawn found it hard to take adults seriously these days. "Dawn," said Giles, in a completely different tone, "am I to understand that this information comes from a source that I would trust completely?" Dawn narrowed her eyes. She hadn't thought to wonder what Spike had told Giles about her, but evidently it was something useful, if Giles was taking her word seriously now. "You would trust it." "I see," said Giles, removing his glasses. "In that case, we really must discuss the specifics as soon as possible and treat this as a serious threat." "There's no way," said Riley. "Even if there is some kind of threat here, it's not because of professor Walsh. Excuse me if I believe her over whatever this kid says." And then he was gone, banging the door behind him. Buffy called him back, but he didn't stop. "Dawn, I want to be clear," said Giles. "You believe that the initiative will make another attempt on Buffy's life in the near future?" Dawn was so thrown for a loop by him taking her seriously that she almost forgot to answer. "Uh, I'm not sure. There's a strong possibility." And just like that, Buffy's mood flipped. One second, she was worried about Riley and the fate of her new relationship with him. Then suddenly she was a commanding officer, a prototype for the general-Buffy that Dawn had seen so much of in the last few weeks before the spell. "We have to hide. Someplace they won't be able to find us. My house is out, obviously. Riley just saw you two here, so Xander, Will, your places are out, too." "Riley has no idea where Spike and I live," said Dawn, looking at her feet. "That's- Hold on. You two live together?" "Yeah," said Dawn. "The crypt is mine, and I'm letting Spike live in it for security purposes. An actual house would be nice, but as far as vamp defenses go, the next best thing is a bigger, badder vampire. If anybody here has a problem with it, then it's a good thing it's totally not your business." Willow looked a little nauseous at that, and Anya seemed vaguely impressed. Buffy looked like she was biting back a retort . "You really think Spike would be OK if we showed up at the crypt?" Dawn frowned and chewed her lower lip. OK, mercenary . "No, but I think I can justify it if you guys pay for bodyguard services. It's not like he can hand you over to the Initiative, since he has to avoid them, too. Worst case scenario he'll just take his stuff and find a different crypt. What do you guys wanna pay, one hundred per person per day? Sounds reasonable to me." "Fifty," said Anya. Dawn shot her a warning look. Buffy was more concerned about other details. "Bodyguard services? Spike's a bodyguard ?" "Spike and Dawn are mercenaries, at least for the moment," said Giles, saving Dawn from having to justify herself. "It's hardly the worst arrangement he could have. They kill demons for money- not precisely legal, but it would make the town a safer place." Dawn nodded, eager to give her sister a clearer picture. "He smashes stuff, and I figure out what to smash. But like I said, we're totally white hats. Gray hats. I guess he's more of a black hat in white plastic wrap. The point is, we kill bad guys, and we've got a big crypt that the Initiative doesn't know anything about. Giles, you remember where the crypt is?" "Of course," said Giles. And they got down to business.
10986879	The Fine Art of Being	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "M/M", "Characters": "Otabek Altin, Yuri Plisetsky, Victor Nikiforov, Katsuki Yuuri, Nikolai Plisetsky, Nathalie Leroy, Alain Leroy, OMC who's just Michele and Sara Crispino's uncle", "Fandom": "Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Teen And Up Audiences", "author": "by AnArmAndALeg, hatchetandbow", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-24T00:00:00", "words": "8,439", "Additional Tags": "Mafia AU, Mafia Victor Nikiforov, Everyone's aged up three years, This was harder to complete than you'd think, And not just writing-wise, Kinda irritating actually, Like everything just decided to be stupid, Anyways, Based off of the Hades and Persephone myth, Minor Otabek Altin/Yuri Plisetsky, I mean, There's not really a kiss or anything, But there's implied feelings?, Maybe one day we'll make more on this AU, who knows - Freeform, Victor Nikiforov is Extra, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, Word of advice, Hiring someone to kidnap your heir without their consent is a bad, How Do I Tag, Everyone's in the mafia man, Did I get everything, I think I did", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": "Otabek Altin/Yuri Plisetsky, Side Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov", "Series": null, "Collections": "Otayuri Reverse Bang 2017", "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	New York City 1982 The Russian man stands in front of the heavy oaken doors and takes a deep breath. His hands absentmindedly reach for his tie and tug at it, loosening the knot. He’s about to completely undo the tie when another pair of hands reach for his, gently covering them. They belong to his husband, who looks up at him with a gentle but concerned expression. “Are you okay?” The other man asks. He’s speaking in Japanese, his native tongue, in case the people beyond the door can hear them. He fumbles a bit and redoes the now sad mess that was the Russian’s tie, gently tugging it up until it’s snug. “We can always reschedule the meeting.” But they can’t, and they both know it. This meeting could change everything that the Russian has ever known, for better or for worse. The Russian sighs and runs his hand through his hair. It’s been slicked back for this meeting, and now he’s messed it up. It certainly doesn’t help the professional nature he’s going for, but it makes him feel slightly better. His husband watches with slight amusement in his eyes and then steps closer. One of his hands reaches up to gently cup the other man’s right cheek. It’s a simple but sweet gesture of comfort, and the Russian has to close his eyes for a moment to suppress all of the emotions roaring in him. There’s no room for emotions in this business, especially now. For one second, he indulges himself and presses a soft kiss to the palm of his husband’s hand before pulling away. “Stay close to me,” he whispers, and his husband nods, dropping his hand to his side. The two of them turn back to face the doors. The Russian takes a deep breath and fiddles with the ring on his right hand for a second. It still shines, despite being three years old, and the engraving on the inside is still a silent comfort. The man takes another breath, puts on a smile, and opens up the doors to step inside, his husband falling behind him. Considering the weight of the situation, the conference room is actually rather small. There are only three people sitting at the table; two men and a woman. The tension in the air is almost laughable, without context. Luca Crispino, the broad-shouldered and stocky don of the Sacra Corona Unita, scowls at him as he walks in. “Nikiforov. Took you long enough. We were beginning to think that you weren’t coming.” The smile the Russian gives in reply doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “I apologise. You know how bad the traffic in the city can get. Is Alexandr not here?” Nathalie Leroy, co-head of the Milieu, shakes her head with a wry smile. “He declined. Apparently he had better things to do. In any case, we’re all here, so please, sit down so we can get started.” On her left, her husband nods and grins. “We’ve already lost some time, unfortunately.” “Apologies,” Victor says again, and sits down at the table. His own husband sits down to his right. Victor feels the other man reach for his hand from under the table and squeeze it for a second. Nathalie coughs delicately. “In any case, I’m sure you’re all aware that Giuliani recently arrested the bosses and some of the underlings from the Five Families. Knowing that the FBI has finally began implementing its policies on groups like us, Alain and I have decided to offer up an agreement.” Victor sits back in his seat. “And what exactly would that entail?” The woman leans forward. “A truce. We acknowledge each other and our territories and agree to unite against any viable threats.” “Elaborate, please?” Yuuri asks, speaking up for the first time. “To start, anyone who enters this agreement is to refrain from drawing attention to fellow signees or themselves, whether through canceling plans or silencing spies.” The brown haired man, Luca, nods slowly. “That, at least, seems reasonable.” Alain stiffens, looks as if he were about to hit the other man. Nathalie quietly lays a hand on his arm, and he relaxes as she continues speaking. “Secondly, this agreement means that we are all united against the threat that is Giuliani and his people. Above all, our priority is to our families and our legacy. We respect business, of course, but there cannot be any secrets in regards to this matter among us.” There’s a moment of silence. Luca speaks up again. “So, an alliance. Like the Tripartite Pact.” Alain raises an eyebrow. “We’re hardly world powers, but you can perceive it that way, yes.” The man thinks for a bit, then gives them a sharp nod. “We’ll sign on,” he says curtly. Victor drums his fingers on the table, thinking. As much as he dislikes the Leroys, he knows that they are people of honour; at least, as honourable as people in their position can be. They’d do anything to ensure that their family stayed safe, and he can respect that. He thinks of Mari, nearly eight months pregnant with his and Yuuri’s child. On his right, Yuuri looks at him and gives him a barely noticeable nod. They’re clearly thinking the same thing. Victor turns to the others. “We will sign on as well.” Nathalie nods and smiles, obviously pleased with this outcome. “Alain and I took the liberty of writing out the terms of the alliance. If you could just sign here…we’ll conclude this meeting, then.” The Russian takes the paper offered to him and lightly skims over it to ensure that everything is in order, then signs his name with a flourish. “And Alexandr?” Nathalie’s smile becomes a bit strained. “We’ve tried to contact him, but so far we’ve received no response. Until we get an answer, assume that the Brothers’ Gang is not part of this alliance.” The brown haired man quickly signs his paper and shoves it back to Nathalie. “And if they attack us?” Alain spoke up. “Then we’ll treat them as enemies.” “Understood.” The meeting concluded, Victor shoots a look at Yuuri and they both stand up, preparing to leave. Victor’s nearly out the door when he pauses. “You are, of course, aware that the Tripartite Pact didn’t prevent the Axis Powers from failing.” He hears Nathalie chuckle. “Of course not, but it certainly established the major powers. Besides, we’re hardly monsters.” A smirk crosses his face, unseen by everyone, including Yuuri. “Indeed. Have a pleasant afternoon.” And with that, Victor Nikiforov, pakhan of the Solntsevskaya Bratva, walks out the door. — “And where do I fit in all of this?” “Despite the alliance, I have some worries and concerns. I cannot afford to have my successor arrested or hurt in any way, and the Brothers’ Gang…” “I understand. What do you need me to do?” ~~~~~~~~ The Kidnapping of Yuri (Art by NelaineIvory) This was a stupid idea. Fucking Victor and his stupid training. Victor probably never had to dress in a stupid Greek toga for an infiltration and pretend to be a woman, damn it. Why should anyone close to becoming co- pakhan have to do shestyorka work? An almost co-head running errands for his own gang? Unheard of. And yet here was the soon-to-be co- pakhan of Solntsevskaya Bratva, doing a soldier’s job. Bullshit.Loud music shook the floor of the open-air pavilion that some rich parent had set up for their kid on the beach. It was oddly warm for the season, but it worked out. A lithe, feminine figure clothed in a white toga slipped away from the pavilion into the beach house, where a landline was ringing in a small room. They answered the phone testily. “The hell do you want?”From the other end came a tinny laugh. “Now, now, Yana. Is that a way to greet your superior?”“That’s not my name, you piece of katsudon-loving shit.”“So mean! I just wanted to know how your mission is going, Yuri.”The blond made a tch sound and scowled. “It’s as full of crap as it was before.”“Have you figured anything out?”“The Brothers’ Gang is fucking stupid to have a party this big and loud in a public beach. It’s even louder than you fucking Katsudon, Victor.”More laughter. That man had no shame. “I’ll try to be quieter next time. Is the layout really as easy as the maps say?”“Yeah, yeah, easy mark. When can I drop this shitty disguise?”“Just wait a day, Yuri. Oh! Yuuri says hi, by the way.”“Yakuza boy can go fuck himself.”Yuri could almost hear the frown threatening to mar Victor’s face. “Be nice.”An unclear voice, pitched slightly higher than the original speaker’s, said something in the background. The smile in Victor’s voice returned. “Yuuri also says to be careful and try to not be so suspicious.”“GOODBYE,” Yuri practically yelled into the mouthpiece, and stabbed the receiver. He felt like throwing the phone, but figured that probably wasn’t what “not being suspicious” meant.Fuck rival gangs. Fuck loud-ass parties with shitty music. Fuck dressing up in a short dress and trying to avoid getting groped. There wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Yuri was ever taking another mission like this. Children’s work didn’t fit the Solntsevskaya Bratva co-head. Well, soon to be co-head.Why did he need training anyways? Grandpa had taught him all the basics. How to make people respect you, admire you, willing to die for you. How to manage evading the rare police efforts. How to off someone you don’t like with subtlety. Kid’s stuff.But apparently, there was a ton of shit he hadn’t learned yet. Yuri liked to call those “the schoolbook lessons,” because just like the stuff in school, he would probably never have to use it in real life. Georgi and Mila swore that he’d apply it sometime in his career, and even tried to coax examples from Katsudon, Victor, and Yakov. They never asked Grandpa because Yuri knew all of his grandpa’s stories and how Grandpa never had to apply Yuri’s lessons to anything that happened, which was all that really mattered.Yuri stepped out of the enclosed area back into the rambunctious plethora of alcohol-impaired idiots. In the corner, he spied some people snorting crack off of a girl who seemed no older than sixteen. For a second, he considered how entertaining it would be for the police to raid the party before realizing that he, too, would be arrested.Suddenly, his ears perked up. He could’ve sworn that he heard the high-pitched shriek of police sirens. Just in case, Yuri cautiously made his way inside the beach house, where the less favored associates and guests of the party were trying to have fun with low-grade alcohol. Reaching the front of the house, he peered through the window, scanning the streets for police cars. Seeing nothing, Yuri spun away from the window and found a leering man reaching towards Yuri’s butt.“Hi there, cutie.”Yuri groaned internally. Just what he needed. Another guy trying to coax him into having sex. He retched, staggering a bit.“Eurgh, I think I’m going to puke. I’m, like, so druuuuunk.”The man backed away, a bit of sobriety reaching his beer-saturated brain. “Don’t do it here, bitch!”Yuri attempted a loose grin and fluttered his eyelashes. “Alright, sweetheart,” he sang, stumbling to the door and pretending to fumble with the handle before wrenching it open. Slipping outside into the slowly darkening evening, the cool sand gave way for his sandaled feet and got in-between his toes. He went around to the side of the house and breathed deeply. Autumn was approaching, and the crisp smell of sea salt permeated the rapidly cooling air. Faint memories of sea gulls and salty air arose in his mind, but the landscape was different. Quieter, and much colder, with snow settling on city rooftops.Yuri’s nerves sharpened abruptly. There was a police siren nearby. Shit. Shit shit shit shit shit. This was bad.He was about to go back inside to call Victor when a man stepped in front of him. He had some sort of mask covering the bottom half of his face and black lightweight armor over his body. Yuri almost screamed before the man slapped a fabric over his mouth and nose. He tried to not breathe in, but adrenaline took over and he opened his mouth to take a lungful of something chemically sweet. His eyesight fogged over and he started feeling lightheaded. Then the ash-blond Russian fell to the ground, his phone dropping into the sand.—When Yuri awoke, his head was pounding and he was lying down in a room with a cool draft. In the soft white light of a ceiling light, the walls were a pale shade of grey. He dragged himself up to a sitting position and was instantly overwhelmed by static-like things swimming in front of his eyes. He fell back down, groaning at the intensity of the throbbing behind his cheekbones.“You’re awake. Good.”Yuri’s head swiveled to the source of the voice. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see a man sitting at a small table. Slowly, Yuri pushed himself up to his elbows to get a better view at his kidnapper. The other man had very dark brown hair clipped in an undercut, and it radiated from a single point on his hairline. The mask from before was still on, though the body armor had been replaced by a simple black tank top and sweatpants.“What the FUCK,” Yuri said, his brow furrowing in disgust.“Sorry?”“Don’t you- no, don’t you fucking- You don’t fucking kidnap me and then ‘sorry’ my ass! I want explanations, you little shit!” Behind his eyes, something pulsed in time to his quickening heartbeat.The stranger’s eyes bored into Yuri’s own, and then broke the gaze.“You’re upset. I’ll let you think.” He stood up and approached Yuri. “How about a little rest?”Yuri was about to protest when the the taller man whipped out a cloth and covered Yuri’s face with it, and Yuri swirled into a chemically induced sleep once again.—Nikolai Plisetsky stormed up to the small, dingy building. The water-stained sign said it was a deli that sold soft drinks and cigarettes. Maybe if Nikolai had been in a better mood, he would have reminisced over the faint outline of a vaguely-compass star shaped thing engraved on the door frame. Instead, he spat on it as he walked into the deli. The cashier quirked her eyebrows at him and asked, “Do you need help finding something?”In response, the old man slammed a coin on the counter and snarled, “Take me to the headquarters.”“What are you talking about?”“I don’t have time for diversion tactics! Look at this coin, and take me to the goddamned headquarters.”She glanced at the coin. It was golden, but if it was pure gold was unknown to her. The side facing up showed the same compass star-like sign that appeared on the sign in front. She picked it up to feel its weight, but upon seeing the other side, the girl paled and walked out from behind the counter. “Follow me, sir- “He was already waiting at the basement door marked with “Employees Only”. She sighed and unlocked the door for him. He nodded curtly and walked down the creaking stairs.When Nikolai reached the bottom, his vision was flooded with harsh blinding light. The heels of his shoes clicked against the floor as he walked down the hall. He passed by multiple doors to reach a rather imposing one at the end of the hall. The plate attached the the door held a name that would make almost anyone scared. Nikolai banged on it without any of those fears. “Let me in, you little self-righteous brat!”A young Japanese man opened the door, black hair slicked back and glasses settled on his nose. His eyes glinted with faint recognition as he let Nikolai into the room, murmuring a greeting. Nikolai did not observe the room. He stared straight at the damned boss of the whole group, sitting at his paper-covered desk as his husband, partner, whatever, went to stand behind him. Grinning away like nothing was wrong with the world. Pretentious brat.“Nikolai! How are y- ““Victor Nikiforov, if you dare lay a single finger on me, I will decimate your skull.”The smile on Victor’s face remained fixed in place as he sat back down. “I’m sorry you had to meet me here in this dirty place. We evacuated our old headquarters for safety’s sake.”A vein on the older man’s forehead bulged. “For… safety’s sake?”“Yup,” the younger Russian said, popping the “p”.“If you care so much about ‘safety,’ why don’t you tell me what kind of safety my grandson is in?”There was a pause. And then, “I guess you heard about Yuri.”“Heard about Yuri? Nikiforov, if I hadn’t sworn to keep Yakov’s bloodline alive, you would be dead right now. Yuri was supposed to come home last night! He didn’t arrive through the front doors. I said fine, he’ll be in his bed tomorrow. Next day? Nothing! Tell me what happened to him!”Victor’s eyes flashed, and the Japanese man laid a hand on his shoulder as he spoke. “He’s fine.”The older man would have liked nothing better than to strangle Victor. “I better get a call from him in a day assuring his safety.”“As you wish.”There was a tense pause. And then, “Is Yakov here…?”“I don’t think so... Yuuri?”“He went out to the rink again,” Yuuri confirmed.“Say hello to him for me, will you?”Despite the fact that Nikolai had spoken to Yuuri, Victor answered. “I will. Should Yuuri show you out?”“No, I’m fine,” Nikolai said tersely. “Go back to your ‘important’ matters at hand.”—When Yuri came to again, his head felt like it was stuffed with cotton. And his mouth tasted like shit.There was shuffling outside the door, and then the jingling of keys. Yuri shot up in his bed, nerves on edge. The doorknob rattled, as if to open, and then stopped. Then, the kidnapper walked in, balancing a steaming tray of scrambled eggs with bacon and a glass of water. He placed the tray on the corner table and stepped back, looking at Yuri.“Here, eat.”“I won’t eat your fucking food. It’s probably laced with some kind of drug,” he snarled. The other man sighed. “If I wanted to drug you, I’d use the same drug that I’ve been using. But here.” He sat down at the table, with only his right side visible to Yuri. As clearly as he could, he covered the side of his face, tugged the mask down slightly, and ate a piece of bacon.“The water has poison in it,” Yuri spat.The dark-haired man sipped the water and shook his head.“It’ll tastes like shit, because you, whatever the fuck your name is, made it.”The man replaced his mask. “I’m Otabek,” the man offered, fastening the strap on the back of his head.“Otabek, huh? Interesting name.” Yuri smirked. “I don’t suppose your parents just came up with random letters and put them together, did they?”Otabek shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. What should I call you?”The blond Russian laughed harshly. “What kind of kidnapper doesn’t even know his target’s name?”Otabek stood up and walked over to the bed. Yuri scrambled backwards, suddenly frightened.“I know your name, Yuri Plisetsky. I know a lot about you,” the taller man said, his voice muffled by the leather.He planted his hands against the wall, caging Yuri against it. “You lived with your grandfather, Nikolai. Your mother and father died in Russia during a gang clash. You’re training to become one of the pakhans for Solntsevskaya Bratva. You did figure skating in Moscow, and quit shortly after moving to St. Petersburg. You could’ve gone professional. You were very good at it.” His eyes pierced Yuri’s green ones, and the latter’s breath hitched at the feeling of being intruded upon.Otabek’ next words were spoken in a much softer tone with something undiscernible mixed in. “And above all, your gang calls you Persephone , because you too are an untouchable beauty.” He pulled away and walked back to the table, his back facing Yuri. There was the clink of metal on metal and Yuri’s breath approached a rate that was dangerously close to hyperventilation. Was he going to be stabbed to death? Fuck.The taller man turned around, and Yuri squeezed his eyes shut in anticipation. For some reason, the pain never came. He opened his eyes to see Otabek holding a fork with eggs in the tines.“Open your mouth.”“I’m not hungry,” the Russian snapped. Right on cue, his stomach growled, and Otabek’ eyes flicked to him with amusement.“Eat, detka .” He waved the fork in the air.Yuri squinted at his kidnapper. “You can speak Russian,” he accused.“A little bit. Mainly Kazakh.”“Any other secrets you haven’t told me?”Otabek pressed the eggs against Yuri’s lips. “Eat your food or you’ll die.”“Good, then I wouldn’t have to see your shit face.”The corners of the man’s eyes crinkled ever so slightly as he drew back. “I’ll leave the food here. There’s something I have to do, so you’ll be alone. Please make yourself comfortable.”He closed the door behind him, and Yuri heard the sound of the key turning in the lock. He stood up, took a second to let the dizziness of blood rush subside, and then rushed to the wall. Pressing his ear against it, he listened for the thumps of footsteps. Another slam, and then silence.Instantly, Yuri was at the lock, jiggling the knob. Nothing. “Fuck,” he hissed, reaching up to pull his hair before realizing it was still in a braid from before. Moreover, the hairpins were still tangled in it. He hastily unpinned his hair and chose one to pick the lock with, the side of his lips curling into a smirk.With brisk fingers and deft movements, Yuri made fast work of the door and got out within a minute later. His heart jumped and began pounding much faster than he’d like. Taking a couple of deep breaths, he stepped into a dark room and flipped on the lights, which revealed a very large, open-concept living space. Nothing separated the living room from the dining room, or the dining room from the kitchen. It would have been an excellent spot to have parties had there not been heavy curtains completely covering a wall.“How antisocial,” he muttered under his breath, pushing the curtain aside. He did not expect to see a brilliant sunset sinking into a line of skyscrapers. Nor did he expect to be at least six stories in the air. So much for sneaking out of a window. Especially not a window wall.On the upside, Yuri now knew that he was in a city that had skyscrapers and a lot of traffic. Most likely, Manhattan. He was relatively familiar with the area.Out of the blue, panic filled his mind. Otabek could be coming back at any time. He had to hurry. The front door was directly adjacent from the window wall. He undid the deadlocks and tried to open the door, but it just rattled, still fixed to its spot. “Shit,” the blond hissed.Yuri decided to explore the rest of the apartment. Maybe there was a card or something to unlock the door. Glancing around the main room revealed nothing out of the ordinary, besides a landline. Yuri picked up the phone and listened to the static and his own heavy breathing. He swiftly spun in his grandfather’s number and hoped that he would pick up.Nikolai picked up within two rings. “Name, business, relevance.”Yuri sighed in relief. “Grandpa, it’s me.”An acute intake of breath. “Yuri!”“Grandpa, I’ve been kidnapped. I’m being held in a high-rise in a city, probably Manhattan. The front door is locked with something that can’t be unlocked from the inside. The kidnapper calls himself-”Something slapping against metal. Echoing. Boots on stairs? Fuck.“Yuri?”“-Otabek. Please find me,” he whispered hurriedly, and hung up.—Nikolai stared at the receiver in his hand, blaring a shrill note. “Otabek,” he said, balling up all the resentment he felt and wrapping it around the name. Of course, he couldn’t help Yuri. Victor said that he had been taken away. But… if this Otabek man was treating Yuri in a way that made Yuri feel like he was kidnapped, something was definitely wrong.He spun a phone number and waited for the other end to pick up.“Hello?”“Good evening. It’s Nicholas. Please tell me everything you know about people related to the name ‘Otabek’ in the underground.”—Yuri ran back to his bedroom and stuffed three hairpins under the mattress. Not enough to be noticeably missing, but enough for future escape plans. He locked the room door and closed it, then burrowed into the duvet on the bed and waited for Otabek to walk into the house. It was probably too cold to escape in the thin toga he was wearing anyways. A minute passed. And then two. And then ten. Yuri began to feel slightly cold and curled in on himself. Soon, he was asleep, his chest rising ever so slightly as he breathed. When he woke up, his mind told him that he had slept for much longer than planned. The food Otabek had left him was long cold. Outside, Yuri heard a small thump, then the crinkling of what sounded like plastic bags. There was some commotion and clanging. It wasn’t soon after that Yuri smelled food cooking. His stomach growled in response, and he realised that he was still very hungry. He regretted not eating the food the other man had given him before, drugs be damned. There was a knock on the door, and he jumped. “Yuri, I made dinner.” Otabek paused. “Would you like to join me, or would you prefer eating in here?” Yuri immediately went on alert. Why would he ask something like that…? On the other hand, it would be a good way to scout out the room and look for possible escape routes. He decided to risk it. “I’ll come out,” he called. Yuri heard the locks moving, and the door swung open. With a suddenly pounding heart, Yuri walked through. What he didn’t expect was a full meal with beef borscht and pierogi. The table was set for two, as if Otabek had anticipated what Yuri was going to say. The man himself was already sitting down, pouring himself a glass of wine. He’d taken off the mask so he could eat, and for the first time Yuri saw him clearly, without lighting or mask problems. He looked to be a few years older than Yuri, solidly built. He held himself not as if he was somehow both at ease and ready to shoot a person if needed. For a second, Yuri felt jealous and...something else that he couldn’t quite identify. Otabek nodded to the chair in front of him. “Sit.” Yuri sat. The other man picked up his fork and motioned to the food in front of them. “You can eat, you know.” “I’m aware of that,” Yuri snapped, feeling the irritation rise in him. “Just...Why are you acting so nice?” Otabek raised an eyebrow. “I’m a kidnapper, not inhumane.” After a beat, Yuri grudgingly grabbed some food and began eating. Surprisingly enough, his kidnapper was a pretty good cook. The two of them ate their dinner in deafening silence. Finally, Otabek sat down his silverware and looked straight at Yuri. “Listen, I feel like we need to establish some things. To begin with, I am not your enemy, despite kidnapping you. I’m simply doing what I was hired to do. Please-” He held up a hand as Yuri opened his mouth in protest. “-Let me finish. With this in mind, I can’t let you go. However, I do want this to be as pleasant as possible for you. I will frequently be out running errands. During this time, you’re free to roam the apartment, at least. However, the phone line will be down. I also wouldn’t recommend trying to escape through the window; it’s a long way down and those bars are sturdy, anyways.” He paused. “So? Is that reasonable enough?” Yuri’s mouth snapped shut. “Considering that it’s still kidnapping…” Otabek spread his hands. “At least give me the benefit of the doubt.” He was fucked if he did, and fucked if he didn’t. There was nothing for him to lose. “Okay.” — It was two weeks later when the trouble began, and not because of the reasons one would think. Otabek had gone out for yet another errand of his, and Yuri was reading in his room. Out of nowhere, he heard a bang, like something had fallen. Then Otabek walked into the penthouse, but his tread seemed different. It was timed differently, and the steps were heavier. Odd. There was whispering, and Yuri began to worry a bit. Had the kidnapper brought friends over? Yuri rolled over to face away from the door as it opened. Immediately, Otabek grabbed his shoulder, and Yuri pulled away. But he was insistent, and he pulled Yuri up to sitting position. When the blond saw his supposed kidnapper’s face, he almost screamed before one of the men pulled out a knife and held it to his throat. “Scream, and we’ll leave a pretty little bird for your family to find.” Yuri gulped, his Adam’s apple bobbing against the steel blade. He had been very mistaken. Otabek hadn’t returned. These were members of the Brothers’ Gang, distinguishable by the thorn ring tattoos on their biceps. Someone laughed, and his hands were uncomfortably pulled behind his back. A cloth was pulled out of a pocket and dangled in front of Yuri’s face. “Say night night, Persephone.” Yuri struggled, but he was held tight. Just as the world began to go dark, he heard gunshots and screams coming from the other room. The cloth was jerked away from his face as the person swore. “What the fuck-” The room filled with the sounds of fumbling and guns cocking. Yuri tried to keep his eyes open to see what was going on, but whatever was in the cloth was too strong. It clouded his mind and once again, Yuri was dragged into a dreamless stupor.— “ B'lyad, ” Yuri groaned softly, keeping his eyes closed. It felt like someone was drilling into his skull, and everything felt blurry. Something in the room smelled terrible, which didn’t help matters. What the fuck had happened to him…? “Say night night, Persephone.” Yuri jolted, his eyes flying open. He tried to sit up, but a wave of nausea hit him, and he nearly threw up. A pair of hands gripped his shoulders, and he tensed up for a second. The reasons why he was in the situation hit him in a dizzying rush. Where was he now? What was going on? The room was completely dark, and Yuri could barely see a thing. He began to struggle without thinking, but the hands held firm. “Yura! Yura, it’s me!” The voice was quiet and slightly strained. Through the haze caused by being drugged, Yuri recognised it to be Otabek’s. Slowly, his eyes readjusted. The other man was kneeling in front of the bed that Yuri was still on. Light streamed in from the open bedroom door, silhouetting Otabek. For one bizarre moment, Yuri’s drugged mind thought, angel . But, of course, that wasn’t true. He was still a kidnapper, and angels didn’t exist anyways. Yuri looked away. The light was beginning to make his throbbing headache worse. “What…?” He murmured. “Here.” Otabek pressed something into his hand, and it took a while to register that they were small pills. “Painkillers and anti-nausea.” There was a pause. “It’s not poison, Yura. It’s hardly worth going through all the trouble to keep you alive just to slip you cyanide.” Yuri chuckled at that. Over the two weeks, he’d become more comfortable around his kidnapper (albeit maybe not close enough to be considered friends). Otabek had started calling him Yura, which would ordinarily be something that he hated. Oddly enough, he didn’t mind it coming from the other man. Kidnapping jokes had also become an odd norm for them, considering the circumstances. He popped the pills into his mouth, chasing it down with a glass of water Otabek offered him. The other man waited until he’d drank the entire glass and given it back before he started murmuring again. Yuri realised that he was talking quietly as to not make his headache worse. It occurred to him that everything--the quiet talking, the medicine, the lack of light--had been set up as to lessen the effects of being drugged as much as possible. “Somehow they got intel that you were here and decided to try to kidnap you themselves.” He paused. “All dead?” Yuri asked, turning to look at him again and wincing at the light. Otabek gave a hum in affirmation. He dropped his arms and shifted, and in the light Yuri could see that he was moving suspiciously carefully. “You’re hurt.” The other man looked away. “Just a graze. Nothing too bad.” “Let me see.” Yuri shifted closer. The nausea had subsided, thanks to the medicine, but the light still hurts like a bitch. “Yura, it’s fine. I don’t--” His eyes adjusted, despite the irritation it caused, and he finally saw Otabek in colour. What he didn’t expect is to see so much red. “You haven’t patched yourself up yet?!” Otabek looked awkward and oddly vulnerable. “I’ve been busy with disposing of the bodies. Besides, it’s nothing serious. I’ll just deal with--” “Like fuck you will,” Yuri snapped, surprising even himself. “Where’s your first aid kit? I’ll patch you up myself.” Otabek gave him a look, mixed in with something unreadable. “I can bandage myself, you know.” “Yeah, but I don’t trust you to.” The man chuckled at that. It occurred to Yuri that in any normal situation like this, the sound should have filled him with fear or apprehension. “All right. You’ll have to go out into the light to better see, though. Do you think you can?” If he was being honest, he still felt like shit, but Yuri nodded anyways. “I’ll be fine.” The two of them made their way to the living room. The smell of dried blood still permeated the room, and Yuri resisted the urge to gag. Otabek must have cleaned up everything, as everything was neat and orderly. There were still obvious signs that something had happened, of course; there was blood splattered everywhere and the table had obvious bullet holes. “Sit down. I’ll grab the first aid kit,” Otabek told him, holding up his good hand when Yuri opened his mouth to protest. “Despite what you say, Yura, you look half-dead. The drugs they used are stronger than what I use normally, and even a bit’s enough to make you feel like shit for days.” Yuri snorted. “I noticed.” Nevertheless, the other man had a point, so he sat down and watched while Otabek pulled out a first aid kit from one of the kitchen cabinets and sat down himself. The two of them went silent as Yuri rummaged through the kit and started to clean Otabek’s arm. Finally, Yuri spoke up. “Why?” Otabek raised an eyebrow. “Why what?” Yuri made a vague motion with his hand. “Why...everything? Who ordered you to kidnap me and why? Why were those Brothers’ Gang members after me? And, most importantly...who really are you?” Otabek’s laugh was interrupted by a sharp intake of breath as Yuri made contact with a particularly tender part of the wound. “So many questions.” “Better start answering, then.” Yuri paused. “Please. I deserve to know.” There was a moment of silence, then Otabek sighed. “My name really is Otabek, but most people know me as Hades.” Yuri had been bending over Otabek’s arm, but now he jerked upright, staring at the other man. Hades was a name that was only whispered in the darkest circles. Everybody in the more shady businesses knew about the legendary hitman though nobody had ever seen him, much less knew who he was. And the people who did know...they were the ones who ended up dead. The idea that the mythical mercenary was the person in front of him, the person who he’d been living with for two weeks, was mind-boggling. Otabek didn’t look at him. “I was hired by the head of your family, Victor, to keep you safe.” That shithead , Yuri thought, but kept it to himself. “Why, though?” “With Giuliani cracking down on the city, I can only imagine that he wanted to keep you safe and away from any potential trouble. I’m the best option out there. As for the Brothers’ Gang...I’m not sure how they found us or why they were looking for us, but it can’t be anything good.” Yuri dropped his gaze back down to Otabek’s arm. “Why didn’t you tell me any of this before?” “I was under orders to not tell you. I think Victor wanted to keep you as far away from the trouble as possible, both physically and knowledge-wise.” He frowned. “What kind of fucking logic is that?” Otabek shrugged and hissed as the movement pulled on the bandages Yuri was applying onto his arm. “Careful,” Yuri told him, scowling at the other man. He finished completely bandaging the wound and began putting away the remaining supplies back into the first aid kit. “Thank you for telling me. Do you...do you know when all this blows over?” “With Giuliani? I’m not sure. It could take years.” Yuri felt the dread settle in the pit of his stomach, and he looked away from Otabek completely. “That’s what I thought.” He started when he felt Otabek’s hands cover his, and turned back to see the other man leaning in, an earnest expression on his face. “Yura, if you want, I can go talk to Victor and see if we can find a way to get you in hiding with some of your family members or something. Your grandfather’s your only blood relation, right? I can see what I can do about that.” “I-” His eyes were between black and brown and suddenly Yuri felt like he was drowning in them-- “Would you actually do that?” “Of course. It might take a while, because I feel like the phone is being tapped, but I’ll do it somehow.” And there was something, something in the air, something about to happen--but Otabek coughed and pulled away from Yuri and looked away awkwardly and the moment was lost. “I, um. It might take a while, but I’ll find the best way to sneak you to the headquarters. Right now I’m going to see if I can clean up the blood. Go rest, okay?” Yuri watched Otabek get up and walk towards the door with a weird feeling in his chest. “All right. Do you know when you’ll be back?” “No idea.” Otabek stopped at the door for a second and looked back. “Thank you, by the way.” “If I didn’t do it, who would?” The other man gave a short laugh and walked through the door. Yuri sighed as the door closed and rubbed at his forehead, feeling his headache come back in full blast. There had been something in that moment. Definitely something. Yuri just didn’t know what it was. —Nikolai readjusted his glass of ice water again, shifting uncomfortably. A month had passed since Yuri’s call, and no new information had surfaced… at least, up until now. His contact had asked to meet him at a restaurant, because the information he had was too important to be transferred over a phone that might be tapped. This just made Nikolai more nervous, so he’d brought along Mila Babicheva for safety, who was now standing behind him. What could possibly be potent enough that such extreme measures had to be taken?A handsome African-American man slid into the seat opposite the former mafia-boss. “Nicholas,” he said, inclining his head respectfully.“Thom. What did you want to tell me?”“Not yet. Let’s order something. Have you tried the crepes here?”“No, I haven’t. I have no appetite right now.”Thom shrugged. “Suit yourself.”As Thom ordered his food, Nikolai began chewing on an ice cube in his cloud of anticipation. The food arrived, and after a few bites, Thom motioned for Nikolai to come closer.“You’re not going to like this,” he warned.“I don’t care.”Thom sighed and rubbed his head. “Well, the top individual contractor, the one I told you about before?”“… Celestino?”“No, no, the actual independent contractor. Celestino runs an agency, you know that. I mean the Kazakh, the one that no one knows the real name of?”“Mm.”“There’s a chance that he might be the person Yuri mentioned. He’s based in Manhattan, and he’s known for doing anything, as long as the price is right and it doesn’t jar with his personal moral code.”Nikolai sighed and got up. “Thank you for the information.”“There’s… one more thing.”“Hm?”Thom rubbed his forehead. “Well, his current employer is… a Victor Nikiforov.”Nikolai’s eyes squinted at Thom. “You’re sure?”“Yes.” Thom inspected Nikolai’s face. “Nicholas, I’m sure there… are other Victor Nikiforovs?” He finished weakly.The other man laughed sardonically. “I’m sure there are. But it’s high time I talked to Yakov’s successor anyways.”—This time, Nikolai didn’t have to haggle to get into the headquarters. Georgi was manning the front counter, and he let Nikolai in without argument when he saw the expression on Nikolai’s face.He barreled down the stark white hallway, only pausing in front of Victor’s office to catch his breath. Then, without warning, he barged into the office. Luckily for the former pakhan , Victor and Yuuri were sitting at Victor’s desk, heads bent in concentration, instead of… taking a break, so to speak.“Victor Feltsman Nikiforov. What a pleasure to find you actually working for once!” Nikolai boomed, his smile not quite reaching his eyes.Victor scrambled to stand up. “Wha-”“Do you remember the young man you’re supposed to be training to be the future pakhan of this gang? He goes by Yuri, and he used to complain about you a lot. Although, I haven’t seen much of him recently.”“Nikolai, I can expl-”Nikolai slammed his newsboy cap down on the desk, upsetting some of the papers. His fist followed it, coming down with a terrific bang. “You better explain, Nikiforov. Where the fuck is my grandson? And don’t give me that ‘safety’ bullshit.”Victor sighed. “I arranged for a private contractor to take him away until this whole mess cleared up. And it was for his safety. That’s not a lie.”The elderly man straightened up and clapped, his eyes still hardened. “Excellent! It’s about time the truth came out. Now, you’re going to call Yuri and Otabek to a meeting, no buts, and we’re going to talk about where Yuri will be staying.”Just then, a familiar face appeared at the still open door. Nikolai glanced at the arrival over his shoulder, then turned to clap him on the shoulder.“Yakov!”Yakov’s lips curled up in a smile. “Nikolai,” he replied warmly, before peering around his good friend to catch a glimpse of a ruffled Victor and a vaguely alarmed Yuuri. His brow dipped slightly. “What’s all this about?”Nikolai coughed. “Well, you see, Yuri’s missing. And Victor arranged it. I just want Yuri back.”Victor seemed like he was about to protest until Yuuri gripped his shoulder. Thank god for husbands.Yakov rubbed his aching forearm, a memory of an old gunshot. “So, what’s the plan?”“There is no plan!” Victor sputtered. “I never agreed to anything.”“Victor,” Yakov said, with a note of faint disapproval.“Sorry,” the silver-haired man mumbled. “But this is a major risk; not only to Yuri, but to everyone at headquarters too.”Oddly enough, Yuuri was the one that spoke up next. “Why don’t we ask Yuri?”Yakov jumped in to cut off any chances of debate. “Good idea. Let’s do that.” Nikolai and Victor both reluctantly agreed, mainly out of respect for Yakov. — Yuri and Otabek were walking on foot to the Solntsevskaya Bratva headquarters. Far too much time had passed since either of them made contact with anyone in the gang.When the pair walked into the dingy store, a red-haired girl was at the counter, talking on the phone. Every now and then, she grabbed a handful of pomegranate seeds from a bowl sitting next to the phone and popped them into her mouth.“ Nyet, nyet, Sara. Do you really think that would work? Michele’s so over-protective of you.”Yuri coughed and the girl looked up.“Oh, someone’s here. Talk to you later.”She hung up and turned her attention to Yuri. “Yuri?”“Hello, Mila. Can we go see Victor?”“Nice to see you too,” she grumbled. “Just let me tell him first.” Mila fumbled under the counter for something, and then set a different phone on the counter. Instead of entering a number, she picked up the phone and spoke directly. “Boss, Yuri’s here with…”“Hades,” Otabek said.Mila smirked. “Hades,” she said into the receiver.None of them expected to hear rapid-fire Russian cursing in response, and then muffled scolding. A soft, slightly accented voice spoke into the other end.“Please send them down.”“Alright.” She set down the receiver to glance at Yuri and Otabek. “Hades and Persephone. A nice pair.”“Shut up,” Yuri growled.“I’m just saying! It’s an interesting coincidence.” Mila opened the door to the basement for them. “Good luck.” — Nikolai was pacing around the room anxiously. Yuuri was rubbing Victor’s arm, and Yakov was resting in a chair. When Yuri entered the room, it almost completely devolved into chaos. Almost. Yakov was up in an instant, one hand pointed at Victor and another open towards Nikolai. “Calm down!” Nikolai rubbed his eyes as Victor moved to sit on his desk. Yakov was known for being loud, though he had mellowed a bit after retiring. Otabek awkwardly floated around the door, not sure if he should stay for the shouting match, but Yuri motioned for him to stand next to him. Yuuri smiled. “Yuri. Welcome back.” “Tch. No need for formalities. Let’s talk quickly.” “Alright, Yuri.” Victor cracked a knuckle. “Who do you want to stay with during this cease-fire, of sorts?” Yuri had been 110% prepared to say that he would stay with his grandfather. But in that room, standing next to Otabek, he wasn’t so sure. He eyed the slightly taller man next to him. Otabek was staring straight at the wall, eyes glistening ever so slightly. This was the man who had saved him, who got injured for him. He felt like he was underwater. When he spoke, it was the voice of someone across a canyon. “Well, what are the pros and cons?” Nikolai looked vaguely hurt, and Otabek was still staring at the wall, though his eyes narrowed a bit. Victor clucked his tongue. “Well, Nikolai’s a known member of our gang. He’s been targeted multiple times, and the Brothers’ gang definitely knows his home. It’s going to be a pain to relocate and refurnish, but it’s doable. Hades, on the other hand, is relatively unknown. A dark horse to the game, if you will.” “Ah, Victor? What about that attack?” Yuuri asked. “Attack?” “The Brothers’ Gang attacked us at home- sorry, Hades’s house. He took them out, but now they know where he lives,” Yuri explained. Victor rubbed his chin. “One man took out how many of the Brothers’ people?” “Ten.” The silver-haired man beamed at Otabek. “I knew you were a good choice.” Otabek bowed his head. “Thanks.” Yuuri considered Yuri. “Well, it is your choice. The Brothers’ Gang will definitely think again before attacking you at Hades’s house, but don’t think they won’t try.” Yuri glanced at his grandfather, who was silently standing with his shoulder hunched over. Then he looked at Otabek, who was contemplating Yuri in the corner of his eyes. The gesture made something in Yuri warm up, and he made his decision. “Can I stay with Hades?” Nikolai’s entire being seemed to sag, but he made an attempt to smile. “Of course, Yuri. I only want what you want.”Victor clapped. “It’s settled! Yuri will stay with Hades for now. Feel free to visit or call Nikolai, Yuri. You know how family gets.”Yuri nodded, and with a surge of confidence, reached out slightly with his hand. Otabek’s fingers made contact with his, and he knew he’d made the right choice.Nikolai and Mila saw them off. Yuri was about to leave without looking back when he saw the look on his grandfather’s face. Otabek nudged him.“Do what you need to.”Yuri ran back to Nikolai and wrapped his arms around the older man, burying his face in Nikolai’s chest to breath the fragrances of pirozhki and smoke, mixed with eucalyptus and mint. He pulled away to look at the man that had raised him since his parents died.“What’s that weird smell?”Nikolai looked sheepish. “Something called Tiger Balm from Asia. Yuuri gave it to me. It’s for muscle pains.”Yuri laughed. “Take care of yourself.”“You too.”With that, Yuri left, as Nikolai muttered “They grow up so quickly.”Walking back in the moist air, Yuri’s hands felt fidgety. They snapped, and moved between his pockets to his side.Otabek noticed, and gently took one of Yuri’s into his own. Amber met forest green for three seconds. Yuri smiled, a real, genuine smile born of happiness. Otabek returned it with a tiny upturned lip of his own, and they both broke out laughing. For the first time, Yuri felt the satisfaction of making a good choice. He looked forward to many more of those, but for now he would just take on the world. One day at a time.
10950852	Blackout	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": null, "Characters": "Alexander Hamilton, John Laurens, Gilbert du Motier Marquis de Lafayette, Hercules Mulligan", "Fandom": "Hamilton - Miranda", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Teen And Up Audiences", "author": "by Megalton68 (orphan_account)", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-20T00:00:00", "words": "996", "Additional Tags": "Power shortages, John is adorable, This wasn't intended on them being together, but apparently that's what happened, Pillow/sheet forts, Shower curtains ?, Fluff ??, Alexander is afraid, But he doesn't show it, scented candles, America scented, Laf is a mom, Lighting matches, Cute gays, I love this ship so much ah, I wrote this at 12:27am, which isn't too late but, the title is a pun, An ITH pun, Get it if u like in the heights, Well not really a \"pun\", Still", "Relationship": "Alexander Hamilton/John Laurens/Gilbert du Motier Marquis de Lafayette/Hercules Mulligan", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": "M/M, Multi", "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	"What the fuck happened to the showers curtains, oh my god, Laf no!" John called from the bathroom. "Hmm?" Lafayette popped his head in. "We cannot have floral print shower curtains! I don't want to look at flowers when I'm naked!" John complained. "You're all peasants. You clearly don't understand the beauty of these.." Lafayette began, before looking back at the shower curtains, which were now in a pile on the floor, with Alexander standing next to them. "Alex, what did you do?" John asked. Alex shrugged. "I don't like them! You're already in an inclosed room, what's the point?!" He shouted, walking out. "Okay, you know what, never mind," John said, following him, leaving Lafayette muttering to himself in French as he attempted to put the curtains back up. They hung out (LIKE THE COOL KIDS WITH A K) for a while before Hercules came home from work (TAILORING SNIP SNIP SNIP FOLKS). "Hey," He said as he threw his bag (would he have one idk) onto the floor. "Hercules, you're home! Great, so.." Lafayette began rambling about stupid things they could do that night, because none of them had work the day after. Unfortunately, he was cut off when all the lights flickered out. "Well this is new," John said. "Power outage," Alex said. "In the middle of winter? There's no rain, and it's not super hot so what caused it?" Hercules asked. "Well, whatever it is, it's not letting the light come back on," Lafayette replied. "Omg guys this is gonna be so fun, we can do stupid things that twelve year old girls would do at their birthday parties, like truth or dare, and never have I ever, and the 'do you like so and so' game!!" John exclaimed. Hercules chuckled. "You're cute," He said, John pouting, "But seriously, any ideas on how to get the power back on?" He finished. "No, but I have a different one.." Alex said suddenly, sitting up and leaving the room. "This worries me," Lafayette said.Alexander returned minutes later with his arms full (IF U CAN SEE IN THE DARK JESUS) of scented candles that him and Lafayette had bought months ago. Hercules and John refused the use them because they were all "American scented candles". "No, not those.." John groaned. "We are not using those stupid candles," Hercules said. "Too bad for you. We have gun powder, Eagles, war, Man, (I'M A CANDIAN I LOVE MOOSE EH) there's so many of these!" Alex said. After he went on about the different candles for approximately 10 minutes, Hercules eventually cut him off. "Just pick one!!" He yelled. "Geez, okay, calm down," Alexander said, "Okay I've picked gun powder," Alex said, grabbing a match. "Here, chéri, let me do that.." Lafayette said cautiously, taking the match away from Alex. "You don't trust me?" Alex asked dramatically. "With fire? Hell no," Hercules said, Lafayette lighting the candle. "This is actually horrible, christ," John said, when the "gun powder" smell kicked in. "Guys, can we do anything? Like eat? Is it possible for us to eat?! We're all gonna die of starvation!" John exclaimed. "Calm down, we're fine," Lafayette said. "Well, actually, I had some sewing I had to get done, you know, for work..." Hercules said. "Yeah, and I need to use technology or I'll literally die," John added. "And I'm just not a huge fan of the dark (I love to baby Alex okay shut up)," Alex said quietly, lighting a few more candles. "Okay, well, John your reason is stupid, Hercules, you don't have work tomorrow, you're fine, Alexander, chéri, I swear the dark isn't going to eat you. You're safe," Lafayette said. Hercules groaned, and fell backwards onto the floor. After 1/2 hour of more and more American scented candles, John eventually stood up. "I have an idea! Let's make a fort, and we can put flashlights in it and stuff!!" He suggested. Hercules rolled his eyes, but smiled. "Actually, we have a lot of sheets for that!" Lafayette said. "Ooh, I've never actually built a sheet fort," Alex said, his eyes lighting up (BUT NO ONE CAN SEE WHAT A SHAME) "I'll go grab them. Alexander, come help me," Lafayette said, grabbing Alex's hand. They retuned in five minutes, with their arms full of pillows and sheets. "Okay, now that we've set up flashlights and candles, we can see a little bit!" John said happily, grabbing two chairs and throwing a sheet over them. "So, basically, you just do this," He explained to Alex, who nodded. "I really wish I could take notes," Alex said. "No. No notes," Hercules piped up. "Okay, let's build it!!" John said. They spent almost an hour creating the most beautiful pillow fort any of them had ever seen. "I love it," Alexander said, sitting in Hercules' lap. "I can't believe we spent so long on it," Hercules said. "It was worth it," Lafayette pointed out. "Uh huh," John mumbled. "Well, now we just hang out in here," Hercules said. "Oui," Lafayette agreed, crawling over to him and Alex. _______________________________________ "Fuck, what time is it?" Hercules mumbled. The first thing he noticed was that he was in a fort made of sheets. Second, Alex was right on top of him. Third, the power was back on. "Freedom!" He heard from besides him. He turned to see John excitedly leaving the "tent". He pushed (F O R C E F U L L Y) Alex off him, and went out to, now seeing John at the TV. "Already?" He asked. "I must," John replied. "There a duck documentary," He explained. "Oh, this I gotta see," Hercules said, walking over and sitting next to him. A few minutes later, Alexander and Lafayette emerged. "'Morning," Alex mumbled. "Sh, ducks," John said quietly, pointing to the screen. Alex and Lafayette just looked at each other. "Let's just watch it," Lafayette said. Alex nodded. "Let's," And that's how their morning was spent.
10959381	i wont bend or break	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "M/M", "Characters": "Do Kyungsoo \| D.O, Kim Minseok \| Xiumin, Byun Baekhyun, Kim Jongin \| Kai, Kim Jongdae \| Chen, Kim Joonmyun \| Suho, Park Chanyeol, Oh Sehun, Zhang Yi Xing \| Lay", "Fandom": "EXO (Band)", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Teen And Up Audiences", "author": "by gravitropism", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-21T00:00:00", "words": "3,991", "Additional Tags": "Alternate Universe - College/University, Grad Students!AU, Fluff, okay but this has no plot, it's just for the story, Attempt at Humor", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": "Do Kyungsoo \| D.O/Kim Minseok \| Xiumin, Byun Baekhyun/Kim Jongin \| Kai", "Series": "Grad Students!AU", "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	Baekhyun is on the phone with someone’s mom. He’s not actually sure who the “someone” is, but their mom is pretty pissed.“No, ma’am, I can’t tell you that, there is a law against me giving out that kind of information--”“I’m the one paying tuition, I think you can give me my son’s grades!”Baekhyun sighs. This isn’t the first phone call he’s gotten like this. It doesn’t help that Kyungsoo is sitting across the table from him, laughing his ass off.“Fuck off,” he mouths, glaring at him. This totally isn’t fair, they both teach for this class, why does he have to be the one to take the phone call?Kyungsoo just shrugs. “Sorry, what did you say?” he asks, shoulders still shaking with laughter.Baekhyun flips him off. “It’s against the law to tell you your son’s grade in this class,” he repeats, drumming on the table in frustration. “FERPA, Family Education Rights and Privacy Act. Your son is over eighteen, so I’m legally unable to tell you.”“Well, he won’t give me access, and I need to see!”He has half the mind to hunt this woman down and strangle her. “I think you need to take this issue up with your son, then, instead of me or my supervisor, who also cannot provide you with that information.”“Oh, I’ll be taking this up with your supervisor, don’t you doubt that!”Baekhyun resists the urge to slam his head into the table repeatedly. “I’m warning you now, you’re just going to get the same answer.” He hears a click, and then the phone goes to dial tone.Pulling the phone away from his ear, he looks at the screen in slight disbelief. “It’s been years, how do they not understand that I literally cannot give them their child’s grades unless the kid authorizes it?”Kyungsoo leans back in his chair. “I have no idea. It is ridiculous, though,” he says, dabbing the tears of mirth out of his eyes. “Pity you have to be professional. I’d love to swear at every mother who thinks they’re above the law.”Baekhyun tucks his phone into his pocket. “Honestly, I was about two minutes away from it.”--“No, I can’t give you half a point back. Your setup isn’t right,” Jongdae says, trying his best to be firm.“But I got the right answer!” the kid whines. Jongdae doesn’t actually know his name. He only knows the kid as “that one,” the one with the elitist attitude who thinks he’s hot shit. No way in hell is Jongdae giving this little dick a single point back.“You got the right answer, but it was a coincidence that you did,” Jongdae points out. He indicates the second half of the problem. “None of this work makes sense. In fact, if you hadn’t messed up the arithmetic in this part here,” he says, pointing to another spot, “you would have gotten a totally different answer.”“It doesn’t matter if the setup is wrong if the answer is right,” the kid says, like Jongdae gives a shit what he thinks.Jongdae wants to pull his hair out. “Number one, it says on the rubric that the work is part of the points for this problem. It’s been this way this entire class, why should it change now? And second, none of this work demonstrates that you know how to do this kind of problem. I see no reason why I should give you any points back.”The kid looks taken aback. “They would have given me points back in my math class last semester.”“Yes, well, this class is different. I’m not going to repeat myself. Now, do you have any other questions, or are we finished here?” Jongdae is so done.“That’s all I had,” the kid grumbles, snatching back his exam. He stuffs it into his backpack, and gets up, stomping out. No doubt he’ll go to the professor and ask for the same half point back. Jongdae makes a mental note to warn the man before the kid goes to his office hours. Nobody should have to waste their time like that.He leans back in his chair and checks his phone. He has another forty-five minutes of office hours to go. Great.--Minseok is bored. And not just bored, also irritated. There’s an exam coming up, and Lee told both him and Chanyeol that they need to hold extra office hours sometime during the days leading to it. So here he sits, bored and waiting for someone to show up.It wouldn’t be that much of an issue, but he’s missing lunch with Kyungsoo and the rest of their group for this. Normally he would be content to sit and get some of his non-lab work done, but he really wishes he could eat with Kyungsoo. They’ve both been busy lately, so it’s been hard to spend time together.He glances at the clock. He can hear it ticking. It’s only 12:20, and he is supposed to be here until 2, which is when the discussion section he teaches starts. Okay, so an hour and forty minutes to kill.As soon as it becomes apparent that nobody is coming until at least 1, Minseok pulls out his laptop and starts reading over some paper that Lee suggested they read. It’s long and full of technical language, which isn’t really a problem, but it’s making his eyes droop. He really shouldn’t have stayed up late last night talking to Kyungsoo on the phone as he worked.He really regrets not getting coffee this morning.--Sehun strides confidently into lab. It’s 8:30, he’s had plenty of sleep, and his plates should be finished growing by today. Jongin trails in somewhat less enthusiastically behind him, sipping coffee and grimacing.“I don’t get why you’re so chipper,” he says to Sehun, slumping down beside his bench.Sehun grins. “Can’t I just have a good day every once in a while?” he asks, and puts his bag and jacket down.“I guess, but stay away from me. You’re too cheerful for this early in the morning,” Jongin grouses, and boots up his workstation PC.Sehun just shrugs, and hits the power button on his own computer. While he waits for it to boot, he could go and pick up his plates. What an efficient use of time.The incubators are outside in the hallway, so he leaves the lab, walking over to the large hulking grey incubator.Sehun whips out his keys, and reaches for the handle... wait a second. The door to the incubator is slightly ajar. Oh, fuck.Swinging the door open, Sehun stares in horror at the plates waiting for him. Every single one, and Sehun means it when he says every single one, is covered in white fuzzy mold.“No!” he cries dropping to his knees. He’s still kneeling there when Jongin sprints out of the lab twenty seconds later.“What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” Jongin asks, frantic. Sehun just shakes his head and points to the cabinet. He can feel the tears beginning to form in his eyes.“Oh my god,” Jongin whispers. “What happened? It’s a massacre in there.”“The door was open a little when I got here,” Sehun says mournfully, a tear rolling down his cheek. He finds his plates among the many in the incubator, and strokes their plastic tops. “My poor babies,” he sniffles.“Oh man, this is bad,” Jongin says from behind him. “We need to tell someone about this. That door shouldn’t have been left open.”Sehun looks over his shoulder at Jongin. “Did you lose anyone?”Jongin shakes his head, and reaches down to pat Sehun’s shoulder. “No, but I’m very sorry for your loss.”“Me too,” Sehun says, and he can feel the sobs starting to come.--Junmyeon is busy. He’s always busy, really, so saying that doesn’t really make much of a difference. He’s really busy this time, though. Papers to grade, frantic students to tutor... yep, very busy.He takes a sip from his coffee mug, and looks back to the article he’s been reading. It truly is very good; however he fails to see how it is relevant to his work. But whatever his professor says to read, he reads.Speaking of his professor. Junmyeon tucks the article under his arm to open the door to his office. He has some papers to pick up from the old man that need to be graded (which, of course, is his job and his job only, even though the man only teaches two small classes).“Ah, Junmyeon!” (Junmyeon winces as he remembers the entire year he spent just trying to get the man to pronounce his name right.)“Hi, Professor Flynn, how are you this morning?” Junmyeon asks, smile automatically plastered on his face. It’s not that he doesn’t like his professor, because his work is truly amazing, but he can grate on Junmyeon’s nerves sometimes. Especially when he’s stressed. Which is almost always.“Fine, well, good,” Flynn says, beaming. “What brings you here?”Is he serious? “You sent me an email? There are papers that need grading, correct?” Junmyeon asks, trying to keep his tone as polite as possible.“Oh, yes, those,” the professor says grandly. “Where did I put those things, yes...” he mutters to himself cheerily, shuffling around his desk. “While I look, how are you?”“I’m doing well, thank you,” Junmyeon says cautiously. He’s stalling. That’s never a good sign.“I’m glad. Anything fun planned for the weekend?” Flynn asks, pausing in his shuffling to smile magnanimously.“Um. I think I’m going out with some friends?”The professor nods sagely. “Always a good time. What are you doing with them?”“There’s a performance we wanted to see, a local band is playing at a bar.”“Ah, I miss the days where I could go out late at night! Never grow older, Junmyeon, it sucks the fun out of life!”“Yes, well,” Junmyeon coughs. “I have a meeting in fifteen minutes, could I maybe get those papers?” He doesn’t actually have a meeting. He hopes Flynn won’t ask him about it, and force him to lie even more.The professor’s eyes widen. “Oh, yes. Well. Let me see, I think I put them...” He reaches for a stack of papers slotted into his bookshelf. The bastard, he definitely knew they were there all along. “Here we are,” he says, beaming.The papers are delivered into Junmyeon’s waiting hands. And there it is, the familiar brown coffee stain coating the paper. Most of the words on the pages are blurry, and Junmyeon now knows why Flynn was so hesitant to hand them over.“I spilled a little bit of coffee on them, I hope you don’t mind,” he harrumphs. “They should still be readable.”Junmyeon resists the urge to sigh. “No, this will be fine. I’ll see you on Monday,” he says, and heads out, closing the door behind him.He looks down at the sheaf of paper in his hands. The last thing he needed this weekend was another coffee spill.--Chanyeol loves what he does, really. Lasers are very interesting, and very fun to work with. Except when he burns himself.He looks down at the blister forming on his hand. The equipment they use has a tendency to get very hot, and technically Chanyeol could wear gloves, but he often needs to adjust small pieces, so he leaves them off and tries to be as careful as possible. This choice, however, does not always work in his favor.“Shit,” he mutters.“What’s wrong?” Minseok asks, looking over from his place further on down their bench.“Oh, nothing. Burnt myself again,” Chanyeol says, trying to keep his tone casual. It hurts, though.“Again?” Minseok snickers. “Stay there, I’ll go get the first aid kit.”“You don’t need to--” Chanyeol starts, but Minseok is already gone. He resigns himself to yet another round of mothering from the older student.Minseok returns, white plastic box in his hands. “I think we still have some aloe left. I’ll add it to the list of things to buy, Lee can’t complain about having to buy that,” he says, setting the box down. He opens it and rummages through, pulling out the almost-empty bottle of green goo. “Is it blistering? Go run it under some water.”They’re not in a chemistry lab, but they luckily still have a sink, so Chanyeol goes over and turns the water to cold. The water feels great on the sharp, throbbing pain of the burn.“I need to stop being so clumsy,” Chanyeol mutters. His hand is going slightly numb from the cold, so he takes it out and flexes it before shoving it back under the sink. “The burn isn’t too bad, though, it shouldn’t blister too badly.”“That’s good. Don’t blame yourself for being clumsy, just be more careful next time? Maybe it’s time to start wearing those gloves a little more often,” Minseok suggests, slipping the gloves on himself and completing the setup for Chanyeol’s experiment. “Should I click start, or do you still have to do something else?”“Nope, that’s it. I was just adjusting the angle,” Chanyeol explains, and removes his hand. He can’t feel anything but cold, so that should be sufficient for now. Minseok takes his hand and inspects the small blister forming.“Yeah, this isn’t too bad,” he mutters. “We’ll just slap some aloe on under a bandage and you should be fine.” Minseok squirts some out of the bottle and spreads it around with a cotton swab, then carefully places the bandage on top. “Be careful, okay?”“Okay, mom,” Chanyeol laughs. Minseok grins at him.“If I’m your mom, what does that make Kyungsoo?”“Definitely also my mom.”--Kyungsoo is sitting alone in the graduate History lounge. Baekhyun is having a meeting with their professor about his research, and therefore Kyungsoo has nobody to talk to. So he’s bored.The windows are open, and he has the door propped open for a nice cross-breeze. That’s the nice thing about September: the air is cool enough that it makes opening the windows worth it, but warm enough that he’s not shivering.Fuck office hours, honestly, Kyungsoo thinks. He wishes his professor could just have his students email him and Baekhyun when they need help with something, and not have them sit here like this, bored as hell.There’s a knock at the doorframe, and Kyungsoo turns his head. It’s a student he vaguely recognizes, but definitely doesn’t see on a regular basis in class.“Hi, Kyungsoo, right?” The girl says, and Kyungsoo nods.“Yeah, are you here for HIST-A245?” he asks, and motions for her to come sit down.“I am, actually,” the girl says, and removes her backpack, taking a seat. “I wanted to talk to you about my grade on the last paper.” Oh boy.Kyungsoo sighs quietly. “Do you have the paper with you?” he asks, and grabs his laptop so he can check her grade. He quickly logs onto the school’s portal website, and pulls up the page that lists grades. “What’s your name, again?”“Molly Barker?” the girl says, shuffling some papers around in her backpack. Kyungsoo scrolls down the list, looking for her name. He clicks, and checks her grades: wow, not good. Did she even turn the papers in? No, he vaguely remembers reading some papers and laughing at them with Baekhyun. She must have been one of those. Why is she even in this class?Molly pulls out her papers, finally, and points to one of the comments he definitely remembers making. “I don’t think you should have counted off for this,” she says, tapping the paper.Kyungsoo shakes his head. “You phrased it in a way that was dismissive of native cultures. I expect, at the least, a neutral tone. That was unacceptable, and Professor Swanson agreed with me.”She leans forward. “There has to be a way for me to get points back. I’m failing this class, and we’re not even a month in!”“There are more assignments on the way,” Kyungsoo explains, sitting back. “If you complete those on time, unlike this one, you’ll get more points. Additionally, if you come to my office hours, or Baekhyun’s office hours, before the paper is due, we can help you correct your mistakes.”“Isn’t there an easier way?” Molly says, leaning forward even more. Kyungsoo isn’t really sure what she’s talking about.“The professor doesn’t give extra credit, if that’s what you’re wondering,” Kyungsoo says slowly. “I suppose you could try rewriting these papers, and he might agree to give you a few extra points back.”“Can’t I just... do something?” The girl has her eyelids lowered. Hang on a second—“Sorry, what?”“If I have sex with you, will you give me an A in this class?”Kyungsoo splutters. “What? No!”Her foot touches his underneath the table, and Kyungsoo immediately scoots back. “No way.”“Please?”Kyungsoo shakes his head. “You realize I’m going to have to report this to the professor, correct?”At this, Molly’s eyes widen. “What?”“I’m going to have to report this. Academic dishonesty in any form can get me in trouble, and I’d rather not face any consequences.” Kyungsoo really wants to pull his hair out and swear at her, but he has to maintain a polite facade in front of students, no matter how stupid they are.“What if we have sex, and then you just happen to grade my papers less harshly?”Kyungsoo resists the urge to flip the table. “That’s literally the same thing. Not only will it mess my career up, but I wouldn’t want to have sex with you even if we didn’t have a purely teacher-student relationship.”Now, she looks insulted. “Why not?”“I have a significant other. No, thank you.”“But I need to pass this class,” she says, beginning to look pissed. Kyungsoo is over his initial surprise, and he’s starting to become angry as well.“Are you going to sit here and waste my time, or are you going to ask an actual question about your paper?” Kyungsoo asks, barely keeping annoyance out of his tone.Molly glares at him, and stands, pushing her chair in with a huff. She seems like she wants to say something, but evidently can’t think of anything clever to say, so she grabs her backpack, snatches her papers off the table, and storms out without another word.Kyungsoo drops his head into his hands. Is this real life?--Yixing settles down with a cup of tea, content to spend the rest of his night catching up on readings and relaxing. It’s Monday night, and the class he helps out with has an exam tomorrow. He’s not looking forward to proctoring, because it’s deathly boring at best, but at least he’ll have Sehun and Jongin with him.He takes a sip of his tea. It’s some blend of herbs his professor gave him (they’re fast friends; Yixing likes to give her obscure wine on holidays), and it has quite the relaxing effect.Queueing up the articles he has to read, Yixing goes for a quick little check of his email before he begins. Although the students who normally have the most issues already came to his office hours earlier in the day, some people will probably end up emailing him questions.His inbox has 52 new emails.What.Yixing checked just an hour ago, and there were only a few unread then, why are there so many now? He scrolls to the bottom of the list, the earliest one sent, and clicks on it. It’s an email from a student, asking a clarifying question. He sets his tea down, and types out a quick reply before moving onto the next one. The question is similar, and he tweaks his reply a bit.Half an hour passes, and Yixing realizes that he’s only halfway through his inbox.He sighs, and slowly shuts his laptop, lifting his now cold tea to his lips. Should he bother replying to all of them? Probably not. Would it be a waste of his time? Yes. Maybe he can just pretend he was busy. He “went to bed early.” The emails can be answered tomorrow morning.Yixing gets up, draining his cup. He refills it with hot water, and waits patiently for his tea to steep. He walks back to his laptop, sits down, and closes out of his email.The undergrads waited this long to learn the material, they can wait a little longer.--Jongin reaches a hand up and tugs on his hair. This is frustrating.“Sehun!” he calls out. “Help me.”Sehun ambles over, taking his merry sweet time, as per usual. “What?”Jongin points to the results of his latest experiments on his computer screen. “Why did I get that?”Sehun laughs. “I have no idea; why the hell are you asking me?”Jongin groans. Of course Sehun would reply like that. But Jongin has been working on this issue for the past two weeks. He can’t seem to figure out why his bacteria are refusing to accept the gene he’s trying to insert. Is it the bacteria? Is it the gene? Is he bad at science? Jongin really isn’t sure, and at this rate, he’s going to end up stuck in a lab for forever. “Can you at least try and help me?”Sehun shrugs. “Well, I could try, but I honestly have no idea what’s happening. You explained the problem, and I checked everything over. I couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary.”Jongin sighs. “I asked Yixing, and he said the same thing. Professor Reisenfeld gave me a vague ‘I’ll take a look’ about a week ago, and I haven’t heard anything from her since.”“Typical,” Sehun sighs, and pats Jongin on the back. “Get Yixing to ask her for you, she really likes him.”“Why is he the favorite?” Jongin complains. “I still need to get things done.”Sehun shrugs. “Might have something to do with the wine he buys her on holidays. If I were you, and judging by the intricacy of your problem, I’d go with vodka.”Jongin pushes a laughing Sehun out of his field of vision. He’s really not helping.Hours later, Jongin no closer to solving his problem, but he’s technically done for the day, so he shoves his papers into his bag, and grabs his jacket on his way out. He’s supposed to go to Baekhyun’s today, but he’s really not up for anything super high energy.The bus trip is short, but the back of Jongin’s neck hurts. By the time he knocks on Baekhyun and Chanyeol’s apartment door, he just wants to go to bed.“Jongin!” Baekhyun crows, opening the door and tugging Jongin inside. “How are you?”“Not good,” Jongin says, toeing off his shoes. He drops his bag and his jacket, and lifts his arms over his head in a stretch. His neck pops, and he winces.Baekhyun reaches up to ruffle his hair. “Well that’s not good. How about I feed you, and then maybe a massage to make your back feel better?”Jongin beams at him. That sounds absolutely perfect. “Yes, please,” he says, and Baekhyun entangles their fingers, and drags him off to the kitchen.They end up on Baekhyun’s bed, Baekhyun straddling Jongin’s lower back. “Thanks,” Jongin mutters, a lot happier and a lot less hungry.“I got your back, you know?” Baekhyun says, talking quietly for once. “You can rely on me, and the rest of us, too. Just remember, when you’re having a bad day, you’ve got a clingy boyfriend who happens to be friends with a good cook.”Jongin giggles. “Thanks, again. You’re the best, really.”He can feel Baekhyun’s laugh. “I know I am.”
10951023	There There There	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "F/M", "Characters": "Jason \"J. D.\" Dean, Veronica Sawyer", "Fandom": "Heathers: The Musical - Murphy & O'Keefe", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Teen And Up Audiences", "author": "by deadgirlwalkin", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-20T00:00:00", "words": "486", "Additional Tags": "Angst, It's the teen angst Veronica we know and love", "Relationship": "Jason \"J. D.\" Dean/Veronica Sawyer", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	For weeks after that night, it haunted her.It was easier when he was around – when they sat in his room, when she lay awake in her own bed and happened to glance at her window – it was easy to reach over and touch his face, his hands, his shoulders. The ghost of his fingertips on her skin could be replaced with new memories, and she could sink back into him, the way one sinks into their first love, their high school sweetheart, and the ache she felt for him could be satisfied. She could kiss him again; his lips, his cheeks, his clavicle were all there, inviting, and she could close her eyes at that sound he made at the back of his throat as his fingers fumbled with her buttons, or her bra clasp. Each time after that night was something new, something special – and even as her love gave way to horror, as she pleaded with him to start a new life, a normal life – the feeling of his hands on her never left her memory, and the thought of those wretched hands at once chilled her to the bone and set her nerves on fire.After he left, it was harder.In that closet she knew things would never be the same again. They would never be able to come back from this – this hell he had brought upon them. She hadn’t been sure if there was an afterlife before she met him; afterwards she was positive that wherever she was going in life, in death she’d be plunged into fire and brimstone for what they’d done. She was prepared to go, and even as the gun went off and blood soaked his shirt, his hands – she was prepared for things to be over, to end.Except they weren’t, and they hadn’t.After the initial shock died down she felt numb, number than any slushie could make her – hell, she couldn’t even think about slushies anymore, couldn’t pass a 7/11 without thinking of him, without remembering his eyes, his hands – on her. She could still feel them on her skin, fumbling with her shirt buttons, or her bra clasp – and if she closed her eyes she could hear the pop of the window lock breaking, the movement of his hips against hers, his lips against hers, and every time after that paled in comparison to the night she sold her soul to the devil. She couldn’t satisfy that ache, and though she reached out in the darkness of her room her fingers always seemed to catch only the tail end of his trench coat, only the tips of his fingers. He was beyond her reach, and though she had stayed behind, a part of her wished she hadn’t.There was only one thing she knew for certain: she was going to hell eventually. She just hoped that she’d see him there.
10960137	Not Enough Never Enough	{ "Archive Warning": null, "Category": "F/M", "Characters": "Rey (Star Wars), Kylo Ren, Poe Dameron, Finn (Star Wars)", "Fandom": null, "Language": "English", "Rating": "Explicit", "author": "by Joyy_1028", "chapters": "21/21", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-21T00:00:00", "words": "22,376", "Additional Tags": "Extremely Dubious Consent, Rape/Non-con Elements, Unplanned Pregnancy, Violence, Obsessive Kylo Ren, Dark fic, Trigger Warnings, Dark Reylo, Loss of Virginity, Mentions of Finn/Rey - Freeform, eventual Poe/finn, Oral Sex, Rough Sex, Vaginal Sex, Shower Sex, Anal Sex, Public Sex, Implied Poe Dameron/Finn", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": "Kylo Ren/Rey, Poe Dameron/Finn, Finn/Rey", "Series": "I will be your Ending", "Collections": null, "Fandoms": "Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars - All Media Types", "Archive Warnings": "Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con", "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	CHAPTER 1 Her eyes twitched, yet were still closed as she laid in a deep sleep. Her brows had knitted together for a split second. Her chest raised higher, deeper with every struggled breath. Her fingers twitched as her arm moved slightly. Sweat beaded on her forehead as she gasped out a breath. Her eyes shot open as it signaled her conscious. She sat up quickly, too quickly as her blood rushed inside her head. She was momentarily dizzy before she scanned the room. Her eyes darted from wall to wall as she failed to remember her dream, she wiped her forehead as she stood. The cool room was lined with metallic silver, her sheets were as black as the ground she stood upon. She noted the door as she watched it open quickly before her. He walked into the room without haste, his firm demeanor and intimidating glance said it all, as hers screamed the telltale signs of confusion and worry. He had her once again, a prisoner to his will. She tried to speak, though she had only found her voice to be a loss of a whisper just as he stalked around her. She tried to desperately force her way into his mind, the force unresponsive to her efforts. He then stood still as he removed his mask with one swift motion. His eyes met hers, she felt the offensive dread of his force prick through her thoughts like thorns. She bit her lip to keep from screaming, her muffled whimpers were barely audible. He thought to change that. With a bit more abuse of the force, and his unyielding will to harm people, he left as she shrieked from unexplainable pain. Just before he had allowed her to fall onto her knees. She held her head from the excruciating pain. He shook out his hair before he spoke. He had loosened her pain by just a fraction, which had given her enough will power to look up and face the murderer before her. “While in this room, your force is as good as gone. Here it is only my will against yours.” He said causally, she looked up at him. Rey coughed slightly before she spoke. “You take away my power because you're weak.” She spat, he had then eagerly resumed causing her pain, at the earlier level as before. He smirked, basking in the pleasant sound of her screams. “You have no power.” He hissed back as he yanked her hair. She felt the first tear trail down her cheek. “Tell me where Skywalker is.” He said as he corrected his posture, once again he stood tall before he circled around her. He mimicked a hungry predator stalking their prey. She looked up at him and scoffed. “You… Don't… Deserve… To… Know…” She gasped. In an instant, his shoe had met her face, his hit was hard enough to knock her back into unconsciousness. He pulled on his gloves, correcting them before he casually stepped out of the room. He had decided to do her the slightest favor as he ordered a med droid to tend to her, just to make sure she would once again wake. He could still feel her pained breaths, signalling her life. He still felt her thoughts beckoning to his mind. For a second he thought about forcing himself in, her thoughts were always so satisfying and interesting. He found himself lost once again in her mind, being in such a close proximity was always so tempting. Just to be in touch with her thoughts. He felt her pain. Her weakness, her worry. She thought her friends were all dead, he felt her even stronger surge of worry towards Skywalker. He was close to the map, he pulled out of her mind. She woke on the ground, the feeling of his earlier penetration through her mind had left her with a sharp headache. Her head pounded as her touched her dried, bloodied nose. She wanted to kill him, in that moment she wanted him below her feet, lifeless. She inhaled, wincing, she exhaled through her mouth. She had no way of telling how much time had passed, she had guessed maybe an hour or so. She got up, slowly, her vision a bit blurred before correcting itself. She wasn't on any ship, of that she was certain. Being in a base only furthered her growing sense of dread and helplessness. She was far from any of her friends or any semblance of safety. The door had begun to open again, she remained frozen. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- CHAPTER 2 Her eyes darted around the sparsely furnished room for any potential weapon, but once again she had found nothing of use. She felt a slow rush of relief as she found it had just been a droid with a metal serving plate. The droid stopped in front of her and unveiled a cooked slab of unidentifiable meat and mixed vegetables. It all looked foreign to her, she easily declined it. She knew it held a high chance of being poisoned, a chance she hadn't wanted to take. Her rejection grew stronger then. The droid then had done it's job, left the room with the tray still in hand. Rey went back to the bed as the door closed. She closed her eyes to shield herself from the massive amount of pain that stirred within her nose, she had decided to meditate on the floor to calm her nerves. She jumped slightly as the door reopened, only once again it was Kylo Ren. He paced to her just as she stood, she prepared herself for combat. He forced her back down onto her knees, he grabbed her arms as he dragged her on the bed. He had then tackled her with his weight. She tried to defend herself with the force first, cursing the unresponsive power within her before she used her own natural strength. She was self taught in self defense, growing up in a dangerous and crude place known as Jakku. She fought him, only to have her limbs held still, which had rendered her completely powerless as he stood. She was raised to the air with a flick of a hand. She tried to tighten her fist, tried to kick at him as she let out a small groan of annoyance as she was once again rendered immobile. He had kept his mask on as he looked at her. He inhaled sharply as he took in the faint scent of her, which had been masked from his respirator. Her mind had unknowingly beckoned him, called to him like a siren’s song. He kept out of her mind, using what little he had of self control to not rip her mind open and familiarize himself with her every thought. She barely managed to move her head as his mask hovered over the side of her face. She whimpered at the sudden, uncomfortable closeness. He backed away quickly, taking quick steps back and forth as he controlled his quickened breath. He glanced at her for an extended time, as if he memorized her every freckle. “You are not here to be harmed.” He said finally. “If that were true my nose wouldn't be broken.” She breathed back. “You are only here to inform us on Skywalker’s whereabouts. What ungodly planet he is currently hiding in.” He said as he discarded her last comment. “Never.” She spat back. Just then, he had given into his urges as he cut into her mind. He focused on the lonely and too-hot nights she had spent on Jakku. She shrieked from the sudden pain, her forehead sweating as the barely audible screams cascaded from her mouth. He removed his helmet and placed it on the bed, he shook out his raven hair before he spoke. “You call to me,” He whispered, his voice sent shivers of unease down her spine. She couldn't look at him. He forced her to. Their eyes met and for a second she could feel what he had felt, only because he allowed it. She felt herself strengthen only a little with her force, she felt it once again pump through her blood as she yearned for him, for his touch. His eyes seemed to fill with interest, she watched as thoughts from his past sped through her mind. When he had first laid eyes on Luke, when he had first joined Luke to train. After a fragment of a memory had been revealed, her connection to him had broke. The strength in her blood had weakened, she felt once again dazed and confused. She hadn't ever felt so weak. “Tell me, you'll never feel lonely again,” He whispered in her ear. “You'll never be hurt again,” He continued, his voice a soft, gentle whisper. It almost had her enchanted like a devilish lullaby. “I… I…” She began, her voice trembled. His words repeated themselves in her mind, his voice became calmer and soothed her with every second. A part of her wanted to tell him, her mental barriers broke with every painful doubt. “Can't…” She finished, a tear rolled down her face as her inner turmoil came to a brief halt. He quickly grabbed his mask and left the room. He knew she wanted to tell him, a part of her wanted to tell him so badly. Yet of course she had been stubborn. She cried as she was released and fell onto the bed. Her limbs curled around her as she balled silently. She was dangerously close to having unveiled where master Luke was. If he had pressed her any further she would have broke. He had gotten into her mind, he forced her to remember her greatest fears of being alone and had promised to never leave her, ever. His mind showed his promises. How Luke had trained him, how even then he was lonely before he joined the darkside. How that would help her too. She had almost taken his offer, to be saved, loved, treated as someone who hadn't grown up in an AT-AT walker. All the things she had while in the resistance. She wasn't lonely there, though, she had wanted more of something she couldn't correctly place, she wasn't just lonely. It had nothing to do with loneliness. As he continued to painlessly search through her mind, he knew exactly what she had wanted, what she had craved. He knew how to give that to her. He would break her, now he had the proper advantage to get it from her. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- CHAPTER 3 She fell to her knees. Dazed, as she felt the familiar warmth pouring onto her cheeks as she hunched over herself. She struggled to calm her breath, her tears had fallen from a mixture of embarrassment, yearning, and unease. She almost told him. She had almost told him everything she knew. She hiccuped as her lungs struggled to get a proper amount of oxygen. Her arm shook as she slowly reached out to the cold ground in front of her. She stood up and blinked back the remainder of her tears. They would find her soon, Luke would find her. She had to count on that. There was one thing she knew that Kylo didn't. She was the secret grand-daughter of Obi Wan Kenobi. The force was strong in her, like her father before, and his father. Yet, in spite of that, this room had seemingly been created to take that away. She was stuck with only her muscles to defend herself. Like on Jakku. Only this was worse, much, much worse. She decided to sit on the bed and meditate, her legs crossed as she controlled her breath and closed her eyes. If she could just feel something that meant the force was still with her, if she could just feel it. She tried to focus on her surroundings, she pictured herself in a bubble as she imagined channeling out all of her emotions, like how Luke had taught her. She jumped as the door opened suddenly, her focus had broken as soon as she opened her eyes. Kylo had watched her through his mask, she tried to focus on pushing him back, she wanted to knock him against the wall, ground, anything. He gave a small chuckle, sensing her futile attempts. Her nostrils flared as she stood up, she got off of the bed just as he raised his arm to fling her against the wall. She inhaled deeply as the oxygen left her system, she tried to get back the air she had lost. He watched her with satisfaction as she tried to catch her breath. He wanted to hurt her. How could she have costed him so much time, so much trouble? She was a problem. He removed his mask, she winced as he tightened his fist, he had begun to choke her. He was going to prove to her that he was in control. She was on his turf, he’d treat her like the prisoner she was. He stepped closer, she wanted to melt into the wall. She felt as he began to penetrate her mind once again. Like the time before, it didn't hurt. It made her a bit dizzy and confused and her mind became hazy. Her vision blurred and for a second she could only think of him. His masculine scent had seemed to fill the room, his eyes reminded her of the lonely nights on Jakku. She would never be lonely again, they would never be lonely again. It was a promise, he had promised her companionship and she was on the path to accept his offer. When had his suit become so intriguing? Her eyes couldn't leave the faded pink scar on his face, she felt herself smile as he dropped her onto the ground. She slowly stood, she allowed herself to take his outreached hand to help her up. The small touch sent a wave of voltage throughout her body, like she had just been electrocuted in the most alluring way. She had found herself inching closer to him. Her force-induced mind had beckoned to go to him. Forever. She wanted to, she was. Not even a moment had passed before she felt her hand graze his cheek, slowly at first. He watched as she held his head to hers, bringing him closer to her. She paused for a second, their lips centimeters apart. He then pulled her even closer, his lips crashed against hers. She pulled away all too suddenly as she began to feel the force crash back through her like a storm on Acht-To. Her mind had momentarily cleared just enough for her to push him across the room. She watched as his back hit the wall, causing him to gasp for air as she felt the force dissipate from her body once again. With a burst of adrenaline, she ran to his side, helping him stand. She placed her lips back on his, their noses bumping against each other's as he held her by her waist and deepened their kiss. His tongue slowly trace a thin line over her lip, to which she caught by opening her own mouth and taste him. She felt him lift her, carry her to the bed and place her down roughly. His hands went to her clothing, he toyed with the thin cloth before he decided to remove it. “Kylo-” She breathed his name like a curse, a part of her felt sick at their contact. That part was dulled as he kissed her temple. She closed her eyes as he began to softly touch the soft skin of her chest. Her soft pink nipples hardened as his nails grazed over them, she let out a soft moan at the sudden contact. “Please, Rey,” His voice sounded so deep and sensual. She wanted nothing more that to get lost in his words, in his dark world. He trailed soft, sloppy kisses down her collarbone, tracing over her sensitive neck. “Tell me.” He finished. For a moment she wasn't sure what he wanted her to tell him, until she did. All he wanted was a trivial planet, the one with Luke. She didn't care about that anymore, not as his hot mouth toyed with her nipples. She became highly uncomfortable as he began to suck on her hardened peaks. She wanted to beg him to stop yet her mind felt as if she was enjoying it. “Kylo-” She pleaded as she whimpered. He caught her mouth just then as he began to remove her pants. She allowed him to, her body trying to back away from his touch as he held her still. He then began to remove his own clothes as he forced her panties off of her. She closed her eyes, it seemed to help the discomfort within her body. “I'll tell you everything, please don't leave.” She begged, the words that came out were solely what he had wanted to hear and not what she had wanted to say. There was a barricade on her mind, he had her think this was what she wanted yet her body knew the truth. “I'll never leave,” He whispered in her ear. She felt his lips press back on hers as he slowly began to push himself inside of her. She winced as he tightened his fist around the sheets, keeping himself under control as he slowly pushed all the way inside of her. She turned her head away from him. Her eyes watered from the sudden pain that shot through her the instant he entered her completely. Just as she let out a cry, he caught her mouth. Her body hadn't been under the same spell her mind was. She felt him move within her, every thrust sent a new wave of pain coursing through her. He muffled her screams. She closed her eyes as she tried to fight against his hold. Her mind had then begun to fight against his force, too. Just as she had began to feel her mind clear up, as she had begun to understand the dire situation she was in, he placed another soft kiss to her temple, which had instantly soothed her mind and body. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- CHAPTER 4 “It hadn't occurred that you might have been inexperienced,” his words were like nectar, her pain had instantly vanished and instead had become replaced with a warm, heady feeling that shook her down to her core. She let out sudden, uncontrollable moans as her body began to spasm. Her legs quivered around him as he quickened his strokes within her. She gasped as she felt herself tighten around him, signalling her release as he painfully bit down on her shoulder. She gasped as she felt him release himself inside of her. The feeling of him within her sent her on another orgasm. Her eyes closed as she felt them water, she pulled herself closer to him as she placed a kiss to his ear before whispering. “He's on Acht-To,” She regretted the words as she spoke them. He had put her mind in a trance to render her unconscious. As she awoken, the unyielding infatuation she had felt for him the night before was gone in an instant. He had left her alone to deal with what had happened and what she had said clear in her mind. She wanted to slap him, to hurt him like how he did her. She was alone, the room was empty besides a tray of food She had decided to take small, careful bites out of. She spent her time devising a plan to escape. She meditated to control her massive amounts of growing anger as she tried to stay true to the Jedi order. She hadn't wanted to go rouge, she hadn't wanted to be anywhere near what Ben Solo had felt before he had turned into Kylo Ren. She wondered if Ben Solo still existed deep within Kylo. She was reminded of Han then. Even if he was in there, she didn't want to see him. She didn't want to see Kylo either. She wished to disappear within the walls of her cell. She would rather have that then suffer under Kylo’s grip any longer. She hated Kylo, she hated what Kylo had done and what he did to her. She thought about Leia and had then decided she would not be able to meditate or channel out her anger like how Luke had taught her. She wished for nothing more than to go back to Luke Skywalker. She had wished she never went to the cantina with her friends. She hoped her friends were alright. As soon as they had seen the First Order planes, as soon as she felt the presence of Kylo Ren, she knew there would be no escape. She was glad she had warned Finn and Poe to run back to the ship as she drew her lightsaber She was no match for Kylo Ren after she had been drinking a bit more than she should have. He easily had her under his control before he took her into his ship. The doors opened, her eyes caught sight of him. She had stood in an instant, holding her hand up to strike him yet his force caught it instantly. She let out a small, pained whimper. She sneered at him as he took off his mask. “The first order thanks your cooperation, in the meantime, you're welcome to make yourself comfortable here. Just remember who's in charge.” He said as he turned to leave. He gave her nude body one last glance before he turned around completely. “Should I be expecting storm troopers with blasters to finish the job here?” She asked, her voice filled with venom. “I'll be the only one who ends your life.” He said as the doors opened. “Am I to wait for my death at your hands then?” She asked. “Whatever helps you pass the time.” He said as he left. She screamed as the doors closed. She felt dirty, like a used rag. She debated on suffocating herself or tying the sheets around her neck as tight as she could get it. Luke was going to die now, all because of some simple mind trick she should have been able to see through. If it wasn't for this room, made solely to cause her suffering. She got herself dressed before she sat on the metallic flooring and cried. She wiped the remainder of her tears as she forced down the rising vomit. The room had then gone dark. The door opened for which she had assumed would be the last time that night and a droid came in with a tray of water and a piece of bread. She gulped down the water and quickly ate the bread, she hadn't eaten since earlier and she felt as if she was starving. The droid left as soon as she was done, the doors hissed closed and she heard the unmistakable sound of the locks initiate. She was trapped. She had decided to stay on the ground, her nausea had gone away but then she felt drowsy and found herself yawning. She decided to get up, maybe walk off her tiredness, but as soon as she stood, the room was spinning. The final thing she saw was a different type of darkness that made her worry if she had turned blind. She stumbled a bit before she felt herself fall onto the ground. Then she had passed out. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- CHAPTER 5Her head pounded as she tried to to move, her fingers twitched just as she felt a protruding feeling of something she couldn't correctly place until she opened her dazed eyes. She felt sticky, wet, and cold where she should have been wearing her pants. Realization hit then, as she watched him smirk up at her as he forced her tongue within her entrance. She had noticed the metallic collar around her neck, she felt it press against her skin as she moved her head to the side. She tried to pull away, noting her arms stuck, tied down against the metallic walls. She was in a different room, her room before hadn't had chains on the walls nor a chair in the far corner. Her eyes then met his, she noticed the tent in his boxers firm and enlarging. He watched her squirm, gripping himself at the sight. His dark, shoulder length hair shined in the darkness. He tightening his mouth against her clit, earning a muffled moan. Her light dark hair cascaded down her face, her brown-green eyes shining from unshed tears as she bit her bottom lip to keep from screaming. Rey’s body shook as she felt a spasm within her body, Kylo Ren slowly teased her entrance with a finger, slowly inching it within her depths. Rey trembled as she begged for Kylo to stop. The first wave of pleasure hit, knocking her out of breath as she twisted and fought against her own climax. She opened her eyes to face Kylo, who watched her squirm in glee as he added another finger inside of her, stretching her graciously as she whimpered. She opened her mouth, releasing a loud moan that shook the room as her opening tightened and spasmed around his fingers. Her breathing slowed, her eyes became in a dazed like state as she felt Kylo remove his fingers from her. He then discarded his pants and watching in delight as Rey shook from unease. “Please, please don't Kylo- please-” She begged breathless. She watched as a growing smirk of utter enjoyment played on Kylo Ren’s lips as he lined himself up with her entrance. “Ben, please-!” She screamed just as he pushed himself into her. His breathing quickened, she bit her lip as she tightened her fists. “Please, please-” She pleaded as she felt her eyes begin to sting with unshed tears. “Oh, stars Rey, you're so tight.” He whispered in her ear. Rey muffled her screams of pleasure as Kylo hit just the right spot. Her eyes rolled back as she barely contained her scream of pleasure. Her inner walls clamped against him, as if her body was attempting to milk him. Her back arched, just before landing back on the bed, breathless and worn out. “You drugged me.” She said back, glaring at him. “I did what I had to do.” He said back, once again entering her as she tried again, desperately to pull away. “Free me.” She spoke back, her eyes not bothering to meet his face. The force of his hips left her trembling, she licked her lips as she felt her body expand to accommodate his new angle. “You'll have your freedom once you accept that you are meant to be here, with me.” He groaned out as he began to suck on her collarbone. “Don't, Kylo. You know how this will end.” She tried to plead. “In victory for the first order.” He whispered in her ear, just as her muscles contracted, just as he spilled himself within her. She let out her own groan of pleasure, signalling her release as she once again tried to back away from him. He held her still under him, watching as she squirmed. He rested down against the bed, he held her tightly under his arm as he had began to doze off. She couldn't fight him, yet as much as she hated it, she had found herself relaxed as she felt her eyelids droop. She had fallen asleep. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- CHAPTER 6Once she had woken up, she had felt the familiar feeling of his hands trailing below where they should be. “Don't touch me.” She spat, he then rolled himself on top of her, holding her torso down as she tried to shake him off. “In here, the only one with power is me, while you are under my surveillance, I own every part of you.” He said, she tried to use the force to force him off, to no avail. She huffed as she hit the pillow under her. “Don't strain yourself,” He whispered as he kissed her jawline. She turned her head. “Don't-” She tried, only for him to place his mouth on hers. “Once you've stopped resisting the call to the dark side, you'll be free to live how you please.” He promised as he gnawed her earlobe. She almost gagged. She inwardly grimaced as she felt him harden above her. “I'll never stop resisting, I will never join the darkside.” She groaned as he lifted her against him. “You will.” He said. “Find some cheap bantha, that's more your type.” She spat. He slapped her, she froze for a moment, before she tried to desperately force him off of her. He dropped her back onto the bed, cursing her name. “I take immense pleasure when you fail to get yourself free.” He moaned in her ear, causing her to shriek and cease all movement. “I am the only person that has not abandoned you.” He whispered, his voice dripping with malice. “The useless Jedi dropped you off on that desert planet the moment I began to embrace the dark side. I would have never laid a finger on you, yet as some poor excuse for protection he left you on Jakku. I spent years trying to find you, you… our souls were destined for each other, destined to become the rulers of the galaxies.” He said, Rey watched in horror as he spoke of things that were definitely false. They weren't meant for anything other than to be each other's destroyers. They weren't meant for anything other than the destruction of each other. She knew it, yet he thought there was a greater cause, a reason for them to be tangled in each others lives. “We are enemies, we hate each other, fighting is what we were born to do.” She tried to reason, he scoffed as he trailed a finger down her bare chest. “You were born to join me, take my every order. You are my calling to the light, I'm you're glance into the darkness.” He spoke poetically. “No, I'm not. You killed your own father… You hurt my only friend. I'll never join you.” She spat back. “Even if your mind doesn't want it, your body doesn't lie.” He whispered as he kissed the top of her breast. He got off of her, only to loosen her ties but not completely take them off. Her arms could now rest comfortably at her sides, for a moment she wondered if choking him would be the correct response to what he had said. She would have lunged, but he had seemed to predict her next move as he easily held her down with the force. “I hold the power between your life and death, you belong only to me.” He hissed as he then rolled himself off of her. He easily got himself dressed, leaving her tied to the bed. “You have no right!” She screamed as he easily left the room. She pulled against her restraints as she tried desperately to free herself. She sank back into the bed, her arms went limp next to her as she tried to reason with herself, reminding herself that what he did was not her fault. She whimpered as she felt their mixed juices slowly drip down, between her legs. She gagged as she shook from the sudden cold that filled the room. The lights were then turned off as her silent whimpers turned into cries as she begged to be freed from her restraints. She winced as she tried to desperately twist her wrists free from the shackles. She screamed as she felt them tighten further around her wrists with every tug. She had only stopped fighting as her wrists went numb. Her chest heaved heavily as every tear fell, leaving behind stains on her cheeks. Her body had begun to ache maddeningly painful from the two days of abuse. Her back had become sore. Her teeth chattered together as she begged for clothes, anything to warm her. She rubbed her thighs together as she tried to wipe away the sticky, slick feeling between them. Her body shook as the room had dropped a few degrees. The stubbles of hair on her arms had raised from the cold, she tried to pull her arms closer to her body to shield her chest. She felt as if she was getting sicker as every moment had passed. “Please Kylo, please Ben-” She whispered through chills right before she had let sleep take over her. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- CHAPTER 7She had woken up in the same uncomfortable position as before, she tried to focus on her force, her irritation growed as she failed to wield it. She wasn't in that ungodly room anymore, she why hadn't she been able to use the force? She thought back to the collar. It must have the same effect as the room. She was so tired, so worn out yet she could barely move thanks to the restraints. She gave up. The cold prickled at her, but she couldn't fight it. She took a few deep breaths as her body shook uncontrollably. Then she felt it. She felt him sift through her memories and thoughts. She closed her eyes as she repeated the same thought. She wanted nothing more than to be clothed. She desperately wanted the message to be sent to him. She let out a small cry as she felt him pull away from her mind. She jumped as soon as she heard the familiar hiss as the door opened. She couldn't make out who was in her room, the darkness covered their face all she saw was a silhouette. The doors closed immediately behind them, she knew it was Kylo. Even without the force she could feel it. Their connection ran deeper than the force. “Unchain me,” She half begged. “I can't do that.” He said back, his voice sounded strained, like he was being pulled apart. “Then why are you here?!” She screamed suddenly, her chest heaving as her anger spiked. “You called to me!” He yelled back. He stopped for a moment, she held her tongue. “Every second when we're apart, your mind beckons me on, you have my thoughts.” He said, his voice broke as he finished his sentence. He stepped closer to her, he was gentle as he removed her shackles. She rubbed at her wrists. Her eyes searched the dark room for his, she gave a small breath. “Thank you,” She said. “You are my weakness,” He muttered as he sat next to her. “Don't-” She pleaded as she felt him move closer to her. He took a whiff of her hair. “My calling to the light,” He continued as he began to move her hair from her face. “Please don't-” She whimpered as he began to wrap his arms around her shoulders. She jumped out of his grasp, her ankles still tied down. He punched the bed next to her. “Don't you get it?” He shouted as he easily pinned her down. She cried as he held her still underneath him. “Please not again-” She pleaded. “I control you, I have control over you.” He hissed in her ear. She let out a small scream as he tightened his hold on her arms, he dug his nails into her skin before he pulled away from her. “You're nothing without me.” He stated as the door opened. Two stormtroopers handed him clothing and a blanket then left. He turned back to her, she had balled herself up in a fetal position as she let out silent cries. He felt his chest tighten at the sight, knowing he did that to her. He then gently unfolded the clothes and pulled on one of her arms. She shook wildly as he attempted to get her dressed. She kept pulling away from him, which caused him to use his force, keeping her still as he placed the shirt on her. He gave her a small smile. “See? Not so hard if you'd just listen.” He said as he hooked her wrists back in the restraints. He then unhooked her ankles and helped her into the pants before placing the restraints back in position on her ankles and draped the blanket over her. She had stopped shaking from the cold then, her body warming up. She flinched as he got himself into the bed next to her. He held her by the hips as he pulled her closely towards him. The warmth his body gave off was uncomfortable, she knew she'd be unable to ever be comfortable while next to him. He then placed a kiss to the back of her neck, removed her hair as he placed small kisses onto her warm skin just as a droid entered the room with a tray that had contained a canister of stew. She had eaten it slowly as Kylo talked to her. “Tomorrow I'll bring you to my private quarters, there you'll be able to use my showers.” He said. “Unless you'd prefer a bath,” he continued. “The shower would be fine.” She said, her voice a few octaves higher than normal. “As you wish,” He whispered in her ear. She felt herself pull away from him, her he held her still. He took the tray once she had been done eating and left the room, before he had returned sometime later. He had placed her wrists back into their chains as he held her tightly against him. She found herself in a dreamless sleep while he trailed his hand down her side in what had seemed like a mockery of a soothing motion. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- CHAPTER 8When she had woken up, she saw him buckle his pants in place. A new fear had spiked within her as she tried to feel for her clothes. Had he done something to her while she slept? She found herself wanting to cry. How could anyone be so cruel? So cold hearted yet he spoke of her being his weakness. He had no remorse, he liked to watch her shriek in pain. She wanted to vomit. “Relax, we had only slept.” He said, as if trying to soothe her nerves. “You see no reason to why I’d believe otherwise?” She asked back. “Do you want to shower now?” He asked as he decided to pay her no mind to her question. Even with a shower, she doubted she’d ever feel clean again. He helped her out of her shackles as he tried not to force his way into her unguarded mind. It took all of his self control to not place his lips on hers. She looked remarkable dressed like a true First Order officer. “Is this the only clothing you provide your followers with?” She asked. “Do you like it?” He asked back, she held in her scoff. “It's uncomfortable.” She said back. “You look wonderful in it, like a true officer.” He said. She tried her best to hide her disgust. Her body aches, she doubted she’d be able to walk far on her own. They walked out of the room, He held her arm tightly to keep her from fighting or running. From the poor lack of sleep, she hadn't had the energy to put up much of a fight anyway. He lead her through a countless amount of corridors before finally reaching a door. Once inside of it, she had instantly noticed the dining table, a comfortable seating area, and two more doors across from each other. He lead her into another room, the bathroom. It had nicely polished and an exquisitely clean sink, toilet, bathtub large enough to fit five people comfortably, and a huge shower that seemed like another room all by itself. “Undress and I'll help you with the water’s temperature.” He said. “I can figure it out on my own.” She snapped back. “I'll get you a change of clothing.” He said as he left the bathroom. She sighed as she got inside of the shower, she turned the dial until she had found a perfect temperature. The water had come from multiple angles, it poured down on her like rain. She sighed in content as she rinsed out her hair. She had found three bottles of soap, noting that they all smelled like Kylo Ren. The scent made her gag. Still, she was desperate for the sticky feeling between her legs to be washed away with whatever product she could find. which just so happened to be the strong scent that lingered on Kylo. She felt tears well down her cheeks once again. She tried desperately to be strong, but every barrier she had built, Kylo had knocked down. Rey fell to her knees as she cried. She held herself tightly as she felt the guilt from selling out Luke Skywalker and the resistance wash over her because she wasn't strong enough to fight Kylo. Because she had given into the part of her that hadn't wanted to fight him at all. She felt herself breakdown as she tried to desperately force her thoughts away from her intrusive thoughts. She had wanted Kylo, and he had found that. She hated herself for giving in to her selfish needs. She held a dark desire for him deep within her and she knew he had found that out. Because she hadn't just wanted him. She needed his touch, his kisses, and she never really wanted to fight him. She knew she never wanted to fight him. She hated him because he made her weak, he made her vulnerable and she hated that. She wasn't weak. She hadn't grown up on Jakku to be weak. She heard the door to the bathroom open, she saw his figure outside of the shower. She heard him walk closer to her, she basically jumped into his arms as he entered the shower. Her lips met his, she wrapped her legs around his torso as he pinned her against the shower’s wall. his clothing became soaked and stuck to his skin as she tried to tear them off. Her mouth trailed kisses down his jawline, to his neck, she felt herself melt as she felt his hardened length through his pants. She got off of him as she tore off his clothing, throwing them onto the shower floor as she took his member into her mouth. She sucked him roughly, swirled her tongue around the slit as he rammed himself deeper into her throat. She gagged as she looked up at him, the water dripping off of his bare chest, she watched it trail down his abdomen. He pulled her back up then, tasting himself on her mouth as he kissed her. He lifted her and she wrapped her legs back around his hips as he easily pushed into her. His nails dug roughly into her hips as he held her. He tightened his nails into her hard enough to break her delicate skin. Her mouth opened to allow her silent moans to escape as his body jerked against hers. She trailed her nails down his back as her mouth met his, kissing him sloppily as he thrusted himself roughly into her. Her eyes rolled back as he hit the same spot within her, stimulating her far past what she had expected from him. She knew she'd regret this later, it played in her mind. She wondered if Luke was still alive, which had instantly made her upset. Her friends were most likely at war while she was sleeping with their enemy, her enemy. That exhilarated her far past what she thought was normal. Her breasts were pressed roughly against his firm and muscular chest. Her tongue danced with his as she felt the familiar sensation spark inside of her. She moaned loudly into his mouth, she felt herself begin to shake from pleasure. Her toes curled as she begged for more. His hips slapped against hers, he groaned against her mouth as she tightened against him. He felt her access wetness seep out of her, loosening her walls to take in his member. She screamed as he came inside of her, his hand trailed down to massage her center, circling her nub, sending her over the edge as she came around him. He pulled himself from her body, letting her get her footing before completely letting go of her. He helped her wash out her hair after that, before scrubbing down his own body as she washed hers. She then looped her arms back around his neck when they were both finished and pulled him into a deep kiss. She pulled away then, her body blushing a shade of red as they exited the shower and dried off. The clothes he had got her were much more comfortable, she noted that they were not the standardized First Order clothing either. She felt the familiar war within herself, she hadn't wanted to give up on her friends. She didn't want Finn to think of her as a traitor. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- CHAPTER 9 “Have you captured Luke?” She asked, just as he was about to leave. He balled his fist as he turned to her.“He wasn't on Acht-To when my ships had arrived.” He spoke in a dark tone, his anger had been obvious. He had wanted Luke to die. It had seemed she would only know hatred towards him. Kylo had only been deserving of her hatred.She felt as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders, even though Kylo Ren was a huge threat, especially when angered, Luke was alright. He had probably gone to the resistance when Rey hadn't returned. Or he had left Acht-To to hide somewhere else. If he was alive, that was enough for Rey. Yet Kylo hadn't left her since she had gotten captured, well, not long enough to go to Acht-To and back. That would at least take a half a day's worth of travel, though she hadn't known how far or how close she was to that planet.“So you didn't go there yourself," She muttered. Kylo shook his head.“Though I would highly enjoy killing him, I had more important issues here. It seems that he is no longer the priority.” He answered quickly.“If he's not-” She began, Kylo closed his eyes as she figured it out, or at least what she thought it was.“I already gave you his whereabouts, I'm not giving you any more information!” She yelled as she took a few steps away from him.“You will, because I order it.” He said as he took an offensive step towards her.“I'm not letting the resistance down, I'm not letting my friends down.” She said back.“What do you think they'd do if they found out how much you enjoyed our time together?! They'd feed you to the banthas, leave you on hoth or send you back to Jakku!” He shouted back.his anger was close to getting uncontrollable, Rey had a hard time of keeping her mouth shut especially when she was in the middle of an argument with Kylo. She would not back down, he wouldn't either. Though he had also harboured a lightsaber. Rey had thought twice about arguing with him. She hadn't had a history of making wise decisions.“You have already let them down, you just chose not to see it that way.” He said. She felt her tears burn her eyes once again. Her lips trembled as she fought herself to not say anything. She felt her chest grow heavy with guilt.“It wasn't my decision! You-you forced yourself on me.” She spat back.“Yet the moment you saw me, you ran into my arms and begged me to take you.” He said back. He took a few steps closer to her.“I was weak… If we were anywhere else, if I had the Force, I wouldn't have so much looked at you!" She yelled as she inched closer to him.“You force yourself to think that, to believe that, yet I know who you really are. I know what you really want.” He said, they were only millimeters apart, he grabbed her by her face as kissed her deeply. She sank into his kiss before pulling away.“I never want to look at you again, you disgust me.” She whispered breathlessly.“And yet here you are, halfway dressed in my bathroom.” He muttered in her ear. Rey gave out a small breath as he released her.“Unfortunately, I cannot be with you as of now, I have a conference with a few of the First Order generals within the few nearby systems.” Kylo said as he moved a strand of her hair from her face.“Am I to be escorted back to my cell, then?” She asked as she took a half step away from him.“My quarters are open if you'd like a more comfortable space.” He offered. A shiver ran down her spine as she pictured herself waiting for him, completely bare on his bed.“Your thoughts are appreciated.” He muttered in her ear. She felt her face darken as she turned away from his line of sight.“My cell will do fine.” She murmured as she completely turned away from him to finish getting dressed. his eyes had lingered on her smooth back to the top of her buttocks. She was an amazing view, only for his eyes to see.“As you wish, my light.” He said as he walked away from her.“Follow me to your cell,” He said as he began to walk.She followed him out of his room. She watched as he put on his mask and fixed his cape. Just as they approached the door, he grasped her arm tightly, to keep her from running. Though if she did, he would just have her frozen with the Force in an instant.“Would you remove my collar?” She asked then, she bit her lip shortly after the words left her mouth.“Would you give in to the dark side?” He asked back. They had both known her response, she hadn't seen a reason to speak it.She gave him a dark glare as she was once again locked in that uncomfortably small room. He had sent a droid to give her food as he left her alone for the remainder of the day she had spent the time to meditate while she did a few simple exercises. She had felt as if she was going insane locked in that room, even if it was for the day, she had hated it immensely. A droid had then appeared with another meal, which she had eaten before she had slept. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- CHAPTER 10Rey had awoken still locked inside of the her cell, that seemed to have gotten smaller since she had woken up. A droid had showed then, she had been given bread and clean water. She wondered for a second what his conference was about yesterday, then relieved because whatever kept him away was good enough for her. She sat on the bed, unaware of the newly placed camera in the right hand corner on the ceiling. She let out a small groan as she rubbed her arm where Kylo had held her the other day. She lifted her shirt to finally examine her bruised hips.The crescent marks left from his nails had scabbed over. She traced her fingers over the black and blue marks on her skin. She hated how he had left a bruise on her skin, no matter the size. She had already harboured enough scars she did not need anymore from him. Her wrists had still been rubbed raw from her restraints, her ankles were in a slightly better shape but not by much. She had noticed some sort of white spotting on the top of her foot, she had thought she was sick, yet had not wanted to have anyone summoned to tend to her. She had tried to relax back on the bed, her mind had been filled with the memory of his skin hot and wet against hers. She tried to fight the memory, yet her dream had also been filled with images of him, she had wanted so much yet she had found it impossible to give in to those thoughts.She bit her lip as she desperately tried to take her mind off of him. She couldn't ward off the thought of him, the feeling of his body pressed against hers still lingered deep in her mind as she gave a shallow breath. She felt her cheeks darken as she tried to focus her mind on other things, more important issues like Luke Skywalker and the resistance. She checked her foot for the spotting again, a few minutes had already passed and the spotting had seemed to have gone away. She was relieved by that. Her thoughts had continued to darken, grow more and more provocative and she had wished the images in her mind weren't just hers.For no reason other than her pride, she had hoped that Kylo had forced those thoughts deep into her head.Her mind had then went to Finn, her greatest friend in all the galaxies. He would hate her if he ever found out about her personal ventures with Kylo. He would hate her. Leia would feel betrayed and very much hurt. She had trusted her, in return Rey had done the unimaginable. She would be an enemy to the first order, to the Jedi. She was already making an enemy in and of herself. She had already begun to hate herself. She had rethought every interaction she had with Kylo and what had lead to this.It seemed as if she was a completely different person from when she had first met him, from when she had battled him back on starkiller. Rey had then begun to cry, her tears stained her cheeks as she kept her face in her hands. She could never face her friends again. She might as well stay as Kylo’s prisoner forever. She was a traitor to the resistance, to the only family she had ever known. She had begun to sob, her tears hadn't ceased and for all she was worth she couldn't make it stop. She tried to steady her breaths, yet she had found it impossible as she wailed. She didn't even flinch when the doors had reopened. She didn't bother with herself to even so much as look up.She had known it was Kylo, she could feel his strong presence. He wrapped his arms around her tightly before he easily lifted her in his arms. He then focused his force into her mind, knocking her unconscious as he carried her back to his room. He paid no mind to the stormtroopers that had ceased to move as he easily strode past them. A few of his staff had given him quizzical looks, they had known of the prisoner but had no idea what he was doing with her as he carried her in his arms across the station. Once he had made it to his room, he had placed her in his bed comfortably before leaving. She stirred in her sleep, he felt her unease, he used his force to soothe her.One day she'd break. She'd seek comfort in him past being physical. She would learn to trust him, to care for him. Like he did for her. He knew the rumours that he hadn't cared for anything, yet he cared for Rey. He had always cared for her. The desert rat had meant everything to him. He pushed her far back within his mind as he continued with the plans to finally destroy the resistance once and for all. Once she begun to feel what he had felt for her, he would easily have her under his control and she would be the final blow against the resistance, she would be what would end them. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- CHAPTER 11She had woken up in a different room, again. The lights were off yet she could make out the furnishings within the room. She had gotten tired of being moved from place to place, she had just wanted to stay somewhere to let out her woes of sorrow and unexplainable sadness. Kylo had been awfully rude to bother her while in her most fragile state. She sat up, thankful that her limbs had not been tied down. She had searched the walls for a light switch, she let out a sigh as she had found it. A gasp had escaped her as she realised she was in Kylo’s room, she had been in his bed, asleep in his bed. Her hatred for him had only grown as she tried desperately to open the bedroom door. She was locked in.Apparently Kylo was smart enough to think ahead, the door had needed a hand print, which meant she was locked in the room until Kylo decided to let her out. Which could have been hours from then. She decided to look around the room, she curiously opened drawers and had found a few items of clothing and many different types of heavy belts. She took one to examine it. She had also found some sort of communication device alone with a few holo-novels. She pocketed the communication device within her breast restraint. She had been searching his closet just as the door had opened. She froze as she heard him let out a loud cough.“Find something of interest?” He asked, his tone dark and mechanical. She had turned then, his eyes had met hers instantly through the visor in his mask.“You wear so much black,” She spoke casually as she closed the doors to the closet.“The color suits me.” He said back as he took the belt from her grasp. He had put it away just as she took a step further from him. Her body felt hot from the closeness, her mind was clouded with her fantasies she was glad he didn't read in on.“I have to leave,” He began as he removed his mask. His hair flowed to touch his shoulders, she stood firm as she responded.“When?” She asked, though she had hardly cared.“Tonight,” He spoke firmly.“Why?” She asked, a part of her had been upset that he hadn't told her sooner. Then she thought of a day without him, longer if she was lucky.“I can't tell you,” He replied.“If it has to do with the resistance, it's better you don't tell me.” She said as she broke their eye contact.“I'll be gone for a week at most,” He said, the information had no effect on her, or at least one she would have shown. She tried to pry her mind off of him, which had been difficult. She had very much wanted him.“Am I to wait here then?” She asked as she walked behind him.“Unless you are willing to fight with the First Order.” He said.“So this is a war.” She said, he turned to face her. “Merely a show of arms,” He said back.“You're showing off your weapons while the resistance finds each and every one of your weaknesses.” She responded with a small sigh.“We are claiming a planet, Rey. Whether or not the resistance is there is beyond me. Though we will be prepared and we will fight with every breath.” He said as he took one of her hands within his. He placed a soft kiss to the top of it, his eyes fluttered closed as he did so. A small blush had formed on her face as she pulled away from him.“I'm your prisoner, Kylo Ren. I believe that this is inappropriate behaviour.” She said as she turned away from him.“You will be escorted back to your cell by two stormtroopers. The collar on your neck will prevent you from wielding their minds against them. Give it three days or so and you'd be back here, with me.” He said as he began to turn to the door.“And Rey, return that device. It doesn't give out signals past this structure.” He said right before he left. Rey took the communicator out of her shirt and examined it in detail.It did have useful parts, she could easily reprogram it or use it for parts to create a stronger signal. Kylo had then exited the room, he took a final glance towards her just as a small, knowing smirk had appeared. It had seemed he had seen every thought she had, which caused her to darken in embarrassment. Whatever the future would hold, she knew she was partly to blame. Something told her that her imagination wouldn't just be her imagination. He would use her thoughts against her, and she would most definitely hate herself as she enjoyed it. She wanted to knock that smirk off of his face permanently.She looked back at the device, it had a way to tell the time, the date and the hour. She would never have to guess the hour again. She was shocked to find she had already been there for a week. She put it back in her shirt as two armed stormtroopers came into the room and roughly dragged her out. She followed them into her cell, a droid had then showed with a small meal that had smelled quite nice. She ate in silence as she checked the time. If she wanted to use it for parts, she doubted the clock would still work. She examined it again, in more detail. She took out a few parts and smiled as she saw that the clock had worked. If she could program it to be stronger then she wouldn't need to bother with using it for defense. She hid it as the droid came back to get her tray.She had put the communicator to the side as she decided to meditate. She had wished she had gotten one of the novels, she would be alone for days without any form of entertainment or people to check up on her. Kylo was the worst form of entertainment and he never really seemed to care for her health. She sighed as she walked around the room, just as the lights once again went out. She checked the time and noticed it was already pretty late. She had decided to go to bed. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- CHAPTER 12 She had woken up in a different room, again. The lights were off yet she could make out the furnishings within the room. She had gotten tired of being moved from place to place, she had just wanted to stay somewhere to let out her woes of sorrow and unexplainable sadness. Kylo had been awfully rude to bother her while in her most fragile state. She sat up, thankful that her limbs had not been tied down. She had searched the walls for a light switch, she let out a sigh as she had found it. A gasp had escaped her as she realised she was in Kylo’s room, she had been in his bed, asleep in his bed. Her hatred for him had only grown as she tried desperately to open the bedroom door. She was locked in. Apparently Kylo was smart enough to think ahead, the door had needed a hand print, which meant she was locked in the room until Kylo decided to let her out. Which could have been hours from then. She decided to look around the room, she curiously opened drawers and had found a few items of clothing and many different types of heavy belts. She took one to examine it. She had also found some sort of communication device alone with a few holo-novels. She pocketed the communication device within her breast restraint. She had been searching his closet just as the door had opened. She froze as she heard him let out a loud cough. “Find something of interest?” He asked, his tone dark and mechanical. She had turned then, his eyes had met hers instantly through the visor in his mask. “You wear so much black,” She spoke casually as she closed the doors to the closet. “The color suits me.” He said back as he took the belt from her grasp. He had put it away just as she took a step further from him. Her body felt hot from the closeness, her mind was clouded with her fantasies she was glad he didn't read in on. “I have to leave,” He began as he removed his mask. His hair flowed to touch his shoulders, she stood firm as she responded. “When?” She asked, though she had hardly cared. “Tonight,” He spoke firmly. “Why?” She asked, a part of her had been upset that he hadn't told her sooner. Then she thought of a day without him, longer if she was lucky. “I can't tell you,” He replied. “If it has to do with the resistance, it's better you don't tell me.” She said as she broke their eye contact. “I'll be gone for a week at most,” He said, the information had no effect on her, or at least one she would have shown. She tried to pry her mind off of him, which had been difficult. She had very much wanted him. “Am I to wait here then?” She asked as she walked behind him. “Unless you are willing to fight with the First Order.” He said. “So this is a war.” She said, he turned to face her. “Merely a show of arms,” He said back. “You're showing off your weapons while the resistance finds each and every one of your weaknesses.” She responded with a small sigh. “We are claiming a planet, Rey. Whether or not the resistance is there is beyond me. Though we will be prepared and we will fight with every breath.” He said as he took one of her hands within his. He placed a soft kiss to the top of it, his eyes fluttered closed as he did so. A small blush had formed on her face as she pulled away from him. “I'm your prisoner, Kylo Ren. I believe that this is inappropriate behaviour.” She said as she turned away from him. “You will be escorted back to your cell by two stormtroopers. The collar on your neck will prevent you from wielding their minds against them. Give it three days or so and you'd be back here, with me.” He said as he began to turn to the door. “And Rey, return that device. It doesn't give out signals past this structure.” He said right before he left. Rey took the communicator out of her shirt and examined it in detail. It did have useful parts, she could easily reprogram it or use it for parts to create a stronger signal. Kylo had then exited the room, he took a final glance towards her just as a small, knowing smirk had appeared. It had seemed he had seen every thought she had, which caused her to darken in embarrassment. Whatever the future would hold, she knew she was partly to blame. Something told her that her imagination wouldn't just be her imagination. He would use her thoughts against her, and she would most definitely hate herself as she enjoyed it. She wanted to knock that smirk off of his face permanently. She looked back at the device, it had a way to tell the time, the date and the hour. She would never have to guess the hour again. She was shocked to find she had already been there for a week. She put it back in her shirt as two armed stormtroopers came into the room and roughly dragged her out. She followed them into her cell, a droid had then showed with a small meal that had smelled quite nice. She ate in silence as she checked the time. If she wanted to use it for parts, she doubted the clock would still work. She examined it again, in more detail. She took out a few parts and smiled as she saw that the clock had worked. If she could program it to be stronger then she wouldn't need to bother with using it for defense. She hid it as the droid came back to get her tray. She had put the communicator to the side as she decided to meditate. She had wished she had gotten one of the novels, she would be alone for days without any form of entertainment or people to check up on her. Kylo was the worst form of entertainment and he never really seemed to care for her health. She sighed as she walked around the room, just as the lights once again went out. She checked the time and noticed it was already pretty late. She had decided to go to bed. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- CHAPTER 13 When she had woken up, it was even later in the day. It had been the after noon just as the droid came in with the second tray of food she had decided to read the last few chapters aloud, maybe the droid would enjoy it. She knew it wouldn't, it was programmed to be company, just to be of service. She ate slowly as she placed the book on the tray before the droid had left. She yawned as she decided to meditate. Either that day or the next, Kylo would be there. She shuttered at the thought. To get her mind off of that, she had decided to read the last book she was given.It had been a full five hours of reading a less than mildly entertaining book before she had given up on it. She hadn't gotten very far into it, yet she could not read it at all. She had taken out her device once again. She hadn't had any tools, which had proven to be a problem as she had desperately wanted to make contact with someone outside of the First Order. Just as she had quickly hidden the device, the droid had given her the final tray of food for the day, she had been delivered with a few more books. The same genre as the last previous one which she had enjoyed. She ate silently before she had decided to read a new book out loud. She had thought she saw the droid move as she began to read, but she doubted it. Rey placed the boring book on the tray, she had once again thanked the droid just before it had left.She had hoped to at least befriend a droid if not a person. She meditated for some time, checking the hour every few minutes as she tried to calm the growing sense of worry she had felt for Kylo. Just a as she had focused enough to almost feel the connection between them, the lights had gone out. Rey had then decided to go back to bed. She wanted to save that book for the droid, if it enjoyed being read to, she would happily read to it. She had troubles falling asleep that night, for what had seemed to be the first night since Jakku when she hadn't been able to sleep.Rey had awoken with a start, her heartbeat raced in her chest as she put her palm against her chest. She felt a wave of dread wash over her as she went to the bathroom. She hadn't known the day it was, she was worried from every past experience with Kylo, yet when she had seen the light amount of spotted blood she had guessed she was fine, yet still believed there was something wrong. She decided to read just as the droid came into the room. She checked the time before she gave it a small look.“I need a few tools,” She spoke.The droid had stayed still, then moved forward and back as if accepting her request. She took out her device and showed it to the droid.“I need a few extra parts as well.” She explained.“I want to contact Kylo, he's so far away and I'm worried. Would you help me?” She asked, guilt bit at her as she had lied.The droid had moved forward and back which had let her know it had once again agreed to her request. She had told the droid what tools and what parts she had needed before she had asked it to retrieve them for her. It had left a second after she was done. She had known if the droid was caught, not only would it be disassembled, but she would be in a lot more trouble. Kylo would easily see through her lie, he would know she would attempt to signal the resistance. She couldn't bother with the what ifs, so she just had to wait.The droid returned within the next four hours. It had given her a tray that held a metallic lid. She smiled as she thanked the droid before taking her tray. Under the lid was all of the parts she had asked for and multiple tools. She sat on the floor across from the droid, she quickly ate as she began to reprogram the communication device. She smiled as the droid stayed still and watched. Her smile grew as she finished a part of it. She turned it one, seeing how far out the signal had went. Not strong enough. She looked within the pile of parts, a sigh escaped her. She looked back at the device, just before she had taken it apart completely.After a few hours of reprogramming it she had successfully put it back together, everything had still worked, including the time. She turned sitback on, a sigh of relief escaped her as she was able to still send out signals. She closed her eyes as she began to send a message, she could never be sure if it would work. She had sent out many distress signals to anyone that was listening. She knew that Kylo could easily hear them, she had hoped he was busy and unable to accept any signals from her.The droid had left then, which had given her more confidence to send out a few more signals. They had to find her, they had too. Just as she had decided that she was done sending out signals, she had realised how much her body had ached. She stood up and stretched, Rey groaned as She popped her shoulders. She had decided to take a nap just a few hours before the droid would show again. If had taken her some time before she had woken up, the droid had entered her room twice before leaving the final time.Rey was fast asleep and the droid had to immediately report to Kylo Ren. The only thing that had gotten through to Rey had seemingly been the droid, only the droid. Which would be useful to further Kylo Ren’s plan to get to Rey. Kylo informed the base that he would be back in no less than two more days, two more days for Rey to be without him. Kylo fumed as he imagined Rey alone in the cell, or worse, he thought of two curious stormtroopers that had fallen out of line. Two stormtroopers that felt as if Rey had owed them a debt for Finn becoming a traitor.The thought made him sick. He would be back quickly, for her and for him. He needed her, as he sliced easily through an unarmed man, he thought about the way her hair fell over her shoulders when it was down from the three buns. He went back to his troops then, signalling for them to fall back because the planet no longer held any potential threat, therefore it was for the taking and he would have the control. Which was easily accomplished. Kylo stood back in his ship as he declared the ownership of the planet, which had gone through without further argument. He had conquered another whole planet, Rey would hate it, yet it was something to be celebrated. One day she would see the right path, one day she would understand. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- CHAPTER 14 It had been almost a complete week since Kylo had left, which was approximately six days ago. She had grown bored of reading to the droid and sending signals, the room had begun to make her feel trapped, which she was. She hadn't gotten any response, which had caused her to be upset. No one was listening, no one would find her. She felt trapped and she hated everything about the room. The lights were turned on too early, she had missed a few meals because of how early they had expected her to wake up. Since Kylo had left, this was her chance to get better. To heal after all of the abuse. This was the only chance she had to plan an escape, which she had failed to do. She was going to be stuck there because she hadn't had the energy to plan her escape beyond the signals.She sat up just as the droid entered with a tray that had contained only a small piece of bread and a small canister that had contained water. It had reminded her of the portions on Jakku. It stirred up memories she had tried to conceal, to hide from. Jakku was an awful place, a place she had never wanted to go again. Ever. She hadn't noticed that the droid had left until she looked up from the tray. It left after it dropped the tray on her bed. That was when she had noticed it was a different droid. Her friend was gone, she guessed it had gotten deconstructed. The thought had left tears in her eyes.It was her fault, anyway. Because she had wanted it as a friend, because she lacked the social encounters she had gotten accustomed to while with Finn. She let her tears fall as she tried to reason with herself, how it wasn't her fault. Any of it. All of it. She had tried to fight him, she had tried to tell him no. Her tears fell even more as she heard the heavy footsteps that trailed to her. He was back, her tears fell quicker as her breathing had sped up. He was back, he was back and she was a mess. She scooted against the wall, until her back hit the cold metal just as he entered. He was angry.The doors closed behind him, he threw off his mask as he looked at her. His eyes gleamed with frustration, hurt, and anger. She stood, she knew he had heard the signals. She would pay. She wiped away her tears she she tried not to look at him. She sensed his anger, it was thick in the air. Something in her told her to defend herself. Not to be defiant or difficult. It was him, his force was in her head, trying to control her. She didn't want to listen.“On your knees.” He demanded, his tone dark and filled with hate. She hesitated.“Now.” He shouted suddenly, she fell to her knees, her body shook from the fear of his wrath. He walked over to her, she shook as he roughly grasped her hair. She let out a shriek.“I'm going to be rough with you,” He whispered in her ear. She swallowed hard as he lead her to the bed.“Lean against it,” He muttered as he pulled down her pants.She bit her lip to conceal a cry. She had propped herself up with her arms, her palms planted firmly on the mattress. He began to undo his buckle. He removed his pants, she winced as she felt him hard against her inner thigh. He pressed himself against her just as he let out a sigh as she felt how wet she had already been for him. He coated his gloved fingers in her slick, before he used it as a lubricant to loosen her virgin entrance. Once he had deemed her to be ready, he lined himself up with her there. She let out a groan as he pressed himself into her tight passage. His gloved fingers were rough against her nub, he circled her as he trusted into her. She held back her screams of pain, she had only allowed a small cry to escape her. It felt as if she was being torn apart from the inside. His hips moved gracefully into hers, which had caused more waves of pain throughout her body.She tore at the sheets on the bed, his teeth had left a trail of bites down her neck as he forced his way into her. Her knees grew weak from the pressure of his body pressed against hers. She began to press her fist into the bed as he inserted a finger into her. She let out a shallow breath as his fingers matched the rhythm of his hips. Her teeth tightened against her lower lip as her knees buckled. A white hot flame had begun to spread within her, a cramp of pleasure filled her as she had began to grow dizzy from the stimulation.Rey let out a cry as her mind raced, she tried to keep herself from orgasming, she tried to tell herself she didn't enjoy what Kylo was doing to her. Her hips had caught his as she matched his speed, she caught him with every pained thrust. Her mouth opened to let put a silent moan as she felt him twitch within her. He removed his finger from her as he held her hips. He had kept her still as he came inside of her. He let out a small, dark chuckle before he released her, as if being with her relieved his frustration and anger. Her breath slowed as she began to move away from him. He coughed then, as if to clear his throat before he spoke.“You will accompany me in my quarters, as punishment for your little experiment.” He spoke in the demanding, mechanical tone that she had grown to despise. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- CHAPTER 15“Did something not go as planned on that planet?” She asked as she discarded his request.“Do not challenge me.” He said back as he lifted his mask, it flew across the room to land perfectly in his hand. He placed it on just before he fixed his buckle and pants. She had began to pull up her own clothing, which he had stopped as caught her hands with his.“Allow me to dress myself.” She spoke as she pulled her hands out of his grasp.“Do not fight me.” He hissed.“Allow me to dress.” She replied.“Now.” She demanded. He raised his palm to strike her, she easily dodged his attack.“I will never go anywhere with you.” She shouted as she tried once again to fix her clothing. He easily had her pinned to the wall, he grasped her shirt and tore it in two, just before he also tore her pants. She let out a scream.“Don't you ever touch me!” She yelled as she tried to shield herself from his sight.“Be still.” He demanded as he caught her flailing arms.“Leave me alone! Don't touch me!” She screamed.“You are going with me to my quarters.” He demanded.“I will never go with you anywhere.” She spat.“You will,” He said as he had her in his arms. She tried to fight him, he restrained her with the force.He had sensed her unease as well as her strong embarrassment. She did not want to leave the room while unclothed. He hadn't cared. She blushed as he carried her to his room. Every passerby saw her. She hated him. Everyone saw her nude in his arms. Everyone knew they had a sexual relationship just by that if they hadn't already known prior to that. She almost gagged as she felt his cum leak from her passage. She had wanted to cry from the embarrassment of being lugged around naked. It had only fueled her hatred towards him. She had begun to feel the cold as he carried her through multiple corridors. Her blush darkened as her nipples began to erect as it had gotten colder.She couldn't talk, she could only see and feel. She wished he would have already ended her. This was a bit much, more of a harsh punishment than she had deemed necessary. Once they had gotten to the room, she had felt relieved since she would no longer be in the sight of the public. He placed her on the ground inside of his bedroom, the doors closed and locked behind them. He walked closer to her, with every step, she backed away. until the back of her legs met the bed. He dipped down to kiss her just before he took her hand. He lead her into the bathroom, he gave her enough time to shower before he entered the room.He found her drying herself off with a towel, her hair was down, it had left drips of water trail down her back. She hadn't bothered to look at him as his eyes met her frame, she had seemed to gain a little weight, which he had deemed to be okay, before she had been mostly bones. Her legs had looked smooth, he thought about the feeling of them wrapped around his waist. His eyes met his lips, he had wanted them wrapped around his shaft as her big hazel eyes looked into his. Her breasts were covered, yet he knew exactly how they looked and how they felt under his palm. He wanted to kiss her as she met his trailing eyes. A blush formed on her face as she resumed to dry herself.“Could you turn around?” She asked, her soft voice was like music to his ears. His hands were on her hips in a second, he lifted her on top of the counter as he met her lips with his. She pulled away instantly, he caught her look of anger.“Get out.” She yelled as she tried to pull herself out of his grasp. He caught her arms, he kept her still as he planted kisses to her neck.“I could do anything to you,” He whispered as he began to trail his gloved hand down her stomach.“Please let me go,” She muttered just as he met her center.She closed her eyes as she bit her lip to keep back any potential scream. He tugged her towel down with minimal effort. His eyes trailed over every freckle she had as he began to rub her, message her most sensitive bud. He latched his mouth onto one of her bare nipples. He dug his teeth into her sensitive flesh, which caused a small groan from her mouth as she tried not to respond to him. He began to suck on her just as he pressed a finger into her. She shuddered against him, her back arched as her body reacted to his touches. She had almost found herself to be about to admit defeat. To give in to her urges, to enjoy what he was doing.Every time he was back she had found herself wanting to enjoy being with him. She had given in before, multiple times before. Never again. She had managed to clear her mind just enough to pull herself away from him. She had almost succeeded until his thumb had circled over her, his fingers coaxed her back to him. Her mind was being torn in two. She bit her lip as she fought back the growing pleasure. She had managed to stop herself from going over the edge. She breathed hard to fight him. His finger worked her, which had caused her to almost accept her defeat once again. She had mustered every self control she had to keep herself from going over.He twisted his finger within her, at just the right angle, before forcing another one inside of her. She shouted as she came suddenly, his fingers pressed against the sensitive spot within her, he messaged her there for a moment, she shook from the pleasure as he then pulled his fingers out of her. He helped her onto her wobbly feet as he lead her into his room. He left her alone then, his frustration with her had grown slightly, yet he was satisfied that even though she had tried her hardest to fight him, even though he had sensed her determination, he had still held the power, the control over her body. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- CHAPTER 16 She hated herself, not as much as she had hated him, yet the overbearing sense of depression had left a cruel mark on her. She should have done more in the beginning to send him off. She'd should have been stronger. She blamed herself. She had decided to take one of his overly large shirts and pajama bottoms to sleep in, she had needed a nap after that. Her muscles ached everywhere. She had only wanted to sleep after the encounter with him. He had seemed to take her energy every time they were together. She fell onto his bed, her wet hair left a damp spot on the pillow. She fell into a deep sleep not long after she had gotten into his bed.She had awoken with a start. Her dream had left a part of her to be afraid. What if he hurt her friends because of her? How would she ever be able to see Luke again? She felt a wave of nausea as she thought about that. She had stood rather quickly, which had only seemed to strengthen her nausea. She ran to the bathroom, her stomach cramped until it had released what little she had eaten. She brushed her teeth after that then left to sit on his bed, she rubbed her stomach as if to sooth her nausea. She had thought about Luke Skywalker again. She was filled with sadness as she had pictured a future where she wouldn't be able to see him ever again. A future without Luke was one she didn't want to have. Luke was like her family, like Han before Kylo had taken that away.Her stomach then growled as she realised she had not eaten other than the small amount of bread and water. Her mouth was dry and parched, she begun to bang on the door. She screamed to be let out, her fist began to grow sore as she ceased her punches. She had known Kylo was listening in on her, he always was. She had grown frustrated. She had just wanted a bit of decency, just to be dried without him watching. She had loved being alone, without his touch even if it meant being in that small room. It seemed lying to herself was her new skill, she hated being in that room with or without Kylo. She had hated being without Kylo. The doors opened suddenly, which caused her to jump back.Her eyes went to Kylo, who was in the other side of the seating room, he had seemingly just entered his living quarters. Her mouth watered as she caught the scent of the food placed neatly on the table. She had begun to speed walk towards the table, as did Kylo. His eyes met hers as he removed his mask. He was silent as he pulled a chair out for her, to which she had declined. He gave her a look of minor annoyance as he sat across from her.“You slept for quite a while.” He said, his eyes lingered on her face, then lower to see one of his shirts. She looked small in his clothing, yet so damn tepting.“Why is that of your concern?” She asked back as she began to serve herself. She had found herself to be wanting freshly cooked meats or something salty. She had looked at the fancy setting on the table, finding one of the smells had caused her to silently gag.“Watch that tongue of yours.” He muttered back, which she had replied to as she narrowed her eyes at him.“Or what, you'll silence me with a gag?” She shot back as she forked a piece of meat into her mouth.“That could work,” He responded.“Hm, well, we'll see about that.” She murmured as she took a sip of the dark red wine that had been poured in the golden glass in front of her.“Yes we shall.” He responded as they continued to eat in a slightly uncomfortable silence. Kylo had silently refilled both of their wine glasses, he gave Rey a small, devious expression as he did so. She blinked twice at him, it was almost as if he believed this was her first time drinking alcohol.“I've had many glasses of wine before, Poe is a romantic.” She said as she slowly sipped.“The pilot?” He asked, she nodded.“He would take Finn to see me occasionally while I trained.” She said back.“Skywalker allowed distractions.” He scolded.“Skywalker didn't know.” She said back.“You're a rebel, aren't you?” He mocked.“I wanted to see my friends. But that's something you wouldn't know about.” She said back. He was silent for a moment. He hasn't had any friends. Hux was... The most annoying person to ever step foot near him. It was true, he hadn't known what it was like to want to see someone. Other than Rey, of course. He was always looking towards spending time her, even when he was in the midst of a planet raid.“I won't need friends when I rule the galaxy.” He hissed.“Yes, then you'd only have slaves and people who fear you and hate you. Seems like a much better option.” She shot back as she took another sip.“So do you fear me, then?” He asked, his tone changed as he grew intrigued and curious. He had swallowed back a small lump in his throat as he awaited her answer. Had she been afraid of him, his plan would be set back. Couldn't she just allow her feelings for him to grow? Couldn't he just make her fall in love with him? He had already grown the intense and slightly confusing feelings towards her. Couldn't she feel the same? Couldn't he make her feel the same? She would understand what he felt, she would because he would make her.“I could never fear you.” She said as she stood abruptly.For a moment, Kylo had believed she had actually begun to give in to him. Rey glared at him, she was well aware that she had most likely ruined their dinner, she couldn't care less. She had grown tired of watching him look at her like she was something to eat. Apart from that, she had really regretted drinking that wine. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- CHAPTER 17“So you hate me, then?” He asked just as he caught her in a force hold, it had been the last thing she had wanted from him. He had then begun to circle around her like some animalistic predator. She couldn't talk, his force held her tight like she was bound where she stood. She tried to speak, to move, which had only strained herself. “So you do hate me,” He spoke casually. He moved a loose strand of her hair behind her ear, he smiled as she tried to flinch away from his touch.“You hate when I touch you,” He muttered, she had winced as he moved to hold her arm.“Yet you're so desperate when it's for your own pleasure.” He hissed in her ear as he forced all of the objects off of the table and onto the floor.She tried to move as she heard the clank and shatter of metals and broken glass as it hit the wall. He then had her pressed against the table, her back rested on the cold surface. She felt as the food raised up her throat, she tried to keep it down. He then placed each of her legs over his hips, he held them in place as he began to toy with his clothing that had looked rather large on her. She whimpered silently as she tried to swallow down the food. She had wanted to turn her head away, to keep herself from vomiting, yet he held her in place. She had tried to move once again, she had only gotten a slight jerk from his hips as he held her still using his force. She tried to keep her mouth closed, her stomach flipped as soon as she had stood after the argument with him.Once the bile had come from her mouth, he had dropped the hold on her and let her back onto the floor. She hunched over herself as the food and wine had vacated her stomach. He gave a small look of disgust, though he had been much more worried as he had quickly summoned for droids and sanitation stormtroopers to clean the mess. She had then sprinted to the bathroom to rinse the foul tasting mess out of her mouth, she brushed her teeth after that. She then took off her clothes and jumped into the shower, she rinsed the chunks from her hair as she tried to take a few deep breaths.She heard the door open, she knew Kylo was back. He placed a towel and a new pair of fresh clothes on the counter as she finished washing herself. He was silent as she dried and dressed herself. He hasn't looked at her, his eyes awkwardly seemed to look anywhere else then at her.“Thank you,” She muttered as she gave him a slightly embarrassed look.“You're sick.” He assumed as she looked into his eyes.“I'm fine.” She responded. He took her wrist and pulled her close, to which she had instantly fought back as he put his hand to her forehead to check for a fever.“I’ll take you to the medical room,” He said as he held her arm tightly as he began to drag her towards the door.“I'm not sick!” She shouted as she tried to stay still.“You are going, whether it's by force or otherwise.” He shot back as he turned to face her.“You will not take me anywhere.” She snarled back.“You are not the one who gives orders here.” He shot back.“If you ever try to take me anywhere I’ll-” She began, he gave her an amused smirk.“You hold no power here, don't you forget.” He murmured in her ear.“You are a scared, weak child-” She began, just as another wave of nausea hit. She held her stomach as she winced back a gag.“You have no right to-” She tried as she covered her mouth. She tried to swallow it down. Which had been successful, thankfully.“You will stop this nonsense and follow me, now.” He said.“I will not go anywhere with you, ever.” She spoke as she tried to walk away from him. He caught her in a force hold, he kept her still as he lifted her. She felt the wave of nausea wash back over her, she gasped as she begged to be put back down.“You'll walk then.” He stated.“Fine.” She muttered as he had held onto her waist tightly. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- CHAPTER 18The walk to the medic room was exhausting, she had been out of breath as they had reached the entrance. She sighed as he led her into the room. There were rows of hurt stormtroopers in the multiple beds. Curtains separated a few beds from the eye of other patients as they were examined. Kylo led Rey into the back, where a room was that had seemed to be private. A medical examiner entered the room as soon as Rey had gotten onto the bed. Kylo watched as the examiner began to look over Rey’s blood pressure and fever.Rey had given curious expression towards the examiner. She had never seen a species quite like that before. The examiner was tall, it had an elegant nature and peaceful energy as it walked around the room. The grayish tone seemed to glow in the bright light, it's eyes were huge, dark orbs that flickered as it looked around the room. Rey was enchanted by the creature, how it moved with such finesse and determination intrigued her. She had wondered if they were all like that, but discarded the thought. The examiner had first decided to check her vitals.Once she had made sure everything appeared to be normal she had begun to ask Rey questions about her symptoms.“When did you start to experience the nausea?” She asked it spoke with a soft tone, which had properly matched her physique. Rey chewed her lip as she thought back to earlier that week.“Well, for the past few days I've felt nauseous.” She spoke with a bit of embarrassment.“Have you been disoriented or fatigued?” She asked, her big dark eyes seemed to look right through her. Rey shivered as a wave of unease washed over her.“I've been sleeping more than I had on any normal day. I have felt sick when I get up from bed. Sometimes throughout the day.” She muttered, her words barely audible.“Perhaps the patient would feel more comfortable if she was alone,” She said. Rey looked to Kylo, who had seemed lost in his own thoughts.“Master Ren,” she had spoken louder. Kylo looked up then, he looked towards Rey whom had begun to blush.“Would you kindly allow miss Rey to answer question in private?” She asked again.“I want to know her diagnosis.” She stated.“As soon as I can form one,” She responded. He had left the room then, Rey watched the examiner wall back to her.“Now, I have a series of different tests to run, if you would inform me on your last menstruation, we can continue your check up.” She said kindly, Rey gave her a small blush just as Kylo had politely left the room.The door had reopened just as Rey had begun to exit the exam room. She gave Kylo a death glare as she went to sit on a spare chair just outside of the room. She hated Kylo, now more than ever as she found that she hadn't wanted to know what was causing her to be sick. Because a part of her had already known and it caused her hatred to only grow towards him. He caused her so much hurt and pain, it seemed to be the only thing he had to offer. She felt her anger rise through her, she had wanted to use the force, to cause him as much pain as he had caused her.She was disgusted with him. He had most likely had multiple companions before her. It made her sick to think that he caused her some sort of illness because he had no self control. Because he allowed himself to give in to his every whim. She felt used and dirty, she had wanted nothing more that to scrub her skin raw.“The examiner had to go over the test results, it should be about a half hour wait.” Rey spoke as Kylo sat next to her. He moved to touch her, she easily pulled herself away from his grasp.“Do not touch me.” She warned, her tone fierce and angry.He had backed away from her for a moment, just before he had turned towards her. She did not have a right to snap at him, ever. He was about to yell at her just before the door had opened. Rey had stood up immediately as the examiner had allowed her back into the room. Rey walked to the bed without haste, her features had been slightly scrunched in an angry, almost disgusted way as she readied herself to hear the diagnosis. Kylo had silently watched as the examiner looked to her medical chart, then at them. She gave a light sigh before she had decided to speak.“Master Ren, miss Rey, all the tests had been consistent with the answer, I've done many different types of exams on her so I know that this is the most accurate diagnosis I had ever done.” Rey shot a glare to Kylo Ren. It seemed that she had already known what was wrong with her. She blamed him, fully, which he deemed to be of annoyance.“You are pregnant. Expect either a healthy boy or girl.” The examiner said as she turned away from them, as if allowing them to converse.Rey let out a breath, then she had forgotten how to breath. Her eyes had flickered directly to Kylo, her breathing had then quickened as the words repeated in her mind. She felt her muscles lock, she slowly blinked before she tried to comprehend the words. It seemed that she had frozen in place, She couldn't focus on Kylo, her mind wouldn't accept what she had said. She couldn't accept it, she couldn't. Her first tear fell, which was quickly followed by another one. It hadn't taken long before she was in tears, the examiner gave Kylo a slightly annoyed look as she comforted Rey. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- CHAPTER 19Kylo had looked dumbstruck, his shoulders had slumped, his hair had covered his face, it hid his surprised, confused, and slightly angry expressions well from the two other people in the room. He stared down at his lap in shock, he had heard Rey’s cries, yet had not been able to react. He had decided to form together a response, whether it was good or bad, he had wanted to say something. He turned towards the examiner and motioned for her to leave, which she had done to allow them privacy.Once she was gone, Rey had cried harder, her silent cries had turned into wails as he neared her. She hated him, she hated him. He reached out to touch her, she avoided his hand. He pulled her arm, causing her to stop her cries just for a moment. Her eyes met his as he used her arm to dry her tears. She glared at him as he smoothed her hair behind her ear. The kind gesture hadn't ever seemed so menacing. It reminded her of the interrogation. He was missing his mask. She wanted to destroy it, destroy him.“Take off this collar, now!” She shouted just as she raised her arm to strike him. He easily caught her hand and held onto her shoulder to keep her still.“You will not raise your voice at me.” He spat in her ear.“I am going to end you.” She snarled back as she ripped herself out of his grasp as she stood up.“You won't ever touch me again!” She screamed as she picked up a glass jar that had contained something of little value. She easily threw it at him, he caught it with his force, he easily had let it meet the floor below them. Shards of glass flew everywhere, she shielded her eyes and face as a piece of glass had left a small cut on his cheek.“You will obey me!” He shouted back.“Take this damned collar off me now or I will end you!” She screamed again, just as she had found a heavy, blunt metal object. Three more examiners ran into the room and had easily gently disarmed Rey while the other one tried to calm down Kylo.“Do not fight, this is a gift not a war.” One of the examiners said.“This is his fault! I never asked for this!” She screamed as she tried to desperately force them off of her.“You need to calm down, this stress is not good for an expectant mother. Please calm down.” They repeated as they had tried to get her back on the bed.“You did this!” She cried as she had stopped fighting them.“You did this.” She repeated as she cried. Kylo glared at her.She had no right to blame him for anything. She had wanted it just as much as he had, she was just as much to blame. It was her fault and he would make sure everyone knew it. He had looked at her then, his eyes softened as he thought about it. He had allowed it to sink in. She was going to have his child. His first child, their first child. They were going to be parents, he was surprised with how he had decided to accept it instead of throwing her out like garbage. She fumed with sheer anger towards him. He gave her a small look of admiration, he wanted her with him forever. The more he thought about it, the better it sounded.She could never return to the resistance now, she could never return. It brought a smile to his face while it caused her to cry harder. She could never return to her friends with a child. She could never face Leia again, she could never face Luke again. Rey calmed after a while of being soothed. She had tried to think of any positives this might bring about, but it just made everything worse. Her situation would be incredibly worse now. She wanted to vomit as she thought of a future with him. She would be stuck with him, their lives entangled forever unless she did something drastic.“I... I don't want it.” She spoke finally, Kylo Stood then, his tall, lean frame towered over her as he looked down at her, it made her feel incredibly weak and small.“You don't want it?” He asked, his voice menacing as he glared at her. She stood then. She had pushed the examiners away as she became instantly defensive.“I do not want any child of yours, Ben.” She spat as she walked past him and exited the room. He glared as he followed her.“Do not go any further, Rey.” He demanded. She scoffed as she continued to walk away from him.“You will not walk away from me!” He shouted as he followed her. He had easily caught up to her, his force kept her still as he forced her to turn around.“Don't you ever disrespect me.” He hissed.“Don't you ever call me by that name.” His tone was dark and menacing, filled with anger and hatred. She gulped as he walked towards her, his stature made her feel even more weak, like she was less of a person next to him.“You will have this child or I'll destroy every last traitor in the resistance.” He spoke darkly as he put a loose strand of her hair behind her ear. She whimpered as she tried to back away from his touch.“We would have a great life here, together.” He whispered, his tone had grown a bit softer, it had made her sick. He released her then, just enough to get a response.“There would be no life here with you.” She breathed back.“You and I could take over planets, galaxies, systems. If you could see your potential instead of waste it!” He screamed as he had crushed two pillars into debris around them.“Your promises of strength are nothing. There is no happiness in destruction of the innocent.” She spoke back.“Nobody is innocent. We have all done terrible things.” He responded with a heavy sigh.“Children are innocent, there are men and women who have done nothing but help yet all you see are criminals. General Leia and Luke Skywalker are the prime example-” She tried.“Leia is a traitorous thief!” He snapped.“How could you speak so poorly of your own mother?!” She asked.“She is not my mother.” He spoke firmly as he raised his hand to strike her.“Don't you ever touch me-” She spoke just as he slapped her. Her head turned from the velocity of his hit. She felt a tear sting as it had begun to fall.“Don't you ever touch me.” She whispered, her voice filled with anger.Her anger had begun to control her, she had felt the slight burn on her cheek from his slap. She wanted to tear the collar in half. He had released her from his hold then, she fell to the ground just before she clawed at the collar. No use. She felt her legs walk towards him, she felt her hands ball together tightly, she felt her sharp nails dig violently into her delicate skin, leaving deep crescent marks on her palms. She watched as her arm had raised, she had moved quickly to hit him, thought it had felt as if she was not in control of her own body. She had felt the softness of his skin as she had punched him multiple times in the same spot on his pale cheek. She saw the blood trail down from the corner of his mouth as he wiped it off.He easily had her back against a wall. He took both or her wrists and held them still against the wall using the Force as he began to remove her clothing. He had removed just enough to expose her breasts as he easily removed her bottoms she winced as his mouth met hers in a sloppy, sticky, rough kiss. He then loosened his own pants to expose his hard member. She closed her eyes tightly just before he had left a trail of sloppy kisses down her jawline. He pressed into her then, she had already been dripping for his touch, for his member inside of her. She let out a pained groan as he thrusted against her, his hands gripped her hips as he trusted inside of her, her walls clamped around him every time he entered her.She had tried to look away from the multiple stormtroopers that had walked past them, to the multiple other first order officers that had caught a glimpse of their sweaty bodies pressed against each other. If she had known one of them, she wondered how Kylo hadn't thought anything of it. Perhaps he had done this before. Her mind had then been taken off of the embarrassment as she allowed a moan to escape her rather loudly as Kylo had begun to suck on a sensitive spot on her neck. She bit her lip to silence herself, her eyes closed lightly as she begun to fill with her own growing pleasure, she tightened her legs around his hips. Kylo had quickened his thrusts, hitting the same, overly sensitive spot within her with each thrust. She had then moaned his name, a small whimper that had barely been audible. He had then twitched inside of her, she had felt the slight warmth leak inside of her from his precum.His thrusts had hardened as he began to near his orgasm, she had tried to move her arms towards him, to no avail. Her body had begun to shake as she leaned her head against the wall, riding out her pleasure. Quickly he had easily emptied himself within her. His breathing had been heavy, just as he began to rub at her clit, it had been the final factor in her orgasm. Her walls pulsated around him as she cried his name once more. It was like poison from her lips, she had grown to hate herself just for saying it. She hated him. This wasn't proof of otherwise. She had hated him and she would always hate him. Her lips had then met his once more before his hold on her arms had dissipated.She instantly had them wrapped around his neck as he began to pull himself out from within her. She stood on unstable legs as she fixed her clothes. She had still hated him, and he knew it, yet he also knew somewhere within her she was slowly starting to accept her fate there. They had walked towards his quarters once again. They had both needed a shower. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- CHAPTER 20Rey had awoken from a deep slumber, the urge to vomit had grown while she had slept. Kylo had held her tightly in his arms. She gave him an annoyed look as she tried to free herself, she could almost taste the acid. Kylo tightened his grip around her waist, she kept her mouth painfully closed to keep the vomit down. She huffed as she once again tried to pull herself away from him. She was in no mood to be held by him. She was in no mood to be treated like some sort of comfort object. She would never find comfort in him and that was it. She hated him, she really hated him. Yet, there was only one way to get him off of her.She closed her eyes as she forced her fingers to gently trail over his hands, she softly turned to kiss him as she caught his hands with hers. It hadn't helped the growing feeling of sickness within her, but she needed to go to the bathroom now. He had woken up then, she had taken him by surprise. As soon as he had loosened his hold on her, she quickly rolled out of bed and stood. He gave her a slow sigh, he easily stood as he walked towards her. She backed away, though her past attempts were all futile. She had hoped maybe this time she would be able to get away from his grasp. The furthest she had gotten was the door, just before he had her back in his arms. His lips ghosted above hers as he teased her, which caused her head to spin lightly as she begged for him to stop.His hands then held hers high above her head, her body shook as she tried to pull away from him. He had tried to move her legs to circle his waist, instead she had used her knee to make direct contact to his crotch. He had let out a cry of pain just before he hunched over. She ran to the bathroom didn't stop her sprint until she had reached the toilet. She fell to her knees as she held onto it, her hand caught her hair as she hunched over and gagged. Kylo had entered the bathroom then, she couldn't look up at him, a part of her had grown to fear him. She had seen what he was capable of and she didn't want to be hurt anymore than she was.She held her stomach as acid and spittle fell from her mouth, Kylo then held her hair as she gagged, her hand went down to hold her stomach as the wave of nausea passed. The familiar warmth he gave off had begun to feel soothing, in fact, his touch had begun to calm her, she felt safe with him. She found herself with the need to lean back into his touch, she easily caught onto what he had been doing. It had been harder to tell without the force.“Get out of my mind, Kylo.” She spoke quickly.“You will feel better.” He whispered back, he placed a kiss to her neck.“I would feel better if you left.” She stated.“You need me now.” He whispered, she shivered from his tone.“I don't need you, now or ever.” She shot back as she quickly freed herself from his grasp.She turned to the sink to wash out her mouth. He appeared behind her, she saw the way he looked at her through the mirror. His eyes were partly closed as he focused on her neck. He leaned down to place a gentle kiss there. She watches him with a bit of curiosity. He looked at her like she was a statue. Like he had worshipped her. She pulled her gaze away from him. Had that been what he had thought of her? She couldn't bother with that thought. He was the enemy, no matter what she had wanted to think, he was the bad guy. He wanted to watch her friends die. She wasn't there by choice. She walked out of the bathroom and into the main room. The seating was spacious, yet she knew he would continue to try to be as close to her as possible.It was tiring. He was tiring. She walked to the dining room, her stomach growled as she thought of something to eat. She looked towards Kylo, her eyes had said it all.“I can call a droid to send us a tray of food, anything you'd like.” He said. She had then felt the unmistakable wave of guilt.“Anything is fine.” She spoke back.“No request?” He asked. She gave a small breath. She had wanted something salty, something savory like meat. She looked towards Kylo with a small hint of a smile.“Maybe a rare meat of some sort.” She suggested.“Its a bit early, are you sure you wouldn't have something lighter?” He asked.“No, thank you. I’d really be fine with that.” She spoke as she sat in a chair at the table. He spoke into a small intercom to give the order. Kylo dart across from her, he took her hands in his, she had attempted to pull away, he tightened his grip.“Let me teach you,” He spoke, his eyes met hers.“I'm not looking for a teacher.” She responded.“We could rule the universe together, just give it a chance, give us a chance.” He had almost pleaded.“We could live together, the three of us in a tower surrounded by armed men that follow our every order, obey each command, why won't you allow yourself to live in such a great life?” He asked. She had then pulled away from him completely.“The life you seek is not what I want. We will never be a family, nor will I pretend.” She spoke back.“Why did you allow the Jedi to taint your mind?! Can't you see that we were born to be together, or souls connected and intertwined forever-” He spoke just as alarms had sounded from within every room. He had looked towards Rey with a small frown.“Our conversation has not yet ended.” He spoke as he ran to get his mask before he went to check on the commotion. Rey had followed, Kylo attempted to keep her in the room before she had darted past him, her legs had taken off faster than her mind had time to rethink her decision. This was not how he had wanted to spend his morning. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- CHAPTER 21She had gasped for air as stormtroopers surrounded her. She had been running for some time before she was finally stopped. She spun to see Kylo’s figure masked by the darkness. He stood tall in front of her, the sirens blared loudly, the lights had been cut off. His silhouette had been more ominous in the faint lighting. He neared her, she took a step back defensively. Her hand had tightened into a fist just as he had tried to place his hand on her.“If you lay a hand on me, I will end you.” She spoke as she debated whether or not to strike him. He gave a small chuckle at that.“You don't have the strength.” He said as the stormtroopers easily had her in cuffs.“If you chose to behave like a prisoner, I will treat you like one. Take her back to her cell. Now!” He ordered.“You are a weak, weak man, Ben!” She shouted as they had begun to pull her away. She slumped as she began to walk. Just as they were about to reach the corridor that lead to her cell, they had turned the opposite way into an empty corridor that had lead to an unknown area. The stormtroopers took off their masks, which had revealed Finn, Poe and one other resistance fighter. Rey had instantly given them all hugs. Finn removed her cuffs as he gave her a slightly worried look. His features were filled with obvious guilt.“You were here for three weeks, we couldn't track you sooner, it had taken so long to-” he tried. Rey let out a cry as she hugged him tightly.“I don't care, you are here now,” She muttered in his ear as she held him tightly.“Don't want to cut the reunion short, but we got company.” Poe said as the corridor had reopened to reveal stormtroopers. The resistance fighter had easily shot them down as Poe and Finn began to run, Rey had a bit of trouble trying to keep up.“Our ship is right there, it shouldn't take long to get you out of here.” Finn said.“We have to go before he finds us, we have to leave now!” Rey said as she began to quicken her speed. Just as they had reached the ship, Kylo Ren had easily caught up to them.“Did you tell them?” He asked, his voice distorted and mechanical from the mask. He had quickly removed his mask. His eyes had burned into the back of her head. He was confused, angry, and so hurt. He had believed she was betraying him. He had forgotten she wasn't there by choice.“Did you?!” He shouted. Rey turned around to face him. He hasn't drew his weapon yet, Poe and Finn took a hold of her arms as they tried to drag her to their ship.“Don't- please Kylo don't…” She pleaded just as he drew his lightsaber. Rey had then took a few steps backwards, her heart had become visible as it pounded against her chest.“You're going to get yourself killed! We need to go!” Finn yelled.“If you go with them, I will destroy you all.” He said. Rey looked back towards her friends, then towards Kylo. She had to get out of there. She had to. She then turned to run, quickly they had made it to the ship. Kylo stood still as he watched them make their departure. They had made eye contact just as the door had closed, Rey felt a tear fall as she caught her last glimpse of him. She had ran to the front of the ship, Poe had begun to pilot the ship while another person from resistance had also manned the controls. Rey sat down on a bench, her hands went to the collar as she scratched at it.“Someone please help me get this bloody thing off.” She said as she began to wipe away her tears. Poe had looked towards Finn, who gave her a sad expression.“Maybe a droid could do it, I've never seen this type of equipment before.” Finn spoke as he examined it.“Damned Kylo Ren,” She spoke in anger as she once again clawed at her neck.“It's all yours,” Poe had said to the other pilot. Once they had gotten out of the direct threats, he had wanted to finally be able to hug Rey.“Welcome back,” He said as he wrapped his welcoming arms around her. He gave a small smirk towards Finn, who had blushed and looked away.“Kylo did a number on you, huh?” He asked as he sat beside her. Rey winced slightly.“I'd rather not talk about it.” She whispered.“I'm sorry, whatever he did we will get over it together.” He muttered.She stood, the closeness was uncomfortable, yet he was trying to be comforting, she just couldn't be close to them right then. The images of Kylo were still clear and present in her mind, the last thing she had wanted was to break down in front of her friends. They had already seen how Kylo had looked at her. Like he owned her. She thanked her friends before she had walked towards one of the private rooms. She had instantly gotten onto the bed, her face was met with a pillow as she muffled all of her cries, she was careful not to place any weight on her stomach, the thought of her carrying something of his caused her pain to deepen.If he hadn't been right about their souls being intertwined before, he was then. Unless she did something about it. She couldn't do something about it. It was the reminder of what had happened. It was the physical burden she would have to carry from the time she had spent as his captive. It hadn't taken long before she had fallen asleep. When she had awoken, she had heard voices she had easily identified as Poe and Finn. They had been arguing. She looked toward the door as she stood and walked over to them. Their voices grew louder as she neared them.“We need to know what happened, if Kylo hurt her-” It was Finn, Rey winced at his tone.“You can't just barge in there and demand that she tells you, I'm just as worried as you are but we have to be rational.” Poe. Rey bit her lip as she forced herself to listen more.“We have her now, that's all that matters. She's safe.” Poe spoke calmly.“I'll kill Kylo Ren.” Finn stated. Rey had then decided to go back to bed, then she had heard Poe whisper something that had gotten her intrigued.“When should we tell her?” Poe asked.“When she's better.” Finn replied.“She deserves to know, she has been with us longer than anyone else.” Poe said back.“I just don't want to force our happiness in her face, she had been through a lot.” Finn had spoken. Rey had her ear next to the wall at that point. Though she had respected the privacy of her friends, she had also wanted to know what had happened between them. Obviously it was something big. Rey had leaned further against the wall, her hand had accidentally touched the activator to open the door.“I love you-” Poe had said, just as Rey had fallen over. She blushed darkly just as she tried to turn around. Finn blushed as she avoided eye contact. Poe had then let go of his hand.“We thought you were sleeping.” Poe spoke, as he attempted to be calm.“I was.” She replied.“Well, I've got to go check on the pilot-” Finn said as he began to pace away from them.“I'll go help,” Poe had said.Rey watched as Poe had scurried to meet with Finn. She had caught a glimpse as Poe had once again took Finn's hand in his. Rey had decided to follow them. Once she was at the front of the ship, her eyes had met Finn’s.“We had barely caught your distress signal, if it wasn't for one of our ships we wouldn't have found you.” Finn spoke.“I'm glad you did, thank you all so much.” She began.“There is something I should tell you, it's very hard to- to admit.” She muttered.“Whatever it is, we'll listen.” Finn assured.“I- I am-” She stuttered, Rey lowered her gaze, her loose hair cascaded over her face as she bit her lip to silence a cry. Her chest had tightened as she fought herself to say what she had needed to say.“Kylo Ren and i-” She had tried once again, just as her collar had began to beep. Rey had torn her eyes from the ground to look back up at Finn.“It must be a tracker,” Finn muttered. Rey let out a small whimper as she tried to pry it apart.“He can't find me again.” She cried as Finn caught her hands.“He won't. Poe we need help!” Finn shouted. Poe patted the copilot on the arm before he went to his friends. His attention went to Rey’s collar that had been sounding. He gave a confused look to Finn, then Rey.“Sweetheart, it'll be okay, take a breather.” He said as he began to examine to collar. From what he saw, it was a silver, metallic ring. The sound seemed to have been coming from a speaker, a light had blinked in sync with the sound.“It seems to be some sort of communication device. A voice recognizer and speaker. There's a button on the side,” He muttered as he moved Rey’s hair to her other shoulder. She blushed as she felt his long fingers stroke her neck.“That's enough.” She said abruptly as she stepped back. Poe gave her an apologetic look.“I'm sorry,” He said.“I don't think it will come off without recognition.” He muttered.“That means Kylo-” She whispered.“We could always break it off.” Finn spoke eagerly.“It might hurt Rey in the process.” Poe said back.“I don't care. I know that it's waterproof, maybe a dissolvant.” She suggested.“And kill you in the process? Maybe a tool of some kind.” Poe spoke.“We could try to pry it open.” Finn stated.“We'd need something that wouldn't hurt her. Something that would get a grip on it without damage.” Poe said.“The force.” Rey had whispered. Poe and Finn stared at her. The force could work.“We need to find Luke before Kylo finds us.” Rey nodded at Finn, just as Poe patted his shoulder.“I'll send out a signal and change direction.” He said.
10977765	Out here in the dark	{ "Archive Warning": "Rape/Non-Con", "Category": "M/M", "Characters": "Jason Todd, Damian Wayne", "Fandom": "DCU", "Language": "中文-普通话國語", "Rating": "Mature", "author": "by noel2236", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-23T00:00:00", "words": "5,185", "Additional Tags": null, "Relationship": "Jason Todd/Damian Wayne", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	警告：这是一个杰鸟去了外星被大米的霸道虫族版抓住啪啪啪并生小怪物的故事……所以看之前请三思。该回头的请回头。 ********************************************************************** 这可是实实在在地浪过头了。他躺在一个小培养槽里，戴着呼吸器，耳机里无休止地播放着节奏缓慢的古典音乐，全身都被淡蓝色的胶质包围，那些东西渗透了他的衣服，在提供水分的同时保持清洁，并且把他的动作放慢到了平时的四倍。这就是你要远离地球跑去参加星际战争的结果——他弄丢了Kori和Roy，或者说他被他们弄丢了，现在被囚禁在某个小飞行器里，几次跃迁后停留在了一个离塔码兰星十分遥远的星球附近。好在他的万能工具还在，借助它的翻译好歹他能和捕获者进行基本的沟通。 “等待。政变结束。主人就可以送上。” 这是万能工具在翻译过后用合成语音告诉他的，显然他被这个墙头草的家伙当成了某种礼品。他和捕获者在外表上相去甚远，可想而知他在这个星球将会是多么古怪和稀有，然而他是会被用来吃还是用来玩，就连万用工具也无从得知了。如果这些都不够糟，那么，距离他的热潮期还有三小时。用来让他保持镇定的药物缓解了他热潮来临前固有的发热和肌肉酸痛，若是能最终逃离的话，这个药物的成份他倒是很想弄清楚，他的热潮前反应大到简直让人恼火。捕获者的棕色身形模糊地来到了他的面前，Jason改变了一下姿势，凑近了玻璃一点好别让视线被糊得太厉害。可接下来他就后悔了，捕获者发出尖利的声音，举起两只钳足，看起来很是兴奋地在飞船过道上以节肢类昆虫的方式爬行，四对腹肢飞快地舞动，即便Jason还在药物带来的飘忽状态里，也难以抑制地感到了恶心，他看着对方以惊人的速度在整个过道上螺旋状地绕圈，像个被突然惊动的蟑螂，腹肢们敲打出纷乱的咔嗒声，然后突然在他面前停了下来。政变结束了。Jason惊恐地想到，如果那个词没有被翻译错的话。飞船震动起来，培养槽里伸出机械臂固定住了他，似乎感到了他体内激素的变化，更多的镇定药物被投入，让他更加无法集中精神，也让他对时间流速更加无从掌握。他在朦胧中感到飞行器停下来入港，舱门打开，捕获者取下培养槽放在勉强算是背部的地方离开了飞船，但机械臂却没有从他身上离开。Jason看到了从未见过的奇特星空，两个月亮在无尽的天穹中交相辉映，哪一个都比地球上看到的月亮要大得多，带着令人生畏的压迫感。具有虫巢风格的建筑冒着黑烟，从对称结构上看来有不少损毁，如果不是生死未卜他很愿意欣赏一下这样的异星奇观，可他现在只能忍受着无数腹肢在地上敲打的声音，调动有限的脑细胞来思考下一步该怎么办。捕获者颠了他一下，让他得以改变了只能望天的角度。起先他的眼前一片黑暗，但很快他发现那只是密集的，和捕获者身形相似的大量“土著居民”，它们一起举着钳足，发出相同的尖利叫声，面对着他所看不见的前方节奏一致地抖动，好像电子游戏里被框选后的一片作战单位。而同抖动开始那般突然，这个仪式感十足的动作也在一阵低沉的摩擦声中陡然结束。一只腹足突然敲上他的培养槽，发出了很大的声音，让他在朦胧状态里也不禁吓了一跳。捕获者迅速地一扭身，发出威胁感的嘶叫，大概吧，他猜的，因为他发现其他昆虫般的家伙以他为中心扩开了一个圆圈，唧唧喳喳地彼此交谈，好像在议论他。希望它们讨论的不是烹饪方式。Jason不愿意承认，但从他的“包装方式”来看，他确实很像一件保鲜食品。如果他被送到王虫面前，被王虫像《星河战队》里一样扎穿头骨吸食脑浆的话，不知道算不算比较痛快的死法。镇定剂也没有用了，他的肾上腺素肯定飙升得厉害，在他感到自己被移动时用匕首撬废了一条机械臂，接着是第二条，空间限制他无法够到自己的脚踝，在移动停止时他至少双手自由了。淡蓝色胶质随着泵压退去，Jason的视线开始清晰，也看到了这辈子见过的最抱歉的景象——放大了的虫脸。培养槽的玻璃罩移开来，机械手也全部松开，让他知道自己刚刚有多白费功夫。一只钳足伸过来把他像挖牡蛎般挖出来，举在了半空。没有了镇定剂效果之后他发现全身酸软并像发烧般疼痛，下腹开始灼热并湿润，他在钳足中挣扎，丝毫不顾虑对方把他拦腰夹断的可能。尖利的嘈杂声更大了一些，一只带着细毛的黑亮腹足伸了过来，对着他的脸。大概真要死了。Jason深吸了一口气，在心中说了句对不起，然后闭上眼睛，挥出了匕首。低沉的鸣叫声中他掉落在地上，在失重感带来的眩晕过后他回过头看到被削去前端的腹足断口滴滴嗒嗒地流着黑色液体，以及那无数昆虫军队构成的背景墙。于是他凭着本能迅速爬过王虫的甲壳下方，向还有着战损痕迹的虫巢里跑去，在急速而愤怒的敲打声中恨不得捂住耳朵。虫巢很大，到处都是损毁的痕迹，捕获者大概有他的两倍那么高，而从王虫举起他的动作来看只有更加庞大。虽然除了匕首他还有枪，有弹药，还有腰带里的不少小玩意，但作战显然不是个好选择。在一个拐角后他爬进了一处像管道的地方，不知道是干什么用的，但壁上有着淡淡的荧光。在感觉爬得够深之后，他曲起腿坐下来，在激烈的心跳中开启了万用工具，试图得到任何有用的讯息。但是没有卫星讯号的话，它只是一个大型资料库，而他现在最想要的是联系Kori。 “嘿。” Jason吓得头撞上了管道的顶部，即便他认为自己是幻听了。可是在看到一张熟悉的脸时，大概是因为不真实感，他还是不假思索地叫出了那张脸主人的名字。“Damian？” 那绿色的眼睛，略深的肤色，即便穿着奇怪的服装，但怎么看都像是老蝙蝠那个现年19的亲儿子。即便如此，Jason还是举起了枪。 “Damian？”对方学着他的腔调重复了一遍，脸上没有任何表情，只有眼睛里似乎闪耀过了一簇奇特的光芒，然后抽了抽鼻子，认真地嗅闻起来。哦糟，Jason看了眼时间，热潮期开始了。和他外表及性格完全不符的奶油玫瑰香味想必已经散发得整个管道里都是，他用一只手举着枪，另一只手在口袋里摸出了紧急抑制剂。肌肉注射起效会慢一些但现在显然没有时间让他来找血管，就在他打算把针剂扎在大腿上时，对方结束了嗅闻，绿色眼睛锁定目标般直直地望向了他。 Shit。抓住他脚踝的手上无名指没有指尖，断口很新鲜，黑色液体从腹足断口滴落的画面一下回到了Jason脑中，他的心跳再次像鼓点般又快又急，匕首在管道上方划出细长的裂口但不能阻止他被拖过去的速度，黑色的身形覆盖上来，被捏住的手腕骨头响了一声，疼痛却被掩盖在了对方磨蹭他颈项的动作之下，这样的近的距离里他看到了对方虽然长着蝙蝠崽成年后坚毅的面容，耳后却各有三对透明的虫翅。一点也不搭。 “哈哈，”极度的紧张中Jason无法抑制地笑出了声，对方面无表情地抬起头看了看他，仿佛在思考着什么。接着一阵巧克力的香味袭来，Jason毫无防备地大吸了一口，随即感到那些气体仿佛有生命般地带着热度袭向他的下腹，在那里炸裂开来。迷茫中他的匕首被从手中拿开，下颌被捏住，向左右各偏了一次，对方伸出舌头，舔了舔他的耳后，接着似乎寻到了香味来源一般把他身体侧过去，露出了后颈上的一半腺体。湿润的舌尖来到腺体上时Jason发出了低低的呜咽，仅剩的理智在叫他快跑，可他能做到的只有乖乖趴在那里，意识不清地连自己到底在什么地方都不太清楚了。 “我的。”他听见“Damian”说道，然后管道的一侧突然被撕开，露出了他之前奔跑过的虫巢长廊。Jason下意识地向那个方向起身，想要站起来继续逃跑，可是背后的衣服被拉住，他向后倒去，一双手臂来到他的背后和膝弯，虫巢紫色的长廊在向后移动，他经过了好几个六边形门口之后才意识到自己被抱起来了，移动得非常平缓和快速，巧克力香味的信息素让他抱住了对方的肩膀没有丝毫挣扎，直到他不经意地向下看了一眼。深色甲壳，还有那快速而有序地移动着的三对腹足，“Damian”的腰部以下完全不是人类的构造。Jason一下从热潮中惊醒过来，手脚并用地开始挣扎。对方不耐烦地啧了一声，一只手松开，另一只手却拎着他的脚踝，移动得更加快速，任凭他的半空中扭动得像只虫子。有一点很恶心的事是，他感到自己热潮期的热液都顺着屁股和背倒流下来了，但这显然不是眼下该操心的。他的匕首和一支枪不知所踪，大概留在了管道里，于是他拔出另一支在晃动中对着对方的胸腹射出了子弹。 “Damian”发出了愤怒的嚎叫，把他扔了出去。Jason顾不上一身的黏腻，打了个滚稳住了身形，看到对方的脸上终于有了愤怒表情，即便是酷似damian的绿色眼睛，也和真正的damian有所不同，它也有着智慧的色彩，但是情绪那样简单和纯粹。要命了，他才不要在一个莫名其妙的星球被长着蝙蝠崽模样的外星人干得下不来床。Jason恼怒地叫了一声，厌恶着自己为什么能从那情绪中读出意图来。“Damian”恢复成了人类的身形，之前以为是式样奇特的黑色外套不过是经过变化后的鞘翅，Jason看到它们张开后露出的人类躯体不知道是该大叫还是发笑，或者把更多的子弹倾泻出去。 “住手。”低沉的声音用不熟练的发音方式说道，Jason扔掉了没有子弹的枪，做好了肉搏的架势，虽然以他目前的身体状况力量能赶上一个普通的小女孩就不错，但放弃不是他的风格。 “不许反抗sovereign。”对方语调冰冷，听起来并没有比合成语音好多少。 “哈？你是想聊天了？”听到自己的声音和喘息差不了太多时Jason皱起了眉，裤子快湿透了让他很不舒服，对方似乎理解他身上的变化，甚至还能释放出相应的Alpha信息素来引诱他。这么一想，他觉得自己大概不是被用来吃的，但另一个选项也不是很令人安慰。 “Mate。” 这个词把另一个选项的糟心程度推到了极点。更多的信息素散发出来时Jason几乎无法呼吸，现在他已经闻不出那信息素一开始时的味道，只能感到纯然的操控与压迫。欲望像火焰一样连他的呼吸都烧得热起来，Jason明显地感到了在每一次吐气后的些许凉意，但很快也已无从分辨。在他双腿也因为支撑不住而开始颤抖时，“Damian”的手覆上他的脸，带着安抚的意味抚摸他的脸颊和脖子，也像是经由接触在进行某种认知。 “我很喜欢。”对方低沉地说道，这次听起来似乎有了温和的语调，也有可能只是Jason在热潮中的错觉。为了让自己酥麻的双腿不跪下去，他抓住了Damian光滑的“衣服”，却把自己更多地沉浸在了对方的气息之中。那些信息素浓烈得仿佛有了形态，像是无数只手在一起重复Damian抚摸他的动作，掠过他身体的每一寸，然后告诉他，它很喜欢。 “我的礼物。”“Damian”继续低声说着，“仪祭，遗产，馈赠，君主，我的。” “我不是……”Jason最后的理智只能形成这么短短的半句话，“Damian”的嘴唇就压了上来。他在亲吻方面得到的分数向来不高，经常还会手足无措，可对方比他更生涩，像个毛头小子一样舔舐和啃咬，在他张开嘴喘气时还会停下来，等他闭上嘴再继续舔咬他的唇瓣。Jason忍不住吸吮了它一下，让它吓了一跳，接着有样学样，还变本加厉地在他再次张开嘴唇时探进了舌头，舌尖狡猾地探索着他的口腔，让酥麻感一直窜到他的尾椎。他的全身重量都已经在对方的手臂里了，在被搂住腰背带到这个虫巢房间的另一端时他几乎没有察觉，直到被放平在柔软的平面上，而那摸起来感觉像丝绸。“Damian”的身体覆了上来，重量压迫着胸口让人呼吸不畅，但Jason发觉自己很喜欢。以前Kori和Roy照顾他热潮时从不会这样，他们更多是一种关爱和职责，可“Damian”却急不可耐地想要让彼此身体完全地契合，它紧紧地拥抱了Jason好一阵子，然后隔着衣服揉捏起Jason的手臂。 “热，太热了……”Jason急促地喘息，在它不停的骚扰下费力地脱掉了外套。“Damian”的绿色眼睛亮了起来，似乎才意识到Jason身体上的附着物和它的不同，是可以去掉的。于是它试探性地掀起了凯夫拉紧身衣的边缘，双手钻进去用手掌紧紧地贴着Jason的腹部，发出了近乎满足的叹息，好一阵子之后，它才抓住衣摆撕开，从Jason身上剥离掉，绿色眼睛看着那苍白底色上泛着粉红的皮肤和起伏的肌肉线条，神情中有种奇特的虔诚。 “同类的。”它赞美般地说道，张开了自己的鞘翅。Jason被信息素呛得咳了一声，把已经蹬掉了裤子和鞋子的光裸长腿缠上了“Damian”的腰，急切地用被热液抹得湿滑的臀部磨蹭着它的腿间。“Damian”对于自己身体的反应还有着惊讶与诧异，它不是没发现自己硬挺充血的器官，但不知道在被眼前的人类摩擦时会有这样的感觉，让它有一瞬间头脑中一片空白。于是它好奇地压着人类的双腿，看了看那个不断分泌出温热液体的地方，顿时本能地明白了一切。但在那之前，它还是先用手指抚摸那个软软的，但因为富有弹性而紧绷住的小口，听到人类发出了好听的声音，和气味一样甜腻，看到断掉的指尖时它想起自己原本的愤怒，但此刻它完全将之抛在脑后，反正这么一阵子也已经快长好了。手指探进去时Jason反弓起了背，积攒已久的欲望在终于可以开始释放和纾解时带来了近乎辛酸的欢愉，换成别的Omega此时已经开始胡言乱语喊着要插进来，快点用力一点，但他咬紧牙，把所有可能令他羞耻的声音压在了喉咙里。那根修长的手指同样无知地四处抚摸，细细地感受着他的热度与弹性，在抚过敏感点时Jason蜷缩起了脚趾，虽然咬着牙但鼻音听起来更像撒娇。他忍不住睁开不知何时闭上的眼睛，看着集中了Bruce和Talia容貌优点的脸，看着那绿色的眼睛认真而执着地看着他，好像世界上再没有其他东西。即便是热潮中他也感到胸口一窒，忍不住伸出了手搂住了它的肩背。 “我想要，”他喘息着说道，“是我想要。”对方并不明白他的话，但理解了他的意思。手指离开，硬热抵了上来，没轻没重地撞了进去。Jason终于叫出声来，突然的涨痛把他眼泪也逼了出来，这是足以让他骂一晚上脏话的尺寸，在他忍不住抬头望向交合部位，发现对方至少还有一半没有进入时他连脏话也骂不出来，“Damian”却在此刻无师自通地抓住了他的腰。 “不，不不，不行，先出去，慢——”这是他在之前的生命中从未想过自己能说出来的话，好在更强烈的压迫感让他的声音也哑了回去，它缓慢而坚定地进入着，Jason心惊胆战地感觉着每一秒钟，知道自己应该放松，却连呼吸也做不到，他的胸口停止了起伏，全部注意力都集中在自己的身体被辟开的感觉上，在他觉得再深下去也许要开始疼痛的时候，对方终于停止了。好在它暂时还不知道应该怎么继续下一步，Jason的身体回落，开始大口的喘息，双腿从对方腰上无力地滑了下去。在热潮期的激素效果下最初的惊疑和涨痛很快消去，反而是Jason先扭动起了腰，让它也明白了更多的愉悦方式，从一开始的试探变成越来越熟练的律动，把Jason好不容易拿到的一点点主动权完全夺走。连绵不断的快感从体内燃起来，强烈到陌生甚至可怕，可对方的信息素坚定地包裹着他，舒缓地带来了些许平衡。Jason在不自觉的抽搐中射了第一次，清醒了大概五秒之后，热潮再起，卷裹了他的一切。不过就在那五秒里，他觉得这大概比自己死而复活更荒诞。
10943571	promise me youll stay	{ "Archive Warning": "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings", "Category": "Other", "Characters": "a piece of dust, a water", "Fandom": null, "Language": "English", "Rating": "General Audiences", "author": "by littleaudity", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-06-05T00:00:00", "words": "1,094", "Additional Tags": "literally about dust and a water droplet, original but hear me out, i wrote this for an earth science project", "Relationship": "Dust/Raindrop", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": "Original Work, Dust and Raindrops", "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	The air is a kind companion. Sure, it jostles and picks up whatever it feels like, but it’s always there, and I’m grateful for it.When it skirted over Italy to gain the country’s scent again, it picked me up off the street to travel with it. And I am content to float high in the sky in the small cloud I call home now.The sun is just as powerful as the wind. It pulls water up from the earth, mixing it into the air. And this is how I came into contact with an enigma of vapor. He introduces himself, and we learn about each other, moving higher in the air and growing closer the whole while.The sun sets over the world. I expect him to leave me for the night. But he stays, says it’s not fair that he can leave and I can’t. And, somehow, it never occurs to me to fight harder to have him leave. When the sun rises again, he is full of energy. He seems to retain the life the sun loves to give. While I absorb the power and am filled with warmth, he seems to expand and grow as the day goes on. Soon he gets so wide and spread out I assume he can’t hold on. But he stays, says I am his anchor. And somehow, when he says it, I don’t feel an urge to deny the statement. Sometimes the air gets a little too much coffee when we flow through crowded streets filled with shops. It whips and winds all over the land, making us glide through the air like torpedoes. I’m worried that the speed will separate us, and I’m surprised by how sad I feel at the thought. But he stays, remains attached to me, wrapping around me like a warm, all-encompassing blanket. And, somehow, in the powerful wind, I feel as calm as the sunrise. Time goes on, and so do we, and more droplets and dust join us in the wind. He is almost overjoyed at the prospect of there being more, and I reflect his enthusiasm in a subdued tone. The voice in the back of my mind says once there are more, he will leave me. But when they join us and we become a part of something bigger than ourselves, he stays and guides me around to meet all the newcomers. And, at the end of the day, in a sea of dust and vapor, he curls around me again, and we are perfectly alone together. The more droplets enter the cloud, the more crowded we become at the edge. It’s time for us to move, I say, and he suggests that we dance there. He’s eccentric, to say the least, but I find it hard to say no directly. I don’t know how, I say. That’s okay, he says, I can lead just find. He skirts and glides and skitters around me. I’ll stay, he says, I’ll stay, I’ll stay. It feels like a promise and it sounds like a song. And as night turns to day, spins become glides become turns become sways. He curls around me at sunrise, and, though neither of us say anything, I can feel the sense of "home" through his skin. I’ve lost track of the sunrises I’ve seen with him around me. I have yet to see Italy again, but I don’t really mind. His vivacity keeps me awake, and I keep him grounded here. It’s a good system, in all honesty. The group around us gives us all weight and importance. But the air around us grows colder, and one day, we may leave, all that remains is a skeleton of what we once were, and we may not be able to stay together in the aftermath. I’m afraid. I tell him this. But he stays and comforts me, promises we will stick together. And, unsurprisingly, I want to believe him. Want is the appropriate word. It seems to describe reaching for something with a desperation I can’t quite fathom into words. And that’s how I feel as we fall. The accumulation of all of us, the cloud we belong to, has become too heavy for the air to carry. The other droplets and particles all fall to the ground, giving their energy and life to the earth.I can feel him around me, holding tight to the anchor he has called his own.He wants to stay, and I want him to.It’s an impossible request. We hit. Those who travelled with us are scattered in endless directions, ripped apart by gravity and force and power.He’s gone. He has to be. He stays.The rain continues, thousands-millions- of others moving in the puddle that feels like an ocean.I can feel myself sinking. I am an anchor, after all. He stays.The rain subsides. It’s over. Through the hundreds of other rain drops, I can see the exhale of night and the first gasp of dawn. If I could cling closer to him, I would. The stars begin to twinkle out into a lighter sky.One more hour.He curls around me, like he did in the sky.Thirty more minutes.I remember the peace I felt, with him next to me and the sun reflecting on us, early in our time together, when the cloud was light and new.Five more minutes.I remember the soft colors of morning and how he would create a stained glass art piece in his skin in iridescence. And I remember that it was then that I realized I loved him.One more minute.I remember that, in everything, all of these are my own to keep, that no one else holds the precious thing that I have.Five more seconds.I bring him closer, trying to memorize every way he’s enveloped me before. But then the sun breaks.Time’s up. The goodbye is slow. It takes a while for the sun to get all the way down to us, but the air here holds much water. He clings, almost like a child, desperate to keep me. I’ll stay, he says, I’ll stay. I want to stay.And he leaves with a scream.And I feel dry. I want to cry. Then maybe I could have a little bit of him with me again. Maybe one day the wind will be kind. Maybe one day I can travel again in a cloud once more. Maybe one day I will see him again at sunrise. Maybe.
10973073	Slip in for a Slipper	{ "Archive Warning": "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings", "Category": "F/M", "Characters": "Geralt z Rivii \| Geralt of Rivia, Yennefer z Vengerbergu \| Yennefer of Vengerberg, Shani", "Fandom": null, "Language": "English", "Rating": "Not Rated", "author": "by Nexanda", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-22T00:00:00", "words": "971", "Additional Tags": "Fluff, Domestic", "Relationship": "Geralt z Rivii \| Geralt of Rivia/Yennefer z Vengerbergu \| Yennefer of Vengerberg", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": "Wiedźmin \| The Witcher - All Media Types, Wiedźmin \| The Witcher (Video Game)", "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	“Did I ever tell you about this wedding that Shani invited me to?” His tales of before his retirement in the hills of the Toussant vineyard often came up in the at the dinner table. Yennefer took a moment with a thoughtful frown before shaking her head as she cut dainty into the piece of meat she had in front of her as she mused. “No, now that you mention it I am sure you have not. Do go one” She continued as she took a bite from her fork as she looked over him with a pleasant smile on her delicate features. “I don’t quite recall the whole evening but there was one thing that stood out among them all. If by chance we ever got invited to one” He stated as he leaned back to sit at his wine have already eaten his meal. “It was called ‘Slip in for a Slipper’ if I recall correctly. It’s where a fair maiden-” He gave a quick snort to that which Yennefer was sure to pick up on later if her raised eyebrow was anything to go by. “Such as yourself tosses in a shoe or slipper of some kind into this mucky river of some kind and fish it out.” he slowly nodded as he went though the story. Now when it got to this point Yennefer stayed quiet knowing it was best to hear the full story first and ask any possible questions later as they may be answered. “While this woman was explaining it to me, the male that was on the side with her decided to comment on the ears I was forced to wear at the time; saying I must have some other horse’s parts in my trousers because of the mutation, but I have to say I don’t think he was wrong.” He then looked up to smirk as he glanced to a very pink cheek’d Yen. Still that was only the start of the story. “So I questioned what I would have gotten if I got the shoe for the fair maiden, which the woman replied with. ‘She’ll be pleased and handy I think… Not quite sure to be honest. Though I did find it strange when I wasn’t even going to get a kiss on the cheek! I mean I get wet and all I get is a thanks? I mean I wouldn’t mind doing so at the time but a little something would have been nice… Still I thought it would be best to join in on the fun.” He smirked at that as Yen had put her knife and fork down. “Don’t stop on my account, do, please. continue. “ She stated as she gracefully lifted her wine and took a sip, made from his own grapes. “So I proceeded to undress, I have to say it was mighty cold just in my shorts that night. Though the lake was far colder than I imagined, and so Shani threw her shoe into the lake and I proceeded to get it… Along with the other shoes in the lake. I thought I might as well seeing I was down there after all. Murky as anything though if it weren’t for my senses I probably wouldn’t have seen jack shit down there.” He took another from his wine as he leaned back more into his seat. “When I rose back to the surface Shani greeted me rather sourly… I don’t know why maybe because her shoe got wet but I got it. But I think she wasn’t happy with the fact that i brought all the other shoes up with me too. Yet still I don’t know why this came out of my mouth, honestly I’m a bit embarrassed that it did but what I said was. ‘Always to do a bit more and gain naught by it, than to do too little and face regret’ Which in some respects I do agree but a witcher saying he’ll do more for nothing? Stupid if I say so.” He grumbled and shook his head before leaning forward but his elbows off the table like Yen had taught him so. “But still that’s not all” He continued. “I continued with. ‘For instance, I could approach the owner of any one of the slippers I had; she will lift up her skirt and bend over to slip it on”With that Yen raised a suspicious eyebrow. There was still something missing that he hadn’t told her yet that much she was sure of because it was very much unlike him to say or do such things. “Now extend your supple leg and let me slide it in - that is, on” He shook his head at that. “I can’t believe I let the ghost take over my body. I remember just sitting back and watching as all these stupid things came out of my mouth but yet wasn’t really me” He chuckled sourly at that. “Ahh I see, so what is the point of this story?” She questioned as she got up to pour herself another glass of wine. “The point is would you ever throw a shoe into the river to have me fetch it back?” He asked leaning back into his seat slouching. “No” She stated with a simple smile to which he frowned. “Because I don’t need a dog for partner, plus my shoe would be ruined, do you know how much they cost to get the heel repaired? I’m not having them be damaged in some filthy lake… I would just talk what I want without the hassle” She smirked before getting up and making her way outside to watch the sunset that evening. Giving off a chuckle and a shake of his head he happily followed her already her little obedient little wolf.
10996710	The Call of the Defiled	{ "Archive Warning": "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings", "Category": "F/M", "Characters": "Caroline Forbes, Klaus Mikaelson", "Fandom": "The Vampire Diaries (TV)", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Explicit", "author": "by UppityBitch", "chapters": "2/2", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-25T00:00:00", "words": "3,170", "Additional Tags": "Romance, Interspecies Romance, Sex", "Relationship": "Caroline Forbes/Klaus Mikaelson", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	“He was mastered by the sheer surging of life, the tidal wave of being, the perfect joy of each separate muscle, joint, and sinew in that it was everything that was not death, that it was aglow and rampant, expressing itself in movement, flying exultantly under the stars.”― Jack London, The Call of the Wild The senseless, violent murder of helpless, innocent woodland creatures was wrong. So very wrong. Sighing, she set aside The Call of the Wild, the book she had tried to distract herself with for the past hour. Klaus was out there in the snow-covered woods of Wyoming stalking his defenseless prey like the cold, blood-thirsty predator he was. And just thinking about him in his massive, muscular wolf form, hunting down weaker beings was turning her on in ways she hadn’t thought possible. Before she could ponder the potentially troubling ramifications of her innermost thoughts, the cabin door creaked open.Klaus nudged open the heavy maple door with his muzzle and sauntered inside. He paused on the thick bearskin rug and with a mighty grunt, began shaking all of the powder-soft snow from his coarse gray and white coat.As Caroline watched his powerful muscles rippling just under his skin, red-hot desire shot through her like a bullet. She saw that he was moving to crouch down, ready to reassume his human form, and suddenly she stopped him. “Wait!”He quickly swung his head around to look at her, somewhat startled by her outburst.She bit her lip, nervous about what she was getting ready to suggest. “Maybe just…don’t change back…yet.”Klaus stared at her quizzically, the unspoken question between them.Caroline hurriedly explained, thinking if her request tumbled out of her mouth all at once, she could get over the embarrassment sooner and not overthink things the way she normally did. “Could we…I mean, maybe you…or us, that is, try things a little differently this time? Just this once?”The look he gave her conveyed his surprise, but also his intrigue.“I mean, I’ve never done anything like…and I mean, I wouldn’t normally, but I trust you and you trust me and I’ve always wondered about…what it would be like if we…while you were still…” She stuttered, breathless at what she was boldly suggesting.Klaus’ eyes glowed yellow as he realized her taboo desires. He slowly stalked toward the massive bed where she lay.Flustered, she moved back from the edge of the bed, her messy blonde curls almost brushing against the carved wooden headboard. She let out a shaky breath as she maintained steady eye contact with Klaus. Even though she had witnessed Klaus’ wolf form on numerous occasions over the years, his incredible size always amazed her. His shoulders reached the top of the tall bed, allowing him to easily rest his enormous head upon the cashmere blanket she had left crumpled at the end of the bed. He huffed impatiently, clearly eager for her to start removing her nightclothes.She slowly started sliding off her Natori chemise, the ivory silk and black lace complimenting her creamy skin. She left it in a pile by her feet and watched intently as Klaus placed his front forelimbs on the bed, angling his head toward her. With a low growl, he gently nudged the delicate lace with his black nose, inhaling her intoxicating scent deeply. He was smelling her. The thought set her heart racing. With his enhanced senses, he could easily detect her arousal. Normally by now, he would be whispering the most deliciously sinful things to her in his sensual accent. However, while in his wolf form, he was rendered speechless, which meant, Caroline realized with a devious little smile, that it was her turn to drive him wild with a lustful narrative.“Can you smell how much I want you?” She cooed, laying back against her soft pillow. “I could hear you howling in the woods during your hunt.” She whispered confidentially, “I liked it. In fact, I’m jealous that you get to feel your beautiful body transform into another powerful creature.” She sighed with longing as she brought a hand slowly down her arm, caressing her skin softly. “I lay here in bed, touching my skin and wishing that it was you. Can you touch me, please?”He flexed his powerful paws near her feet, and with a grunt, jumped onto the bed, stalking slowly toward her as though she were prey. His eyes flashed dangerously, as though he was going to eat her. She welcomed him to it with a smile. “Where would you like to start?” She asked, a little breathless at his close proximity.Without hesitation, Klaus quickly brought his gray and white-speckled muzzle to her graceful neck, loudly breathing in her scent and panting with want. Caroline watched her wolf with hooded eyes as he traced both sides of her neck with his cold, wet nose, clearly trying to mark her with his own musky scent. He daringly began licking wide trails down her neck, reaching her swelling breasts. With a piercing whine, his long, soft tongue swirled around her sensitive nipples, stimulating them to harden instantly.“Yes, just like that, baby.” She arched her back against him, brushing her diamond-like points against his firm chest. The coarse, thick fur rubbed against her delicate skin delightfully, making her groan as she whispered, “Can you suck them? Please, please suck them,” she begged.With a huff of desperation, Klaus latched onto a hard nipple, furiously licking the smooth skin and closing his mouth around her breast as he gently tugged. Desire swirled within her, making her grit her teeth against screaming so loudly that he would think he had harmed her. She reached out and gripped his dense coat with her sharp nails, inhaling the scent of the woods and snow and the faint traces of blood from his hunting. “Klaus,” she moaned.Her moan seemed to trigger a primal need within him and suddenly his fangs descended and he rubbed the sharp ends aggressively against her ivory skin. With infinite finesse, he trailed his curved fangs across her stiff nipples, making her back come off of the bed as she tugged his massive head closer to her throbbing breasts with a shout.He growled more aggressively, nudging her to lay back against the pillow with his powerful head. She complied, panting with anticipation as he moved back to her legs, the golden glow of his eyes instantly warming her. “Do you want me to spread my legs for you?” She asked, her voice trembling with desire.He held her gaze steadily, his long tongue dipping out of his mouth to lick across his face. Caroline moved her hands down her breasts, savoring in the cold wetness he left behind before sliding down to the tops of her creamy thighs. He watched her small hands with interest, intent on not missing a single sensual movement. Watching him closely, she seductively pushed apart her soft thighs, purposefully allowing her fingers to linger near her trembling core.Klaus emitted an impatient huff, nudging her fingers out of the way as he brought his nose to her center and breathed her in, allowing her arousal to wash over him. Noticing her sharp intake of breath, he began purposefully pushing his muzzle against her clit, rubbing her sensitive little button with his cold, wet nose. The stark contrast of the cool dampness against her hot core overloaded her senses and she could feel her orgasm was near the tipping point. “You make it feel so good,” she groaned, lightly grinding her pelvis against his face.As though taking her breathless compliment as a challenge, his long tongue snaked out and began darting around her folds, lapping gently at the quivering skin. “Klaus,” she shouted, as his tongue suddenly plunged into her, and he aggressively licked at her warm, wet cavern. Her orgasm exploded through her body, her molten core erupting around his clever tongue. He curved the end of his tongue to catch every drop of her desire, intent upon not wasting any of her dewy essence. She continued pumping her hips, riding on his tongue until she was completely spent.As she lay there, trying to catch her breath, Klaus sat up in between her toned legs, staring at her expectantly. She raised a questioning eyebrow in his direction and as her gaze drifted, she noticed his imposing erection, nearly as large as his human form and casting a rosy glow in the firelight. She scrambled onto her elbows with a slight squeak. “Oh!” She bit her lip nervously, “You want to…while you’re still…with me?”Sensing her hesitation, he softly huffed, lightly licking the top of her still-trembling thigh.Watching his tongue dart out to lick his lips again, desire throbbed through her once more and Caroline realized that her curiosity extended to coupling with Klaus while he was fully ensconced within his wolf form. “Ok.” She whispered, practically vibrating with anticipation.She carefully arranged herself on all fours, and with a shiver of delight, heard him began to pant loudly when presented with her round, firm behind. Without hesitation, he eagerly mounted her, his claws scratching down her shoulders as he fully thrust within her. Her body was on fire as he filled her with his thickened member. He was too big, too strong, and too perfect, and she groaned in pleasure as he kept hitting all of her sensitive places buried deep within. Every powerful thrust drove her trembling hands and knees further into the soft mattress, and his contented growls communicated his own pleasurable release was not far away. His coarse fur chaffed sensually against her smooth back as he roughly pushed on her, driving his engorged penis further inside.With a moan, she fell over the edge, her orgasm ripping through her violently and she felt him suddenly still and the hot rush of his desire shot through her. Both of them panting, they collapsed against each other, laying in a pile of fur and sweat-soaked skin in the middle of the bed.With a contented sigh, she lazily brushed her fingers through his fur. She slyly whispered, “You know, if I had realized how sexy Jack London’s subject matter could be, I would have paid closer attention during class.” ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- “There is an ecstasy that marks the summit of life, and beyond which life cannot rise. And such is the paradox of living, this ecstasy comes when one is most alive, and it comes as a complete forgetfulness that one is alive.”― Jack London, The Call of the Wild The air crackled around their heaving bodies as his bones rustled back into place, transforming Klaus from a powerful, dangerous (and surprisingly sexy) beast into an even more powerful, deadly monster — whose sex appeal was undeniable. Caroline traced her palm over his sweat-soaked thighs, loving how his muscles twitched beneath her delicate touch. “That was the most erotic experience of my life. Nothing we do after that will compare.”Klaus growled lowly, sitting up suddenly and pulling her against his bare chest, encircling her with his muscular arms. “Challenge accepted.” His strong hands began massaging tiny circles along her arms, molding her ivory skin with his insistent fingers. “As much as I agree that the pleasurable event we experienced is unique amongst the exploits of my immortal life, I must admit that I found myself distracted by a missing element.”Confused, Caroline tilted her head up to gaze at him. “What was it?”His dimples impishly cut into his cheeks as he grinned. “While I relish the powerful wolf inside, I detest how its form renders me speechless.” He trailed his fingers along her delicate jawline, and teasingly explained, “I derive an incomparable enjoyment out of telling you all manner of erotic, sinful things while I worship this exquisite body of yours.” Blushing prettily, she arched her neck within his warm embrace and playfully nipped at the base of his throat, causing him to groan. “It’s one of my favorite parts as well.”Klaus’ grip tightened as he dipped down to whisper in her ear, “Allow me to show you mine.” He moved their entwined bodies back against the carved wooden headboard and continued his sensual massage of her trembling arms. “Oh, sweetheart, how you shiver and blush as I tease you with my words while I torture you with my body. I confess my dirtiest, nastiest, delightful desires that mirror your own.” He moved his fingers to her sides, tickling her skin before brushing them under her breasts. “I can feel how your breasts quiver for me. They desperately crave my touch.” His index fingers traced a path under their soft weight. “Shall I touch them, Caroline? Your tender globes seem to ache for me to explore their sweet flesh.” “Yes, please,” she said through clenched teeth, her desire for his hands apparent. She arched her back, impatiently thrusting her breasts closer to his waiting hands.He chuckled, grasping her breasts with both hands, delighting in her strangled moan as he kneaded them with a firm grip, marking her flesh as his. “Your nipples are so hard; I could pull on them all day, sweetheart, rolling them back and forth as you beg for release.”Caroline groaned at the feeling of his touch coupled with his delicious accent. “Baby, you make them feel so good. I loved how you tugged on them with your teeth when you were a wolf,” she confessed, her eyes widening slightly in embarrassment.With a growl rumbling deep within Klaus’ firm chest, he flashed in front of her, pinning her to the soft bed. He began furiously licking at her shivering mounds before sucking a pink nipple into his mouth. His eyes flashed golden as he pulled at the twitching little points, making her moan. He swirled his tongue against her flesh before moving back slightly to gaze intensely at her once more. “Like that, love? Tell me, does it make you tremble for me? Do you positively ache for more?”“Yes, God yes,” she nodded furiously. “I always want you, Klaus.”Klaus smirked down at her, pinching her nipple. “Let me test you just to be sure.” He forcefully pulled apart her thighs, delighting in her startled cry. He slowly eased in a digit, then another as he felt her body tremble with anticipation. “The smell of your arousal is intoxicating, sweetheart, especially to my wolf. I became enraptured by your decadent scent as I knelt before you in my wolf’s body.” He continued pumping his fingers within her as she cried out in ecstasy below him. “And then,” he purred seductively, “the first taste of your sugary desire on my tongue was nearly my undoing, especially when you curled those sensual thighs around my head, drawing me even closer to your succulent warmth.”“Please, please,” Caroline begged helplessly. “I need you!”“I know,” he said cheekily. “You’re positively soaking, love.” He leaned over her, unrelenting as he continued his forceful strokes within her. “But what do you need? My fist? My tongue? My cock?” He tilted his head teasingly. “Tell me exactly how you wish for me to make you to come, sweetheart.”Caroline’s blue eyes blazed at him as she rode his hand. “Your cock,” she groaned in desperation. “I’m so ready for you.” She gasped as he quickly replaced his fingers with his rigid length, splitting her open further as she rubbed against his lean body. She angled her hips, relishing the feeling of being filled so completely by her lover.Klaus moaned as he gripped her creamy ass cheeks, moving her up and down his cock as he took his pleasure. “Feeling your magnificent release is a thing of beauty. Love, your body curves around my cock in its pursuit of ecstasy, and I can’t hold on,” he groaned as he sped up his movements, becoming lost in the remnants of her orgasm as he found his own satisfaction. He crumpled on top of her moist body, still deeply ensconced within her.As they slowly caught their breath, Caroline kissed him softly. “That was spectacular,” she whispered.“I told you,” he cockily replied.She took a breath, somewhat hesitant as she asked, “How do you feel about creating another unique event?”Klaus cocked a questioning eyebrow. “What did you have in mind, love?”Caroline blushed and said, “I’ve always wondered what it would be like to go down on you. You know, while you’re, you’re in…” she trailed off helplessly, still somewhat uncomfortable with this new aspect of sexual exploration within their relationship.His eyes flashed golden as he wrapped her in his arms. “You want to suck my cock while I’m a wolf.” He crashed his lips into hers, kissing her furiously. As they broke apart, he growled lowly, “It’s a possibility I’ve often entertained, but never thought you would be interested in. Oh, love, you are full of delicious little surprises.” Without another word, he pushed off of her, the air becoming heavy with the sound of his bones reassembling into his other powerful form.A beautiful, gray and white wolf sat before Caroline, his golden eyes emanating a predatory glow that left her breathless. Klaus gracefully stretched out on the bed beside her, his coarse, thick fur brushing against her soft skin. He leveled a heated gaze at her, silently communicating his desire. He moved one leg lazily along her hip, his claws lightly scratching her smooth ivory surface.Caroline slid her body down the length of his massive wolf form, running her fingers through his fur and grinning at his impatient huff. She stopped her movements when she reached his imposing erection and touched its glistening tip lightly with her tongue. “Is this what you want, baby?” She took another swipe along one side. “Is this what you need,” she cooed, taking his piercing whine as a sign of approval. Ducking her head, she encased his rigid flesh within her mouth, swirling her tongue as she sucked.His salt-kissed essence bubbled to the surface and she lapped at the pool with her tongue, causing Klaus to emit a strangled growl. She covered his base with her hands, stroking him as she continued her exploration with her mouth. He bucked his hips violently, trying to push more of himself into her welcoming, wet cavern. “Almost there,” she whispered, catching his burning gaze. “Let me be good to you.”Panting now, Klaus’ low growls encouraged Caroline to increase her sensual movements. She could feel he was ready, and as she lightly nipped his skin, his cock began to spasm, filling her with his release. She cleaned his trembling length with her tongue, not wanting to miss a single drop of his desire.Licking her lips with immense satisfaction, she crawled back up his body and said, “I think Jack London just made Fifty Shades his bitch.”
10931928	Freefall	{ "Archive Warning": "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings", "Category": "F/M", "Characters": "Nakmor Drack, Vetra Nyx, Gil Brodie, Female Ryder \| Sara", "Fandom": "Mass Effect: Andromeda", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Mature", "author": "by Woolverine", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-17T00:00:00", "words": "2,186", "Additional Tags": null, "Relationship": "Female Ryder \| Sara/Reyes Vidal", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": "Even Shadows Dream", "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	EOSDrack growled. What he knew about human mating relationships could be carved onto one of his teeth, and there would still be space left over. He’d picked up a bit more about other human behaviours though, and most feelings were pretty standard across the species. The Pathfinder hadn’t been quite right since Sloane Kelly had been exterminated. She had argued with Vidal after realising he was the Charlatan, had stormed off. The Tempest hadn’t been back to Kadara since, and the gossip was the Pathfinder had been ignoring Vidal’s emails. She didn’t want to talk about Kadara, about what had happened, about Vidal. Nearly everyone had tried to get Ryder to open up, however she refused point blank to discuss anything personal. That was down to her dad being a dick, Drack believed. Probably filled her head with nonsense about feelings being bad. Now, Drack wasn’t a touchy feely person, in tune with his emotions, blah blah blah, but his long life had taught him shoving your feelings into the back of your skull and pretending they don’t exist was an easy way to mess yourself up.Yeah, he usually expressed his feelings by breaking someone, maybe a few someones, he didn’t let them fester any more. Ryder’s skull was definitely full of festering feelings that needed release.Now she had come back onto the Tempest after going off to meet Brodie’s friend on Prodromos, looking like a vorcha had crapped in her helmet. The Pathfinder’s eyes had been red, her face white with blotchy red patches, and Drack knew these were signals of distress in the young human. Drack was going to find out what Brodie had done to upset the Pathfinder, make him fix it.And squash the twerp. Brodie was in the galley, babbling away at Vetra, who was doing her best to ignore him. “What happened in Prodromos?” Drack demanded.“Nothing much. I introduced Ryder to my friend, Jill, they chatted, then Ryder got a notification from SAM and had to come straight back. Which was a shame, because we’d been going to have tea.”Vetra tilted her head towards Drack. “Something up, old man?”“Think so. Ryder had those red blotches on her face. You know the ones. Distress signal,” Drack responded. Vetra’s posture stiffened. “Gil, who is your friend? What did she say to Ryder?”“Do you never listen to anything I say? Jill is a reproduction specialist. She’s been taking the conception blocks out of people, so they can have babies? Jill calls it boosting the batter. I thought she was going to ask Ryder about getting her batter boosted, but it turned out that wasn’t what Jill was after,” Brodie said.Drack and Vetra exchanged speaking looks.“Did you tell Ryder about this batter boosting nonsense?” the krogan snarled. “Yeah, course, didn’t want Jill to ambush her with it,” the engineer answered. Drack picked up Brodie’s metal mug and crushed it in his fist. Hot liquid spurted over his clothing and claw, and he flicked it into Brodie’s soft human face. “You’re looking particularly squishy today, human.”Brodie threw himself backward in his chair, scrambling as far away as he could get from the krogan. Unfortunately, Drack was between the engineer and the door, and the human looked around the small room desperately. Drack laughed. “Get back to your toys, Brodie. I’ll sort you out later.” Humans could be so very entertaining. He locked the galley door behind Brodie, then settled himself onto a chair. “This is bad,” he stated. “You don’t mess females around when it comes to fertility. Their sense of humour vanishes.”“Female? Right here, old man?”“See what I mean. Vanishes.” The turian threw the ruined mug at Drack, who took no notice of it bouncing off his face plate. “Ryder still moping after Vidal?” he asked.“I think so. You think so?”“Yep.” He groaned. “Females. Boyfriends. Always trouble. And you can’t just kill the male, because the female might want to kill him herself.”“Exactly,” Vetra said. “What do we do then, Drack? If anything?”“What can we do? Drag her to Kadara, deliver her in a crate to the Charlatan with a note telling him to beg her forgiveness, and make up with her?”“I think we should hold back on that plan. See if something better turns up.”“Doubt it. Ryder is as stubborn as a krogan. However, if we can get her to Kadara Port, she’ll find herself in that private room without even thinking about it.”“What makes you believe that?” Vetra asked, curious.“Love has weight. Its gravity will pull Ryder in.”“You are such a romantic, Drack!” the turian exclaimed.“Don’t tell anyone, or I’ll rip your mandibles off.”Vetra curled up with laughter. “Sure thing, old man.” ELAADANHe’d found some extra bloody work on Elaadan to keep the kid occupied, cheer her up a bit. And that had been a good plan, at the beginning. The Pathfinder had taken no shit from anyone - human, angaran, or krogan. Drack had been proud of the enthusiasm for widescale slaughter she’d shown. Off the battlefield, Ryder had still been listless, mopey even. He’d tried catching her interest in the latest mods he’d made to his weapons - not a single question, no admiration, nothing.She’d gone through the Flophouse like a frag grenade through cheese. That had been concerning. No sign of her usual compassion, no trying to give the scavengers a chance to talk. Just straight in, wiped them all out, looted the place, and back to the ship. Ryder had taken every job offered without hesitation or question. They’d gone to Aya and back merely to find some lovesick krogan’s angaran girlfriend. Ridiculous waste of resources. The Architect though. That was when Drack really started to worry, because of that fight. The Pathfinder had shown practically no common sense, standing at point blank range, blasting away with a shotgun. Where was her self-preservation? He hadn’t been there, or he’d have dragged her away to a sensible distance. Vetra had described the scene to Drack afterwards. He had been horrified. One thing for him for carry out a fight at such close quarters, he’s a krogan! Built for battle! Humans though. Drack didn’t know what they had been been built for, but they were too soft and squishy for it to be battle. Even if some of them were bloody good at killing.Drack had cornered Vetra in her storage room while the rest of the crew were eating. “Ryder is not getting any better.”“I’ve noticed,” the turian said.“Maybe one of the humans knows how to help her?”“I’ve tried that. Couldn’t get her to open up to me, suggested talking to Suvi or Harper. Ryder refused. Said a leader shouldn’t burden their team with their personal life. Pointed out that’s one of Lexi’s duties, to help the Pathfinder, but Ryder claimed that was only for work related problems.”“Crap.”“Yeah. So I told Suvi to speak to Ryder, see if she could pry anything out. No go. Turned down flat, told her not to listen to me. Because I’m just being an overprotective big sister, making something out of nothing.”“Double crap.”“Your crate idea is actually starting to sound like a possible plan.”“The kid is going to do herself real harm if she keeps locking up her head like this. She’s taking stupid risks, picking unnecessary fights, charging into combat without looking first.”“I agree with you, Drack. But what can we do? We can’t force Ryder talk to us.”“Get her drunk?”“Drack, you know she’s even more aggressive when she’s drunk. Plying her with a copious amount of booze is never going to end well,” Vetra chided.“Then we’re back to the crate.” “The crate… the crate is never going to work, Drack. You know that, I know that.”“You say that now, Nyx. I have faith in the crate.” THE HYPERIONDrack didn’t know what time it was, apart being the middle of the fucking night. Who the fuck was sending him priority messages? Lots of them, one after another. Still, he had been able to ignore them. If something was actually urgent, Ryder would bang on his door. But when the lights switched on by themselves, the krogan stirred himself to check his omni-tool. The messages were all from SAM. Urgent, urgent, emergency, urgent. What the fuck? Drack tapped in the sequence which would connect him with the AI. “SAM, what the fuck is wrong with you? I’m an old man, I need my sleep.”“The Pathfinder is having an emotional crisis, Drack.”“Then bother T’Perro. I can’t handle that.”“The Pathfinder has specifically instructed me not to contact the doctor, or any other medical personnel.”“Then bother Vetra or Suvi, even Harper.”“I believe the Pathfinder will not talk to them either.”“And why do you think she will talk to me? What the hell has happened to the kid? We’re on an arc, at the Nexus.”“Sara unlocked a memory her father hidden within me. It has caused her great upset and distress. I am worried for her safety. She has not stopped crying since. Sara keeps saying she needs her father.”Drack rolled out of bed. “Okay, yeah, this might be something I can handle. Try to handle. Where is Ryder?”“In the Pathfinder’s quarters next to SAM node. She has overridden the door controls to prevent the door being opened but I can bypass her workarounds and let you inside.”The krogan shoved his feet into his slippers and grabbed his bathing robe. Seemed like the kid couldn’t wait for him to get fully suited and booted. If any of the squishies screamed themselves to death after seeing a nearly naked krogan, they were probably too weak to survive in Heleus anyway. “I’m on my way, SAM.” Drack sighed heavily when he saw the state the kid was in. She was curled up in a corner of the room, clutching a cushion. Her eyes were bright red, the blotchy patches covered her face and neck, and she was rocking backwards and forwards. What the fuck has that arsehole Alec Ryder done now? Drack thought. If he weren’t dead already, I’d space him myself for this. He lumbered over to Ryder, touched her arm. “Hey, kid. SAM let me in.”Sara flung herself into his arms, sobbing. He patted her back, grunted soothingly. Well, the noises had always soothed Kesh when she’d been upset. “Tell me what’s wrong, Sara.”She didn’t answer, just kept crying. “Ryder! Report!” Drack snarled.Sara jerked back, wiped her nose with the back of her hand. “Everything has gone to shit and there’s no one I can talk to about it.”“Not me? No one from the crew?”“How can I? They need to believe in me, everyone needs to believe in me, and if they know what’s going on in my head, they’ll lose that belief. They’ll lose their hope. I have to be strong for everyone. It’s beyond hard.”“Right, I’m putting my foot down now, Sara. If you can’t talk to anyone here, we’re going to someplace where there is someone you can share with. Right now. You can’t keep this shit festering in your head.”“I can’t go anywhere. I can’t let anyone see me like this. Anyway, doesn’t matter where we go, there isn’t anyone in this whole damn galaxy I can talk to. My dad is dead, Scott may as well be dead, my mum…” Sara started crying again. “You can lie to yourself, but you ain’t fooling me, Sara. We’re going to Kadara Port, you’re going to see Vidal, and you are going to unburden yourself.”Drack used his sleeve to wipe tears and snot from the Pathfinder’s face. “It doesn’t matter what you say to him, it won’t change how he feels, he’ll still believe in you, and you know that.”“He’s the Charlatan,” she protested.“So fucking what? He’s done more good for Kadara than anyone apart from you. Vidal loves you more than he loves his own quads, and that’s saying something. I’ll tell Kallo to get ready to lift.”The Pathfinder sniffed. “Fine, okay, maybe I can talk to Reyes. Maybe. But we have to wait. We can’t let anybody see me in this condition. I need to tell Tann we’re leaving, think of an excuse for us to go back to Kadara…”“No waiting!” Drack interrupted. “We go now. This has been building up for weeks, and it needs sorted. If Vidal is the only option, we ain’t hanging around waiting for Tann’s permission.”The krogan tapped his omni-tool. “Nyx! Wake up! The crate plan is a go. Get a big enough crate to Ryder’s quarters on the Hyperion now.”“You are shitting me, old man,” responded Vetra sleepily. “The crate plan is rubbish.”“You and Vetra have a crate plan? Do I even want to know?” Sara sounded almost calm, almost normal. “You’ll find out soon enough. Get your armour on, you’ll need it to breathe.”
10999368	The Face of Grief	{ "Archive Warning": "Major Character Death", "Category": "M/M", "Characters": "Kitagawa Yusuke, Kurusu Akira, Persona 5 Protagonist, Sakura Sojiro, Morgana (Persona 5)", "Fandom": "Persona 5", "Language": "English", "Rating": "General Audiences", "author": "by akechigcro", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-25T00:00:00", "words": "972", "Additional Tags": "Spoilers, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Grief/Mourning", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": "Kitagawa Yusuke/Kurusu Akira, Kitagawa Yusuke/Persona 5 Protagonist", "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	Yusuke knows the face of grief. He’s dealt with enough in his lifetime - more than enough - to know the signs, especially when they’re coming from a quiet person, one who has learned to internalize their feelings rather than deal with them in the presence of others.Yusuke knows the face of grief, and right now it is Akira’s.It’s been days since reaching Shido’s treasure, and none of the Thieves have seen Akira. He only texts back short sentences, which isn’t unusual, but recently they seem poignantly quick. The others have mentioned stealing the treasure; they are always met with a, “We need to be careful,” or “Let’s not be hasty.”Yusuke believes in Akira, he knows not to rush their leader. That doesn’t mean he isn’t terrifyingly, overwhelmingly worried.One day, he can’t take it anymore.He sends a quick text to Akira - “I’m coming over.” - before he turns his phone off to ignore any dismissal or refusal.Anxiety creeps into his stomach as he gets on the train. ——— Sojiro greets him pleasantly and offers a cup of coffee when he walks into Leblanc. Any other day he would accept, but now he is on a mission. “No thank you. I am here to see Akira,” he says while adjusting the bag on his shoulder, feeling stiff and awkward now more than ever.Boss nods. “He’s up in his room. Been sorta quiet the past few days. You may as well go up now.” Yusuke gives his thanks and climbs the stairs. He sees Akira's mess of hair just above the blankets on his bed, and Morgana pacing the floor below. The cat's head snaps up. "Good, you're here. Talk to him, will you?" he says. Then, more quietly, "He needs you right now."His mouth feels dry, so he just nods and takes a seat on the bed as Morgana goes downstairs. Gently, he shakes Akira's shoulder. "Akira. Akira, wake up.""M'awake," he mumbles."Akira, sit face to face with me. Please.""Fine." Akira's legs swing over and he sits up, looking like a burrito in his blanket.. His eyes are ringed red, like he's been crying.Yusuke has to hold in his own emotion at seeing someone he loves so upset."I... wanted to check in on you. I know it was... rough, in Shido's palace. What can I do?"Akira sighs. "Nothing."That makes Yusuke frown. "Surely I -""Yusuke, I appreciate it, but nothing is going to make me stop hurting."By now, he is frantic. "Please, Akira. Do not misunderstand. I know this will not simply go away but know that I am here to ease your burden. I... I love you, and I want to be here for you. Even if what I do to help is as simple as lending an ear. Don't take this all on your own. You refused to let me alone while I was suffering, and it would be unjust of me to allow you to fight by yourself."Surprisingly, Akira chuckles. "Unjust. Of course.""I'm sorry, I -""Don't be." Akira brings his hand to his forehead and wipes it down his face. "No matter what you say, it still hurts.""I know.""He's dead. Akechi - Akechi is dead." Yusuke chooses to ignore Akira's hiccup when he says Akechi's name. "And it's my fault.”“This isn’t a result of your actions, this is -”“Shido. I know. But it’s me too. I let him die. I could have tried something… I could have found a way around the seal. I could have gotten to him. But I froze. And now Goro Akechi is d-dead and it’s my fault.”“Akira…” Yusuke placed his hand on the other boy’s thigh, “there was nothing we could have done. Everything happened too quickly.”Akira starting crying in earnest now. “We could have changed his heart when he’d shown up on the rankings.”Yusuke’s heart was breaking for him. He pulled Akira into a hug. “Persona users can’t have palaces. We… we did what we could for him. He redeemed himself, Akira. That’s what we did for him. It ended in a less than reassuring way but… we did the best we could. You did the best you could.” Akira wrapped his arms around Yusuke’s torso and cried into his shoulder for a while. Yusuke knew that Akira needed this, so he just allowed him to let it out. After some time, Akira pulled back, wiping at his eyes. “I liked him, you know. I know he was a bad person, I know all the horrible things he did, but I still liked him. He was special. He was important. I wanted him around! Why did he think that was pity? I wanted to be his friend… I thought we were friends…” Yusuke held his hand. “I’m so sorry, Akira. I know… he was special to you.” Akira shook his head. “Not… not like you are. I’m sorry for not coming to you. I’m just so used to… keeping everything inside. And with how Ryuji was acting, I was afraid you’d rebuke me too.” “Never, Akira.” “I have to keep my promise. We have to change Shido’s heart. For Goro. For all of Shido’s victims.” “We will. You only have to say the word when you’re ready. Everyone is behind you and every one of us will do our best. Not just for the victims and Akechi, but for you as well.” Akira started tearing up again. “Thank you. All of you.” He squeezed Yusuke’s hand. “Could you… could you stay here tonight? I don’t feel like being alone. Sojiro won’t mind either.” “Of course. I’m here for you, Akira,” he said, resting his forehead on the other boy’s. Akira leaned in for the kiss, and for a moment, it felt like everything would turn out alright.
10949379	Second Chances	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "M/M", "Characters": "Otabek Altin, Yuri Plisetsky", "Fandom": "Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)", "Language": "English", "Rating": "General Audiences", "author": "by sarahyyy", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-20T00:00:00", "words": "1,137", "Additional Tags": "Misunderstandings, Getting Together, Old Friends, Friends to Lovers, First Kiss", "Relationship": "Otabek Altin/Yuri Plisetsky", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	There’s a text from his sister, and it reads: Did you hear about Yuri Plisetsky? Otabek doesn’t answer the text, doesn’t bother telling her that Yuri Plisetsky is in his guest bedroom right now, because that will only lead to more questions. When Yuri had shown up fifteen minutes ago, asking if he could stay with Otabek for awhile, he hadn’t offered any explanation — not for his sudden presence at Otabek’s front door, and not for the equally sudden dissolution of their friendship eight years ago. Otabek had taken one look into Yuri’s eyes, and stepped aside to let him in, showing him to the guest bedroom quietly. There are, after all, some things that even eight years worth of time isn’t able to erase, and one of those things happen to be Otabek’s inability to say no to Yuri.—Yuri doesn’t talk to Otabek much the first three days he’s there. Otabek adapts to Yuri’s uncharacteristic reticence with equal silence. Yuri will talk to him when he wants to, if he wants to. If nothing else, Otabek has learnt how to be very patient with Yuri.What he does, instead, is to do his own research. Match Arena reports Yuri’s unexpected withdrawal from the Russian Nationals as Yuri “collapsing from stress”. NBC jokes that Yuri simply “got tired of winning”. Both explanations sound unlikely, but Yuri doesn’t say anything, and Otabek doesn’t ask. —They stay in a conversation stalemate until Yuri lets himself into Otabek’s bedroom early one morning.“Come to the rink with me,” Yuri says, and there is no room for negotiation in his tone, so all Otabek does is to just nod. They spend the entire commute to the rink in silence, and when Yuri doesn’t seem inclined to break the silence between them even when they get to the rink, Otabek just watches quietly as Yuri laces up his skates. When Yuri is done, he turns to Otabek, and says, “Watch me skate, okay?”I’ve watched all these years, Otabek wants to say in lieu of the nod he gives Yuri. I’ve always been watching.Yuri waits until he’s in position in the middle of the rink before he speaks again, this time, a quiet, “The theme is second chances.”Otabek doesn’t look away the entire time Yuri is skating. He watches, rapt, willing himself to blink a little less so he doesn’t miss anything. It’s always been like this, for him, since even before they became friends. No-one else’s skating ever draws out emotions from Otabek the way Yuri’s does, and it’s the same with this program — the longing Otabek feels is so visceral his knees almost buckle. When Yuri finishes, he doesn’t pause to take his breath, just makes his way over to Otabek. “Be my friend,” he blurts out, when he’s close enough. “Be my friend, again.”The theme is second chances, Otabek thinks. Oh. —Being friends with Yuri again is easy. They fall back into friendship like there wasn’t an eight year long gap between their last civil conversation, like they weren’t only friends for a year before it all fell apart. Otabek thinks about asking Yuri about it several times. He wants to know why Yuri stopped being his friend, wants to know what he did wrong, wants to know what he could’ve done differently, but he doesn’t. He’s never forced Yuri to telling him things Yuri doesn’t want to share with him, and he’s not about to start now. He settles, instead, with catching up on all the things in Yuri’s life he’s missed the past eight years, and it’s good like this, too, falling back into that stage in life when they used to do everything together. —It comes to a head one morning, when Yuri decides to show Otabek the free skate he’d prepared for the season.Otabek expects to be surprised; he always is with Yuri’s programs, but not like this, not with Yuri finishing off his skate by pulling Otabek close, and kissing him on the lips almost desperately, like he’ll never get the chance to again.Otabek’s head is spinning as he struggles to piece everything together. “Eight years ago, when I started dating Mila, you were-”“Jealous,” Yuri finishes, a quiet confession. “I was jealous, and I didn’t know how to deal with it. I lost out on eight years of friendship with you, and it was the worst mistake of my life.”Otabek swallows. “Eight years, and still?”Yuri closes his eyes. “Eight years, and still,” he confirms, and this is another confession too. “Maybe more. I can’t say for sure.”The pressure of Yuri’s lips on his still lingers. His heart is beating too quickly. “Why didn’t you ever say anything?”“How could I say anything? What could I even say?” Yuri breathes out. “I bet it would’ve come off real well if I’d told you to not date one of my best friends because I was in love with you.”Otabek's heart seizes at ‘in love with you’. “Yuri, I-”Yuri shakes his head. “Can we not talk about this anymore?” he asks quietly, and Otabek can't find it in himself to deny him.They make their way back home in silence.—Yuri is gone the next morning, without so much as a goodbye. —Otabek makes his way to Yuri’s training rink in St. Petersburg a week later. The fact that Yuri doesn’t bolt at the sight of him is a good sign, and the fact that his eyes are wet after Otabek wordlessly proceeds to replicate his free skate is a better one still.“What do you think?” “I think retirement has made you sloppy,” Yuri says, but there's no bite to it, and Otabek dutifully doesn't point out how Yuri's voice shakes.He settles instead for trying to lighten the mood. “Does that change your mind about me?” he asks, grinning.Yuri's eyes narrow sharply. “No,” he snaps. “Nothing changes my mind about you. It's been eight years and I still-” He cuts himself off, and then moves to skate away from Otabek.Otabek catches him by the arm and pulls him in close, tugging him in so they're closely entwined. “Don't run away from me this time. Don’t push me away again,” he says. And then, quietly, because this is what he flew here to say, this is what Yuri has waited eight years for Otabek to catch up to and realize also, “I love you.”Yuri sags against him. “You took so long,” he murmurs, head tucked in the crook of Otabek’s neck.“I had to be sure,” Otabek tells him, and then presses his lips to Yuri's hairline. “But you’re sure now?” Yuri asks, pulling away slightly to look him in the eye.Otabek shows him just how sure, with a kiss.
10951632	Vicious Sickle	{ "Archive Warning": "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings", "Category": "Gen", "Characters": null, "Fandom": null, "Language": "English", "Rating": "Teen And Up Audiences", "author": "by Yotsubadancesintherain5", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-20T00:00:00", "words": "377", "Additional Tags": "Short One Shot, Violence", "Relationship": null, "Character": "The Yiga Clan", "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": "The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild", "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	He had joined the Yiga clan a few weeks after he had become an adult and decided that faith in the hero and the princess had gone too long unanswered.He had forgotten his name. It didn't matter here, all masks and bananas and loyalty to Calamity Ganon.He used to believe in the hero. That was a long time ago, back when he used to sit by the Goddess statue and pray. He would pray that his father come back home safe from traveling as a merchant. He would visit Impa and hear stories of the hero.He hadn't seen his father in a long time. It had gotten easier, over time, to pretend to be a friendly merchant or traveler and attack the lonely traveler when they expressed no interest in joining the Yiga clan. His fake tears could pass for the genuine at this point - it gave easier access to the neck when people peered down to look at his face, his shoulders all hunched up and his body vulnerable.It was easier to surrender to the darkness and embrace it all the same. It was a fun game, dances and magic, striking terror into faith that failed them.It had changed for him when they killed a defector's wife. He couldn't remember the defector's name, but he had recognized his face, one that became struck with horror and grief. A face that he wished would be covered up with a mask.If he failed the Yiga clan his face would be the same way if they killed his father.It was probably sick and twisted that he hadn't cared about the death of someone unless they were related to him. He conceded that he was probably too sick and twisted for even Hylia to bring him to light.And then, after they had stolen the Thunder Helm and captured the Gerudo woman that stumbled upon the hideout (she had called them misguided voes and vais, whatever that meant) he heard that the hero had awoken.A few days after that the hero had fought Master Kohga and won. The clan's new objective was strong and direct: avenge Master Kohga and kill the hero.Though his prayers were finally answered he could never leave.
10975002	Gone	{ "Archive Warning": "Major Character Death", "Category": "Gen", "Characters": "Robin (DCU), Raven (DCU), Cyborg (DCU), Beast Boy, Starfire, Warp (DCU)", "Fandom": "Teen Titans (Animated Series)", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Not Rated", "author": "by ChaoticIdol", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-22T00:00:00", "words": "981", "Additional Tags": "Alluded but false death, Lost Hope, team breakdown, prequel to what we see in the episode, Insanity, Angst with a Happy Ending", "Relationship": "Robin/Starfire (hinted)", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	Starfire was gone, missing and out of sight in the blink of an eye. Robin stood there, staring at where his teammate, his strongest crush had just been before the blinding light had taken her. The blood was rushing in his ears and he felt the world tilt on its axis. She was gone, gone, gone and he couldn’t save her. He could feel the burn of tears behind his eyes, and he fought with his self-control. Mourn later, when he could assure that she was completely gone, be a team leader now. With that in mind, the boy wonder turned on his heel, staring at his shell shocked team. Beastboy was panicked, eyes zipping around the area while he fretted with his lower lip. His eyes were wide and blown with fear. Raven was as silent and stony as ever, yet the quiver of her hand when she lifted it was loud enough for her. Cyborg looked surprised, sensors clearly looking for signs of the life of his teammate. They had all lost someone, but they wouldn’t abandon hope. It took three weeks before the Titans had spilt up, stress and discourse running rampant between them. There was no laughter, or funny saying or a sweet girl who showed them the more innocent side. It was just themselves and their demons, and god it hurt to know that the ball of light they had was burnt out and gone, gone, gone. Beastboy tried so hard to keep them happy and together, but his own jokes fell flat and the looks he received shut his mouth quickly, his appearance around the tower slowly dwindling down to nothing. None of the team had even noticed when a new circus act had come out, the ‘Mutant Animal Boy’ was a hit at the Jump City circus. He slowly learned to obey the ringmaster, and that having food thrown at him was better than being beaten. It was better than not eating, and worst of all, being forgotten. He cried at night when he remembered his team, and the member that never lived past her prime like he had. Raven stopped talking after three days, the only word coming out her mantra. She meditated more, kept to herself. She stopped leaving her room as well, studying and pouring over spells and books, hoping to find a way to bring Starfire back. She couldn’t just be gone without the use of technology or magic. If she had been killed Raven could reach her soul. She tried every single day to reach her, to get some sign that she had been killed with the blast of light like they thought, or that she was alive. She received no response, each day getting more desperate for the interaction of her friend. She had helped her so much to learn how to open up. The wound was fresh and it hurt. Raven became comatose in her spells, locked away to keep herself and others safe. She never left her spot, not to eat or drink, nor sleep. She had to find Starfire, to put her soul at rest and to let the team finish mourning. Robin tried to be the leader they needed, but even he couldn’t handle the loss. He spent the first night screaming in his room, throwing the papers and evidence in a windstorm of anger. His love, his teammate, his only true interest outside the team and work. She was gone, and it was his fault. He should have been more careful, had been faster, had been more useful. He stopped staying with his team, leaving in the middle of the night to be gone for hours. He would come back, exhausted but numb. It was better than the searing pain in his chest and heart. He donned his new mask, Nightwing. He would be more useful, would save lives. He realized in the back of his mind that his team had fallen apart and that it was also his fault for not being there, but he ignored that part of him. Crime didn’t stop for anyone, even the dead. He stopped crying, not because he ever got over the pain, but because he was too tired inside to cry anymore. Starfire was gone, he wasn’t the one who deserved to cry. Cyborg went into his machines, trying to build a machine that would search for Star’s vitals. She couldn’t just be gone like that. There had to be a reason that they never found her body. He worked day and night, rarely leaving the tower outside of visiting Raven and grabbing more food. He wasn’t sure where Robin or BB went, and he wasn’t sure he could face them without finishing the machine first. He needed some sort of good news, and that would never happen if he slacked off. He stopped playing video games, stopped sleeping. He brought his charger to his workspace, working through the night on low batteries, only turning off when necessary. His battery had gotten so bad that he couldn’t leave the tower, and it just got worse as time went on. He ended up not being able to disconnect from the source at all, unless he wished to offline forever. The day he lost hope, he sat down on the ground near the couch, the musty thing nearly more mold than leather. He leaned back, closing his eyes, the red glow of his robotic eye powering down for once in a long, long time. He was so tired, so numb to it all. ‘Sorry, Starfire, I guess I’ll never know what happened. Your grave will stay empty.’ He thought sourly, too tired to do much more. He drifted off into a dreamless sleep, and slowly a shadow drifted over his face. He felt warm hands touch his arm and face, and he opened his eyes slowly. “Starfire?”
10989159	The Proposal	{ "Archive Warning": "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings", "Category": null, "Characters": "Keith (Voltron), Lance (Voltron), Shiro (Voltron), Allura (Voltron), Hunk (Voltron), Pidge (Voltron), Coran (Voltron)", "Fandom": "Voltron: Legendary Defender", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Teen And Up Audiences", "author": "by theoddpocalypse", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-24T00:00:00", "words": "2,139", "Additional Tags": "Clickbait, Humor, Fluff and Humor, Domestic Fluff, adorable cats, Youtuber AU, Keith and Shiro are Adoptive Siblings, Lance is a Troll, Marriage Proposal", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": "Keith/Lance (Voltron), Allura/Shiro (Voltron)", "Series": "What Happens on YouTube", "Collections": "klanceforthelongrun", "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": "F/M, M/M", "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	Keith walked into his office and quickly closed the door behind him, hating that he could hear Red meowing through it. He loved her so much, but she had an affinity for wanting to cuddle the moment Keith sat down at his piano, and he really wanted to shoot a cover without any incident.He quickly set up his camera and wiped off the keys of his piano before sitting down behind it. He wanted to do a good job, but he also didn’t want to make Red hate him for locking her out for too long. Was he a little wrapped around her paw? Not at all. Of course not.Okay, that wasn’t true, he really was weak when it came to his babies.“Hey guys, I’ve been listening to Dear Evan Hansen constantly, it’s absolutely incredible! The songs are so diverse in their sounds and I just had to cover Waving Through a Window. It’s such an amazing song, definitely my favorite from the show, and one that hits really close to home for me. Well, more like past me than current me, but still, I hold it very close to my heart. So here we go.”Keith began to play the opening notes, already getting lost in the music and not hearing a sneaky little cat push open his office door. “I’ve learned to slam on the brakes… before I even turn the key… before I make the mistake, before I lead with the- Red!”Keith laughed as his cat popped up from his lap and rubbed her head against Keith’s chin. She set her little paws on the keys, the notes resounding from the instrument noisily under her little feet. Keith kissed her head.“Oh, are we doing a duet now?” he asked her. She meowed up at him and began to purr. Keith shook his head, smiling. “Lance!” Lance looked into the room, holding their other daughter in his arms like a baby (it was honestly her favorite way to be held). “Honey, you were supposed to watch Red and make sure she didn’t Houdini her way into the office?”“You know as well as I do that Red cannot be contained, my love. Especially where her Daddy is concerned. Especially when said Daddy is attempting to lock her out of the office.” Red seemed to agree because she meowed loudly, which made Blue meow, which made Lance meow as well, and god, Keith loved his family.Keith was laying on the floor with a little laser pointer, moving it around the floor as Red and Blue chased it. Red was so fast. Blue sometimes ran into the wall. Lance felt like the luckiest man alive.His phone started to ring and it scared the cats. Lance apologized to them as he picked up his phone. “Oh, it’s the future brother-in-law.” Lance winked at Keith, causing his boyfriend to laugh and go back to focusing his attention on the babies. Lance hit accept and put the phone to his ear. “Hey Shiro! What’s up buddy?”“Lance! I have a huge favor to ask of you.”Lance McClain @lancemcclainThere’s something beautiful in the air… can’t you all just feel it? I think something special is coming.Leah @klancefan1could this be it? COULD IT BE?????Ava <3 @klancearegaydon’t get your hopes up don’t get your hopes upElise @_klanceit’s really hard to be the fandom voice of reason right now. lance has made me have zERO CHILL.Lance turned his camera on and grinned at it. “Hey everybody! This is going to be a very special video. You saw the title. Now get ready to have your hearts melted.” He turned the camera on Keith who stood beside him. “Keith, the love of my life. The most beautiful man in the universe. Will you... step aside so I can see your brother propose to his girlfriend?”Keith snorted and stepped aside so that Lance had a good shot of Shiro and Allura standing underneath the tree that was apparently very special to them.“Allura, this is the spot where I knew for a fact that I was in love with you. It was the spot where I first asked you out. The spot where we first kissed. The spot where we decided to move in together and the spot where we decided to buy an actual house together. And I want this spot to be significant for yet another reason,” Shiro explained. Allura was already crying and she covered her face when Shiro dropped down to one knee. Shiro smiled up at her. “I love you more than anything. You are my world. And as Lance would say, I need to lock this down.”Lance looked over at Keith with a smirk. Keith smiled back.Shiro reached into his jacket and pulled out a ring box. Allura looked up at the sky. “Holy fuck I can’t believe this is happening….” she said, pressing her fingers to the inner corners of her eyes to try to stop the tears.“Language beautiful, you’re being recorded!” Lance yelled. Allura flipped him off and Shiro reached up to grab her hand. He pressed his lips to it and then opened the ring box. Allura’s hands slapped over her mouth.“Allura… let’s make yet another memory here. I love you. Will you marry me?” Shiro asked. Allura nodded, she was practically bouncing where she stood.“YES! Fuck yes, put that ring on me right now, Takashi!” she said. Shiro laughed as he slipped the ring on Allura’s finger and stood up, pulling her into a passionate kiss. Everyone cheered. Lance was smacking Keith’s shoulder with his free hand, his other still holding the camera (thank god for steady cams).He turned the camera back to himself. “Here’s to Shiro and Allura!” He turned it back to the happy couple as everyone cheered, and he himself couldn’t help but stare at Keith. He couldn’t wait for this to be for them.Leah @klancefan1I am so mad at Lance. SO MAD.Ava <3 @klancearegayi’m really happy for shallura, but lance WTF IS THAT CLICKBAITElise @_klancelance mcclain, king of the trolls. boy knew what he was doing the whole time.smolgenius: lance did you really have to title the shallura proposal video that? “the proposal.” you know what the fans are going to think.modernlancelot: I have no idea what you are referring tohunkaburninlove: lance, everyone is going to think you’re proposing to keith! also great job. you really captured the essence of shallura.princess: you’re damn right he did.smolgenius: but seriously lancemodernlancelot: BUT WHO SAYS I’M NOT PROPOSING TO KEITHkogane: are you?modernlancelot: not here, that’s not romantic.kogane: yeah I would definitely say no if you asked in the group chat. when we’re sitting next to each other.modernlancelot: BABE! WHAT???dadfriend: lance I would hope you’d be more creative than that anyways.modernlancelot: oh don’t any of you worry. the shallura proposal might’ve been beautiful and wonderful, but the klance proposal is going to blow EVERYONE awaykogane: oh god.smolgenius: keith i’m so sorry for youmodernlancelot: rUDEhunkaburninlove: I know you’re gonna do a great job with a proposal, Lance! modernlancelot: THANKS BRO <3coranic: I agree with hunk!modernlancelot: CORAN CORAN YOU GORGEOUS MAN!kogane: what if I propose first?moderlancelot: what?kogane: plot twist.modernlancelot: keith babe what kogane left the chat modernlancelot: BITCH modernlancelot left the chat smolgenius: who wants to bet that they fucking propose to each other at the same time?princess: oh I definitely want in on that.Keith and Lance sat down in front of the camera. Lance had a guilty grin on his face. Keith was smiling at him. “So guys, I told Lance it was probably a good idea for him to explain the situation with the last video.”“I don’t think I have to honestly.”“Lance.”“I don’t think it was clickbait at all!”Keith laughed and shook his head. “Anyways, he’s sorry you guys. I know you must’ve seen that title and thought, oh my god is Lance proposing to Keith?! Well, sorry to say that no, that wasn’t the case. Lance is just an asshole who-”“Got beautiful footage of your brother getting engaged!” Lance cut in, looking outraged. Keith leaned in and kissed his cheek.“You did, babe, but you have to admit that title was mean.”“I mean, it’s not like we’re NOT going to get engaged at some point. I mean, we have to now. For the kids.”Keith nodded. “Yeah, just for the kids. Not because we like each other or anything, which we don’t.”Lance scrunched up his nose. “Yeah, he’s the worst,” he commented, pointing at Keith.“I can’t stand when he wakes me up in the morning with kisses.”“It’s true, he can’t stand it. He kisses me back just to make me stop.”“And when Lance makes me laugh, ugh. He’s an actual monster you guys.”“This is all for the views guys.”“I mean, yeah, we live together and make out and have sex and tell each other we love each other but yup it’s all for the views.”“ALL for the views.” They both started laughing. Keith leaned over and kissed Lance gently. Lance smiled against his lips. “One day, right baby?” Lance breathed.“One day,” Keith repeated.“I wish you didn’t have to go,” Lance whined into Keith’s neck, wrapping himself around his boyfriend. Keith kissed the top of his head.“I know baby, but Mom insists on it.”“But what kind of place doesn’t have cell service or wifi?!”“A really old temple. Lance, it’s only a couple of days and Mom really wants us to go. Apparently it’s where Dad proposed to her and since Shiro and Allura are engaged, she wants us to hear the full story. She says it’s a mother/sons bonding trip. Also, Allura isn’t complaining the way you are.”Lance pouted and started kissing Keith’s neck. “Is there anything I can do to convince you to stay?” he breathed. Keith bit his lip but pulled back from Lance.“Lance, you know I don’t want to leave you and the babies, but it’s only a couple of days and then you can keep me in bed for as long as you want,” he explained. Lance smiled sleepily.“I like that idea.” They leaned in and pressed their lips together in a slow kiss, both of them letting out happy little sighs. “I guess I can let you go. I’m gonna miss you though.”“I’m gonna miss you too.”Keith was settling into his room at their Airbnb when he heard a knock on the open door. He turned to see Shiro. He was smiling that little evil smile that meant he was going to talk to Keith about relationship stuff.“Mom’s taking a little nap,” he started. Keith nodded.“It was a long ride,” he commented, sliding his suitcase under the bed and sitting down. “So what do you want to talk about, Shiro? Is it all this proposal stuff?”Shiro sat down beside him on the bed. “Yes it is. How are you feeling about all of it?”Keith shrugged and smiled. “I love Lance. Simple as that. If he proposes then well… he goes from my boyfriend to my fiance.”“You’re more nonchalant about this than I thought you’d be.”“If our break up taught me anything, it’s that what Lance and I have is the best thing. I want to spend my life with him. So if he proposes, it’s just one step closer to forever. And I know that doesn’t really sound like a me thing to say, but I guess love does crazy things to people.”“It really does. But I like this Keith. And if he proposes, or you propose to him, just know that I’ll be there for you and I can always record it for you so you too can break the internet.”Keith laughed. “Thanks Shiro. I was just joking in the chat. I have nothing planned. But I do know my boyfriend and I wouldn’t be surprised if he does. I’m not getting my hopes up. As long as I have him, regardless of whether we ever get engaged or married or anything, I’ll be happy.”Lance opened his Snapchat and hit record. “Hey guys, Keith isn’t home. In fact he won’t be for a couple days and he doesn’t have service.” He grinned as the first video ended and sent it off before pressing record again. “Because he won’t see this, I can’t help myself. I have a secret.” He held up a ring box. “One day is going to come a lot sooner than he thinks.”
10941747	18 - Close Call	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "M/M", "Characters": "Sherlock Holmes, John Watson", "Fandom": null, "Language": "English", "Rating": "Explicit", "author": "by distantstarlight", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-19T00:00:00", "words": "1,431", "Additional Tags": "31 Days of Porn Challenge 2017, Day 18, Exhibitionism, John likes games, Semi-Public Sex, Gay Sex, Friends to Lovers, happy endings, Don't copy to another site", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": "Sherlock Holmes/John Watson, Sherlock Holmes & John Watson", "Series": "31_Days_of_Porn_Challenge_2017", "Collections": "31 Days of Porn Challenge 2017", "Fandoms": "Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms", "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	John liked to show Sherlock off, that was true right from the very first day. John’s blog was all about Sherlock and his cases, just like John’s life, everyone knew it. What they didn’t know was that John was a bit of a game player and what he liked to play was something he had named Close Call.Sherlock rather loved it.John still loudly protested that he wasn’t gay, that they weren’t in a relationship, and demanded openly for people to just leave them alone. That’s what he did in public and it made Sherlock’s knees weak. John was a sneaky little bastard though and the moment he had Sherlock out of sight, the game was on. “Stay silent.” John would caution, “If anyone hears you, I stop.”Sherlock kept his lips pressed together and nodded silently. With a rakish grin, John would begin. Today they were in a warehouse. It echoed dreadfully. John dropped to his knees and Sherlock was already almost whimpering, his hand clamped over his mouth to stifle his panting breaths. Unzipping his flies, John pulled Sherlock’s cock out and put it right into his mouth. Sherlock wanted to moan, to sigh, to whisper John’s name. Instead, he sweated in glorious silence, writhing where he stood as John sucked him off. When they heard Lestrade approaching, John slowed down but didn’t stop. Sherlock grasped his shoulder desperately and could feel John trying to grin around his aching cock. They had mere seconds and John used every last one of them to keep Sherlock on the edge.When Lestrade showed up Sherlock was red faced and panting, the sweat on his brow still beaded, “What happened here?”“Oh, he thought he heard someone in the back so he ran off and just ran back, give him a second to catch his breath, I don’t think he saw anyone but he didn’t want to risk it or leave me alone too long. You know I can’t run like I used to. Damn my leg!” Lestrade didn’t even seem to notice how red John’s lips were, or how the air smelled of sex. Sherlock shrugged as casually as he could, not confirming John’s fib but not denying it either, “See? No luck.”“Right, we’re doing a sweep of the offices, stay here and be quiet.” Greg left quickly after John solemnly promised.The second Lestrade was out of sight, Sherlock slowly crumpled to the floor, gasping and panting, trying to catch the breath he’d been faking not needing, “I almost died, John.”“Good, wasn’t it?”John was a little bastard because it had been stupendous, the added strain of staying silent causing his orgasm to increase in intensity.They were currently at Bart’s waiting for test results that Molly was running for them. She was in the room, albeit very focused on her work since lives were depending on it. John was chattering amiably with Sherlock about nothing in particular. It was a talent of his, chatter. His soft-spoken comments also served the purpose of hiding the wet slick sounds of his fist masturbating Sherlock’s dripping hard cock while the consulting detective kept his back to the pathologist. “Anyway, we need to hit the shops on the way home, and we need to stop at Mrs Hudson’s to help her move that bureau, and after that…” Sherlock came with his mouth wide open and his eyes squeezed so tight that he could see splashes of colour behind his lids but since he remained almost entirely silent, John kept going until Sherlock was done. A wet-wipe magically appeared and then a silently gasping Sherlock was tucked back into his pants and left to try and finish up with his work.Sherlock was only partially surprised to learn that these distractions did not take away from his skills, if anything, they enhanced them. Sexual tension and uncertainty were now non-entities in his world. John was unpredictable and not knowing when he would lay hands on Sherlock in public again was so exciting that Sherlock went everywhere in a state of imminent arousal. John enjoyed playing in riskier and riskier venues, now having gotten Sherlock off at the Yard in the gents on the main level, the morgue on four different occasions, six different alleys, and most daringly, inside a confessional of a long disused church that had been converted into a playhouse where a series of gruesome murders had occurred. Anderson’s team was collecting evidence only a few metres away but John also enjoyed swallowing, leaving nothing behind to be found.When they were at home, the game continued. John once conducted a long telephone call with his sister while giving Sherlock a handjob. Harry had been oblivious. Sherlock had once been hanging samples up on strings in front of their window when John came up behind him, pulling Sherlock’s pants down and introducing him to analingus while Sherlock stood stock still in front of the pane of glass and tried not to show the word how much he was enjoying having his arse licked by his best friend.John played the game in many ways. Sherlock was working a case with Lestrade and had camped out in the kitchen to run a battery of tests while he sent the DI all over London based on the results. He was grateful to be texting because there was no way he could be silent as John worked a short wide plug into his arse before sucking him off, leaving the plug behind after. Sherlock couldn’t stand for the longest time, perching on his chair and rocking back and forth to shift the toy curiously.John made him wear it a lot, teaching Sherlock how to use the lubricant with generosity, how to accept it. When Sherlock was accustomed to it, John had him wear it around the city, a hidden secret that John teased Sherlock with, rocking it gently with his hand whenever he could sneak it around to touch Sherlock’s arse. Sherlock had never experienced prolonged arousals like that caused by John Watson and his games.They were in a nightclub the night John decided it was time. He pulled Sherlock into the loo, taking the small stall at the end that gave them barely any room. There, John extracted the plug while deafening levels of music was piped in from the dance floor. People were coming in and out constantly but that didn’t stop John. There, over a dirty toilet in one of the less posh clubs in town, John Watson took Sherlock Holmes.Sherlock tried to stifle his moans, he really did. The only thing saving his dignity was the loud music so he forced himself to time his moans to moments when they’d be more covered. The door rattled and he nearly came. “Hurry up in there!” Someone shouted.“Fuck off!” Shouted John, not slowing one bit, “I’m not done yet.”Sherlock could see someone in the stall next to them and he heard their gasp of recognition. He was looking downward since John had him leaning over the pot with his hands on the tank so he saw the camera poking under the stall wall. They were being recorded!“Yeah, go on mate, like seeing my cock go in him?” Sherlock knew the angle was wrong. Whoever was filming them could only see Sherlock’s thighs, his arse, and glimpses of John’s cock but still, someone was watching them fuck.It was thrilling.“He’s tight and perfect.” John bragged, his voice almost unrecognisable with lust, “Such a good fuck, none better.”It was too much. The faceless cameraman, John’s words, the cock in his arse. Sherlock groaned loudly, feeling his cock twitch before pulsing out a stream of come right into the toilet. Only John’s hands on his hips kept him from collapsing. Sherlock felt John’s cock swell and then throb deep inside him. The camera disappeared but the sound of someone spitting and then the unmistakeable sound of someone masturbating furiously let them know that they were gainfully occupied. Stuffing themselves back into their clothes, John and Sherlock escaped anonymously, hiding in the crowds of dancers while Sherlock tried to regain use of his legs.The next night John went out for drinks with Lestrade. Sherlock tagged along as he sometimes did. Tonight he sipped his drink while Greg told John about how he’d heard two blokes shagging in the stall next to him, not mentioning how he’d recorded them, nor how he’d tossed off directly after, “Sounds like a close call.” John said. Sherlock remained silent.
10903779	Payback Yoonseok	{ "Archive Warning": "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings", "Category": "M/M", "Characters": "Jung Hoseok \| J-Hope, Min Yoongi \| Suga, Park Jimin (BTS), Kwon Jiyong \| G-Dragon, Jeon Jungkook, Oh Sehun, Kim Hanbin \| B.I, Kim Taehyung \| V, Kim Namjoon \| Rap Monster, Kim Seokjin \| Jin", "Fandom": "방탄소년단 \| Bangtan Boys \| BTS", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Teen And Up Audiences", "author": "by BxbTrash", "chapters": "7/7", "completed": "2017-08-11", "published": "2017-05-14T00:00:00", "words": "5,397", "Additional Tags": null, "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": "Jung Hoseok \| J-Hope/Min Yoongi \| Suga, Jeon Jungkook/Kim Taehyung \| V, Min Yoongi \| Suga/Park Jimin, Kim Namjoon \| Rap Monster/Kim Seokjin \| Jin", "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	Flashback "Hoseok?" Yoongi said. He's never called me Hoseok before. That's a lie he has once it was when we went to Jin's house and played truth or dare. I had to go to the bathroom but I assume he got a dare because when I came back he was walking out of a closet with Jimin. I remember there was a defining silence around me. I asked him if he was okay and he said "I'm fine Hoseok." Throughout the night I could feel the stolen glances between him and Jimin. (I'm so sorry I love my Mochi so much but...)I chose to ignore it. "Hoseok?" He asked again. I caught my breath and faced him with a smile. He responded with a smile, it was dimpled but it wasn't with joy. "YoonGrouch!" I replied. "We need to talk. It's about something serious." No wonder he was gloomy. I walked over and sat on his lap. My elbows hanging from his shoulders. He didn't wrap his arms around my waist, he just stayed limp. "What about?" I mimicked his seriousness in a childish manner. "I'm serious Hoseok." There he goes again with that name. I know it's my legal name but he never calls me Hoseok in this way. "Okay." I was now determined to find the source of his darkness. "Can you- can you get of my lap? Please?" Why is fumbling with his words. Is something wrong? I followed his instruction and sat myself next to him on the gray couch. My legs crossed. "Why are you acting so strange?" "You know I love you right?" He still refused to look at me. "What's wrong with you? You keep on acting odd. But yes I know you love and I love you too." I replied smiling, while reaching to poke his cheek but he retreated. He usually lets me do it then smacks my hand away. He was uncomfortable. "Is there a problem sugar?" I asked. Did I do something to make him this way? "You know how I auditioned for BigHit yesterday." He finally faced me his eyes filled with sorrow as his lips started to form a thin line. "Yes! And I am so happy for my lovely fiancé!" I felt a rush of joy creeping through me. He flinched at the word fiancé. "Well they said in order to sign with them, I need to cut off any relationships that could affect me later on. I need to start a new me." He looked down. "Is that the problem? Don't worry you'll always have me. I mean I'm sure that they would allow you to stay with your fiancé?" I smiled at him. I was happy that he shared his conflict with me. "Hose-" I shushed him. "Stop calling me that! Now come on I'll make you dinner. I'm sure that'll lift your spirits." After dinner that night Yoongi seemed anxious. So I calmed his nerves with my lips. I loved him and so I gave him all of me. I finally had sex with him after 2 years in our relationship. Don't get me started on the sex. (I don't like smut scenes in the very first chapter so you get to suffer the pain until later on.) I woke up that morning feeling excited. Today was the day I met with the editor of my book. I do all sorts of jobs. But I mostly dance and write. It goes hand in hand in my world. I woke up in an empty bed. My Grouch said he had to go to the studio early. I made my way to the kitchen. On the countertop was a note. 'I Love You.' It said. I placed the note over my heart. "He can be so sweet sometimes." Since the past two nights have been hectic and worrsome for Yoongi. I decided to surprise him. You see right after the meeting with my editor, which went great! I mean what more could you expect from my perfection. Anyways! I was having stomach pains. I went to the doctor and they revealed me to be pregnant! I will have a baby Suga in 9 months! The doctors said to be careful because this is a rare case of happenings and that I should not engage in physical aggression or I might end up losing my baby. "No way in hell!" I went home that night ecstatic I figured my sugar wouldn't want me bothering him at the studio. So I prepared dinner I made ramen for the three of us. I put more on my plate because I'm pregnant which is an excuse to eat more cause ain't no party like an eating party. I sat their waiting for the whole night. Waking up to an empty plate. Though it was mine not his. Yoongi didn't come home that night. Or the night after. I tried calling but it said the number was not valid. I guess he didn't really need me after all. I guess he was in need for more. And we couldn't give him that. Short ass chapters are my specialty! ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- So this book was inspired by the song Fly by June Marieezy. And it's not the whole song that inspired its more of the lines: In the sun, you'll breath You do not, need me In the song, you sing Why you waitin' Be the lightI don't know exactly why but it inspired me to write a Namjin fic at first but I haven't been in the mood for Namjin so I'm writing a Yoonsok fic instead.Here's the sneak peek. Hoseok's POV. What happened that night set me on a path for revenge. I was going to crush Yoongi's dream like he crushed my heart. He was going to pay for what he did. He was going to pay for making me lose my baby. One way or another. A heart for a heart. A dream for a dream. A life for a life. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Hoseok's POV The night he left was the night I gave up on love. I'm going to focus on my baby, give him the best and raise him to be better than him. I decided to calm my nerves and go out. I got up and dressed in jeans a grey shirt and a sweatshirt. Who was I trying to impress? It was chilly outside, the wind blew against my face and sent goosebumps through my body. I entered a dark alley. There was garbage scattering the ground, the brick ground was slick and wet with rain. I've never been to this part of town. How did I even get here? I could hear heavy footsteps advancing towards me. Why did you leave? Yoongi's POV. Life is good. It's been 2 years since I started working with BigHit Entertainment. I have a great life, great friends, and Jimin my true love.You see Jimin and I started dating a year ago when I collabed with him for his debut song. Already knowing each other our relationship grew. It's taken two years but I've finally moved on from Jung Hoseok. I know it was a cowardly move to leave him without a proper goodbye and I know that the fact that we were engaged made it worse. But when I look at it from perspective it was either Hoseok or my dream. I couldn't let anyone hold me back from my dreams.I wonder how he's doing now? (Bitch ass, stupid ass Yoongrouch being a fucking dick!) Hobi's POV. What happened that night set me on a path for revenge. I was going to crush Yoongi's dream like he crushed my heart. He was going to pay for what he did. He was going to pay for making me lose my baby. One way or another. A heart for a heart. A dream for a dream. A life for a life. "Hoseok!" The dance studio materialized around me. Sehun snapping his fingers together in front of my face."You need to focus your debut is soon and you need to be in perfect shape!" He snapped."I know Sehun. Let's do it again." I sighed and got up to practice the dance for the billionth time. Focus Hoseok you need to avenge your child. You'll show him.I practiced my heart out. Turning all my anger into energy. Every step was for my baby, every trickle of sweat for every piece of me he broke. It's time for revenge two more days. I'm currently signed under JYP Entertainment and being trained by the Exo member Sehun. Since S.M. and JYP Entertainment decided to partner up on their upcoming artist.After practice was done it was 23:00. Two days until debut. Grabbing my satchel and putting my sweatshirt over my sweaty white shirt.I went to a coffee shop called Omela's. I am regular late night customer here.I greet the barista with a nod as she brings me my usual order. And sets it down in the far back booth. She bows respectfully and I do the same. Just because that asshat left me doesn't mean I'm going to stop paying respects no matter who the person is.I remove my laptop from my satchel and inserted my headphones and started editing my mixtape.I kick started my career the minute Yoongi left me. I became an anonymous rapper releasing my mix tapes under JYP that's why they put so much effort in my training, because even though millions had heard my music nobody has ever seen me. They have never had the opportunity of meeting the perfection that is I, Jung Hoseok!Just wait Yoongi. Enjoy your life now. I'm coming for you and their's no running away this time.My thoughts were interrupted by the annoying an a annoying high pitched sound. I snapped back into reality it was the Anchorwoman for that celebrity news show. Anchorwoman: Min Yoongi the famous rapper was caught celebrating his 1 year anniversary with Singer and dancer Park Jimin. Quite the couple these two make despite our doubts they are going strong and I personally can't wait to see what's in store for their future together. In other news the Markson show is scheduled for a return (cause I'm Markson trash)...... Too bad. I know what your thinking why in the world would you want to destroy Yoonmin you monster! A heart for a heart. Jimin's POV. I am utterly in love with Min Yoongi. I'm in love with his black hair (black hair Suga though like sign me up!) his pale skin, his voice, everything about him! I finally have him all to myself. No paparazzi, no friends, no more Hoseok. He's finally gotten over that fool. He's all mine. I had a crush on him 2 years before Hoseok. I was the one who introduced them. Hoseok was a close friend and Yoongi was a distant one. And his distance lured me in.I do truly feel sad for Hoseok. I mean it's been 3 years since I last saw him. I mean his Yoongi, his fiancé ran away with what I'm sure was an uncomfortable explanation. Plus from what I've heard from the others they haven't seen him since 2 months after the break up. I miss him, I miss his smile, his joy, and his and his ability to make you feel better in an instant. But I know deep inside that him disappearing wasn't an coincidence. The minute Yoongi left so did his sun. So did his smile. An event like that can either drive someone downhill or uphill.I just wonder which path Hobi took. (I don't know Jimin maybe the crazy one!) Writing that chapter made me feel ecstatic. I honestly wish there was a story like this. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- 3rd Person POV. Anchorwoman: With one more day till the debut of JYP's artist J-Hope, fans are going crazy globally. The premier performance is scheduled at 18:00 pm South Korea time and we cannot wait. Anchorman: Yes indeed Ji Sun. J-Hope has been under wraps for almost a year now releasing mix tapes under JYP Entertainment and being completely hidden from the media. Make sure to join us in a live broadcast at 18:00. Said the television they were resting on the chairs after a run through of the dance again.Hoseok sat on the metal chair slouching. He had on a pair of black puma pants a long sleeved shirt with the numbers 09 on it and a pair of Puma dancing shoes. (That ad placement though. Not sponsored.)"Hoseok we have less than a day and I am glad to say that you have finally perfected it. Now practice again!" Sehun shouted."Aish Hyung let's go out to eat! You know starving me could get you in big trouble! I'm hungry my throat is itchy, my limbs feel numb and I'm pretty sure I'm becoming deaf!" Complained Hoseok.Sehun heaved a sigh and then smiled. "Fine let's go out to eat at Omelas. But right after that we have to go through everything again but this time in the stadium, okay.""Didn't we practice there yesterday?" Hoseok questioned."Perfection is not an inherited trait Hoseok, you have to work for it." Sehun smirked."Are you saying that I'm not perfect as it is! What are you implying?!" Hoseok laid sprawled on the floor falling his arms."Agh let's go." Sehun offered his hand."Carry me." Hoseok's hands in the air."No." Sehun hissed heading for the door."Okay! I guess I'll just stay here. I won't practice! I'll die from starvation!" Hoseok shouted after him.Hoseok struggled getting up once he did he slipped into more spacious shoes grabbing his plaid cap and face mask. Then used the rest of his energy to chase Sehun down the street then jumping on his back. (Oh yeah btw. This story will have some cross-dressing in the future.") "Get off of me you lunatic!" Sehun said using his right hand to smack Hobi's ass."OPPA!!!" Screamed Hoseok jokingly drawing attention to them."You perverted ass!" Sehun grumbled giving up and carrying Hoseok towards the café. Hoseok had never been here during the day their was only one barista not the usual barista he was used to seeing.Sehun entered the café, Hoseok still on his back strangling his neck. As Sehun walked in Hoseok almost banged his head against the top of the door frame. His face turning red with anger."Be careful you oaf your putting my perfection in danger's way." Hoseok complained.People in the café looked up at the idol member of EXO. Then back down. Like they were used to seeing idols here. Pft! Hoseok thought in his mind."To the counter!" Hoseok pointed.Sehun made his way to the counter to order."Can I have an Iced tea with a small bowl of Ramen." Ordered Sehun.Just then a group of men walked in consisting of Yoongi, Jimin, Jin, Namjoon, and Taehyung. They all went to the line behind Hoseok and Sehun."Well that's odd." Jin whispered to the others."What are you trying to pull here Hyung! A small bowl! Aish you and your healthy ass! Is this your way of telling me that your better than me at controlling yourself around food!" Hoseok smacked Sehun's back.Yoongi snickered."Agh you idiot! Just order already there are people behind us." Sehun sighed."Well they're going to have to wait till you, Oh Se-hun to apologize for your rudeness.""What is Sehun doing here?" Jimin whispered."Okay, okay. I'm sorry now can you order.""Do it better, I don't believe you.""Okay. I'm sorry Hopey." Sehun said softer."Thank you. I'd like large drink of an iced frappuccino and a large bowl of ramen." Hoseok smiled."I swear to god your going to be diagnosed with diabetes soon."and Sehun said as Hoseok got off his back."Hyung this is my treat to you! I will pay." Hoseok said giving him aegyo."No that's fine, I don't want to jeopardize my life by being in debt to you." Sehun said."No I insist." Hoseok pushed Sehun away.Hoseok was holding a wallet that was not his in his hand. "Here you go!" He said giving the barista all of the cash from Kai's wallet. Which was almost 150,000 won. (132 dollars)"He's in trouble." Whispered Namjoon."Hey Hopey have you seen my wallet." Sehun said making his way to Hoseok."Yes here you go." Hoseok laughed.Sehun looked inside the wallet. "What happened to all the money I had in here?" He questioned then looked up to face a smiling Hoseok."Payback." Hoseok said sweetly.Sehun flicked Hobi's head."That hurt." Hoseok pouted."You deserved it you thief." Sehun retorted."Whatta man! Whatta man! Whatta man, ara neoneun good man!!!!" Hoseok sang."He isn't bad, my ears must not be working because I'm hungry." Taehyung huffed. This time Hoseok had heard the comment."Of course I'm a good singer, no scratch that, great singer."Hoseok had his cap on low so nobody could see his identity and his mask covering the bottom half of his face. It's been like this since he signed with JYP. The boys had also had experienced changes like hair color, matureness and Jimin had finally transformed from a fetus into a 2 year old. Adding that they were all wearing disguises except for Sehun.Hoseok turned around as headed back to the table with the food."Hello my name is Jennifer and I am your hope!" Hoseok said bopping Yoongi's nose.You could feel the jealousy radiating from Jimin."Who are you five?" Asked Hoseok pointing at them."None of your business." Jimin retorted."Ohhhhh someone's jealous. Well you should be. I'm a MAJOR threat to everyone in a relationship. But I'm afraid I don't have the heart to play with someone's feelings." Hoseok sighed eyeing all five of them knowing the effect he had. He felt a buzz in his pocket. He pulled out his phone to see that he received a message from Sehun. He Secretly Loves Me Hurry up and stop bothering those people the food is getting cold!"Coming my sweetheart!" Hoseok waved."Well..." Hoseok said grimacing because this particular group of boys weren't the nicest. "See you never!" Hoseok waved goodbye and skipped to his table."That was odd." Jin said shaking his head."Let's hope he doesn't come here often, I don't like him." Jimin hissed."Jimin. Your being bitchy." Taehyung spoke laughing after."Am not!" Argued Jimin."Sure you aren't." V mumbled. Yes that's right this chapter was solely based on Hoseok's relationship with Sehun cause I was in the mood for some fluffy bromance. I've fallen in love with this bromance while writing. Don't worry you'll be introduced to Jungkook soon. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Debut chapter? HA YOU THOUGHT! YoonMin is strong in this one. You have been warned. Jimin's POV I was scrolling through twitter when I saw a post of my Suga with another boy! I'm not one to get jealous (Note:unless it's VKook)I want an explanation! How long has he been doing this! If it was just a friend why wouldn't he tell me?"I'm home!" Yoongi came in releasing an exasperated sigh came to the couch and rested his head in my lap. I gently stroked his hair as he fell asleep.I slapped him. "WAKE UP!"He doesn't react to my actions. This boy is going to pay I swear! I got up and laid him on his the couch then sat on his crotch. Rubbing my ass back and forth against it. I leaned down to moan into his ear "Yoongi-ah.""Jimin stop playing games I'm too tired for this!" He shooed me away. (Note:But if it was Hoseok)"Then tell me who this man is!" I yelled shoving the article in his face. Cha Se-won's POV. I entered the tiny apartment and I was welcomed by the voice of my loving child Cha Eun-woo. (From Astro cause why not.)"Hello my sweet little monster!" I opened my arms for a hug but he turned around with his arms crossed."Hi Jungkook.""Hello Ms.Cha." Jungkook bowed politely."Hello Jungkook! How was he today?" I ruffled Eun-woo's hair."He was great! But he seemed to have a problem with eating his broccoli he said he was a vegetarian." Jungkook smiled."It was also too green!" Complained Eun-woo."Silly boy!" Jungkook hugged Eun-woo good-bye."Goodbye Ms.Cha! Goodbye Eun-woo!" He waved walking out the door.I went in front of him and squeezed his cheeks. "Is my little monster a sour monster now?""Mom you've called me that since." He took his fingers and started counting his eyebrows furrowed as he gave up. I laughed at his silly actions."Tell me since when and I'll quit calling you my Sweet little Monster." I smirked."Since YEARS ago!""Good job my Sour Little Monster!" I placed my hands in his armpits and spun him around.At first he was angry but then he started laughing."Eommmaaa stop!" He giggled."Okay, okay!" You know your getting to heavy for me to carry with all those new muscles.I set him on the carpet and sat across from him."What do you want to eat today?""Ramen!!!" He shouted."Too bad we're having pasta with broccoli!" I said trying to make him excited, I received a disgusted expression.His frown soon turned into a smile "I-I guess that's alright.""Look at you using proper vocabulary!" I squeezed his cheeks."Yeah! Today Jungkook and I read the dictionary! It's this BIG book with a bunch of definitions for words!" He stretched his arms as much as he could."How was your day?" Asked Eun-woo."I met a new friend!""Ooooooo what's their name!""He told me his name was Hopey." I answered."That's such a cool name! Mom why couldn't you name me that?!""I was going to name you Sweet Monster at first but I decided not to because Eun-woo sounded better.""Your just kidding!" He giggled.I furrowed my eyebrows "What are you talking about? I speak the truth."His eyes widened with shock. I smiled."Come on Eomma we need to go cook some broccoli!" He jumped up. Jimin's POV. "It's nobody!" He complained. Liar."Then if it's nobody why were you talking to him!" I argued.He finally got up so he was now standing we are about the same height him being taller but I can be intimidating."Jimin I will tell you this one more time. I love you and only you. I was at the coffee shop when this guy came up to me and started talking about God knows what and he wouldn't leave me alone! I'm not even sure he knew I was an idol!" Yoongi explained."Then why didn't you leave sooner? The article says you remained talking to him for 45 minutes!" Jimin pushed."That long huh? I don't know! I guess I got distracted!" Yoongi threw his hands in the air."Distracted by him!" Jimin was now fuming."No by my work! He sat there and talked about random things and I coincidentally got a spur of inspiration." Yoongi tried to explain."So you got a sudden spur of inspiration by his words! Are you attracted to him?" Jimin had now calmed down."I don't even know him!" Yoongi defended.Jimin laughed happily. Yoongi looked like a child when he was confused and angry."It's okay Suga." Jimin stepped forward and hugged Yoongi and Yoongi hugged him back.(YoonMin shippers must be dying knowing in the end this story will be YoonSeok!)"Now let's go get ready for the debut performance it's already 17:30 we have 1 hour." Yoongi spoke and unwrapped his arms from Jimin's waist. Jimin whined as he felt the warmness leave from his body. I found a picture of Eun-woo as a kid. That glow up though ADIOS!!!!!If it says Han-bin Instead of Eun-woo that's cause it was gonna be Han-bin but I changed it. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- So for his 'debut' it's not actually his debut but his face, his dancing and the songs he will be performing to are introduced in his debut. Jimin and Taehyung are wearing what they wore at the Melon Music Awards in 2016. Yoongi wearing what he wore at MAMA 2016 Namjoon is wearing what he wore in MAMA 2015 Hoseok is wearing what he wore in Boy Meets Evil Hoseok's POV. "Calm down Hoseok you can do this. You're just performing in front of a crowd for the first time and the first level just happens to be filled with all of the most famous celebrities in Korea.""Sehun, I feel sad for your children." I said sarcastically. I quietly looked behind the curtains backstage. The fans were gathering in their higher seats while they waited for the idols.I sighed and retracted my head.I sat down on the hard stage floor and started stretching. I did a front flip and a back handed flip. I silently continued to practice. I repeated the words in my head and went over the dance moves. This is so nerve wrecking but I need to remember why I'm here. In the end I will have my revenge and this whole idol life will be over. I'll feel hope again in the end.The stage was large lights hanging high up. I was doing a grande reveal like in a play when the maroon curtains would separate while I stood behind a prop of an archway."Hoseok it's almost time!" Warned Sehun. "I'm required to be with EXO right now but I need you to go get ready behind the archway." He patted my shoulder then pulled me into a hug burying his face in my neck."Agh! Sehun get off just because you're taller doesn't give you permission to treat me like a child!" I said smacking his arm."Okay! Good luck Hopey!" He said then walked of the stage. I popped my head out searching through the audience eventually finding Namjoon, Taehyung, Jimin and... Yoongi right in the front.I'll show them. What he did to me is unforgivable and he will be rewarded by my rise and his fail.A crew member came up to me and fixed my hair and makeup quickly. He checked if my mic was on. "Get behind the archway sir." He said leaving.I went behind the archway and lowered my head. I could hear the curtains parting and the breaths of the people waiting. I can do this. 3rd Person POV. The audience waited silently then with a jerk J-Hope lifted his head up mesmerizing the audience. He had a cap on so no one could see the top half of his face only his smirk. There were screens showing his face but there was a shadow reflecting off of his face so you couldn't tell.Yoongi recognized the orange cap. He recognized those lips.He walked past the archway and walked on the long walkway to the center of the stage that was surrounded by tables with idols siting and waiting for the show. The intro ended and 1Verse started playing.1Verse had no choreography but that didn't mean Hoseok couldn't express his emotions. The words flowed out of his mouth smoothly without any stumbling or mistakes.Near the end of his performance he adjusted his cap low. And gave the audience a wink, then jumped back into the song.1VERSE SETip datgo deureorai VERSE ttaei FLOW ui bunwigin LIKE gyeonglye(WOAH) gyeonglye (WOAH) gyeonglye (WOAH)1VERSE SETmoduda jeulgyeora i VERSE igosui bunwigin LIKE yeoldae(HOT) yeoldae (HOT) yeoldae (HOT)Ending the song in a crouch Yoongi's table was in the center of the story age. Hoseok smirked and looked at the audience."Woahh, 1Verse Set." Hoseok spoke instead of signing into the microphone. Hoseok's POV. I got up and went back behind he archway. They gave me a microphone that I didn't need to hold I put it on the back of my head as the microphone came to my mouth. I bent it closer to my mouth then took of the cap off and gave it to one of the crew members. I was still behind the archway the lights were off but people could tell I was there. The lights became purple and dimmed down. The stage became eerie. And the most closed in.I staggered down the walkway past the archway once again like the model I am. The lights focused on my orange hair shining in the purple light. Just like practice Hoseok.I lifted my head up. With the reveal of my face. The games had begun. (Hoseok's just going to sing and dance Boy Meets Evil like he did in the MV) With every move I could feel my confidence gaining. I knew they were mesmerized. They had fallen for the trap he had fallen for the trap and there was no getting out now. There's nobody to rescuing him from the tower. Yoongi's POV. It's getting darkThe light in my future Because childish love I lost the way of dreamI sharpened my knife of poisonous ambitionBut to the unbearable greeds, the knife has gotten dullI know it allThat love is another name for evilDon't hold my handEven though I shout it, I betrayed my conscience As dots go by, feeling acute realityI shed crimson blood cut by the reality I didn't thinkThat the greed would become a horn calling upon hellBREATHShort of breathClosing my eyes to a distorted reality each nightCrying ogle of tragedyBut to be freed from this sinI cannot give up forgetting itBecause those lips were too sweetMy future was abandoned to the love for youWhen I woke up traps were everywhereUntouchable cold gazesI cry for miracles, in this realityBeing insanely happy, I was a fool addicted to your sweetnessYes a fool,fool, foolI didn't want to let go, the touch of evilToo bad but it's so sweetIt's too sweet it's too sweetToo bad but it's so sweetIt's too sweet it's too sweetToo bad but it's so sweetIt's too sweet it's too sweetToo bad but it's so sweetIt's too sweet it's too sweetIt's too evilIt's too evilIt's too evilHe sang passionately I lost myself in his lyrics. He moved like no other. I didn't even focus on his face all I could focus on were his words. I blinked once then twice again."Yeah it's too evil." 'J-Hope' said this time he was right in front of us. He had crumbling to the ground at the end. J-Hope rolled his head back and then up to face the audience he smirked and looked directly at me.I recognize that smile.It's his. Hobi's POV. I'm smiling but inside I really feel like crying. If only he had said something when he left. Warned me not to fall for him. Warned me not to get close. If only he had stayed.I could feel Yoongi's eyes breaking Yoongi had recognized me. I have the leverage. There's no stopping me now. 1,258 words! So I'm honestly kind of disappointed with this chapter and I will probably edit it in the future. But I've been dying to write it. I wasn't able to update chapter 7 due to technical difficulties and I had to edit this chapter again because i posted it as chapter 1 so yeah. I'll post Chapter 7 as soon as I can! ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- I'm so fucking angry! It trying to update this story and I wrote more than 1000 words and when I post it it always deducts the words making the chapter short asf! Like what the hell. I've tried several times because this is a crosspisted story from Wattpad and the version on Wattpad that I wrote has more chapters than this put it will not post the 7th chapter. Can someone please tell me why?
10971237	Going Native	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": null, "Characters": "Kageyama \"Mob\" Shigeo, Kageyama Ritsu, Onigawara Tenga, Original Male Character(s)", "Fandom": "モブサイコ100 \| Mob Psycho 100", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Not Rated", "author": "by UncannyCookie", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-22T00:00:00", "words": "4,514", "Additional Tags": "Tumblr Prompt, One Shot, POV Outsider, Big Cleanup Arc, Ritsu is terrifying, The New Guy didn't ask for any of this, Please just leave him alone", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": "Outstanding Outsider POVs, Reading is one form of escape. Running for your life is another.", "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": "Gen, Other", "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	Kenshin can't help but stare.Which, okay, is not exactly news. He stares a lot, all the time, at people and things he finds interesting. It usually doesn't feel particularly rude - but in this instance, there is the unfamiliar thought nudging at the back of his mind to look away and leave it be. He's not sure what to make of it.The math lesson drones on around him while he flips through his notes, the ones that concern themselves with anything but the actual subject matter of the class, and searches for any previous mention of that particular student.Kageyama, is it? He honestly isn't even sure about the name. Kenshin has been in this class for a month now and apparently there has not been a single noteworthy thing about this guy before today.(And Kenshin wrote it down when Hiroki brought a cucumber sandwich instead of his customary tomato one. So Kageyama has literally been less interesting than a cucumber sandwich this whole time.)Now Kenshin barely wants to look anywhere else.It might be nothing. The blue-purplish marks peeking out underneath his high uniform collar could simply be a rash. Those can take pretty strange forms and colors sometimes. Even... vaguely hand-shaped forms. Probably.Or. Maybe he got some paint on him. He might be an artist. Or maybe his parents are redecorating and he had to help with painting the walls. Maybe he was playing with finger paint with a younger sibling. Maybe it's not paint and he simply has a girlfriend who got a bit eager. Really, there could be a number of reasons. Kenshin needs to learn not to jump to conclusions all the time, it gets him in trouble or, at the very least, into a multitude of awkward situations.The quiet, boring, most invisible guy of the class does, however, finally get an entry in Kenshin's notebook. Thursday, math class. Kageyama. Weird marks around neck. Possibilities: rash (most likely,) paint, love bites (very unlikely) He hesitates a bit before putting down choke marks as well. It seems unlikely too? But it is a possibility, so it should be on the list. If he's already keeping these nonsensical notes, he might as well do it properly.Kenshin isn't all that good at talking.Honestly, he isn't all that good at a lot of things, especially those involving other people. He is trying right now, trying to get better, trying to not completely freak out at the thought of being the new guy in a school full of people who have already known each other for years.The fancy little book his sister gave him for his last birthday is clutched hard between his hands nearly at all times. His legs are jiggling frantically up and down under the table, a movement that seems entirely out of his control. He knows it isn't and that knowledge changes nothing.The pages are rustling loudly between his fingers as he flips to an empty page. Imako is staring again, he writes down, even though he knows that taking notes during lunch will only make him seem more weird.He can't help it, the back of his neck is crawling uncomfortably and he has to get rid of the tension somehow. Don't know what her problem is. Seems annoyed though, tired too, worse than yesterday. Think she studies way too much. He's not at all sure if this is helping, actually. It helps with keeping his thoughts and nerves in order, that's for sure, but whether sitting quietly by himself and writing all the time will make him fit in with people here is pretty questionable. Mariko is being way too obvious about her crush on Anzu again. Pretty sure she's just humoring her at this point. Too nice to turn her down properly. Kageyama is not in the lunch room, as far as Kenshin can see. Since this is the first time he's actively looking for him during this period, it's impossible to say whether or not that's unusual. Maybe he's never at lunch. Probably has some club or another that he eats with.Those marks didn't really look like paint, actually. And if they're love bites then - well, it's not as if Kenshin has all that much experience in this regard, but even as an outsider he'd have to question if a girl that leaves marks like that is entirely human.(He puts alien girlfriend on the list. Just. For the sake of completion.)There was a fight the day before.A sort of turf war, apparently. Nobody really seems to know what happened and who exactly was even involved, but it doesn't stop anyone from talking as if they know.Kenshin is not the type to be interested in scandal. But the fact that Kageyama doesn't show up to class again after lunch has his nose itching with something of an oddly triumphant curiosity.He's onto something here. He's almost sure of it."Can I sit here?"Kageyama doesn't move his head. He just keeps facing forward, chewing slowly, shoulders drooping a little and hands lightly curled around his chopsticks on the lunch table. His eyes flick up to Kenshin's face and down to the empty seat he's pointing at, then up again."I think so," he says.That's. Not exactly a friendly invitation. But it's so soft spoken that it doesn't exactly sound as rude as it could either.Kenshin will take what he can get. Shoving his tray on the table, he climbs into the seat next to Kageyama and turns to face him.The marks around his neck have receded a bit and are turning a sickly greenish yellow color around the edges. At this point, Kenshin seriously wonders why nobody else seems to be noticing this."You weren't in class on Friday," he says.Kageyama keeps stoically watching Kenshin without actually bothering to face him."Hm," he makes. His chopsticks clink lightly against the rim of his half empty bowl of rice. His temples look a little sweaty all of a sudden.Kenshin can relate. The decision to try and talk to Kageyama was made in the heat of the moment, right when he noticed him sitting by himself in the lunch room, and he was so eager to go through with it that he sort of forgot his own inability to people.Doesn't help that Kageyama seems to be, unsurprisingly, not much of an expert either."Were you, uhhh - sick? Or something?" Kenshin is scratching his cheek nervously, already berating himself for asking such stupid, obvious things. "I mean, yeah, I guess you're better now, right.""Who are you?"The question takes a second too long to register. As soon as it does, Kenshin's hand drops from his face. "Uhm?" he starts stupidly. "I'm - Kenshin. Yamato."Kageyama keeps looking at him as if still expecting an explanation."We're in the same class?" Kenshin's legs are jiggling frantically again. "I transferred here last month.""Oh. I didn't notice." He is so incredibly soft spoken that Kenshin barely hears him over the noise of the lunch room around them. At this point though, it doesn't actually soften the harsh blow of his words anymore."I. Introduced myself in front of the class and everything. You didn't notice that?"Kageyama's eyes flick around the room quickly. He shrugs. "No. Sorry."Kenshin's mouth opens and closes in a probably quite comical way. Good thing Kageyama doesn't really seem like the type to laugh. Ever.The laugh that breaks out of Kenshin instead is too loud, just one single awkward guffaw, and then he's already scrambling to flee the scene, yelling "Okay bye!" and tripping over his own feet.Just as he's left his seat he catches Kageyama finally turning his head a bit, but his quiet and slightly worried sounding "You forgot your food," only really registers with Kenshin when he's already out of the door. Monday, lunch. 3 possibilities: 1. Kageyama is super unobservant 2. I'm super forgettable 3. Kageyama is actually savage Kageyama looks around inconspicuously in class after lunch. When he finds Kenshin sitting a bit in front and to the left of him, he does this tiny, maybe satisfied nod and turns back towards the teacher again.So he really, actually didn't know they were in the same class. Kenshin buries his burning face in the pages of his book and wants to die.Well. Looks like he'll never try talking to anyone ever again.He's better at watching anyways. Observing. Who needs to talk to people to figure out why they came to school with super obvious choke marks on their neck? Not him. He can deduce things, like a cool detective.This is going to make everyone included feel so much less uncomfortable.Kenshin doesn't stalk people, he's not that low. So it's actually an honest coincidence that he's right there around the corner when Onigawara comes up to Kageyama, who is struggling with carrying his books.Onigawara! The guy who just recently nearly got expelled for his - delinquent dealings with girls' recorders, of all things. It's strange and disgusting and the talk of the school right now.And this guy, barely looking like he's holding himself together as it is, straight up offers to carry Kageyama's books for him. And Kageyama kindly refuses. And then they walk off to Kageyama's body building club together, with Onigawara sort of respectfully following behind a few steps.Kenshin scribbles a huge What is happening?? underneath his neat accounts of Kageyama's boringly routine school days and doesn't even begin making a list of possible explanations. It'd end up three pages long and filled with the most ridiculous ideas.(In one corner, using very small letters, he does write down secret gang leader? and then crosses it out again. That one's even more unlikely than the alien girlfriend.)Something weird and a bit scary is going on at Salt Middle. Kenshin manages to keep his head down and stay focused on his notebook. He's not the only one walking through the halls with his eyes decidedly averted from everything. It's one of the best strategies to stay out of trouble at the moment.Only it's exactly that strategy that comes back to bite him in the ass, seeing as he's walking with so little attention to his surroundings that he bumps right into one of those student council members that are waging war on seemingly everyone right now.The guy is smaller than him, a year younger too, and he still scares the piss out of him with his dead eyes that somehow manage to both look right through Kenshin and burn into him so ferociously that he's immediately pinned to the spot, unable to flee."Did you know that running in the hallway is forbidden?" the council member asks coldly.Kenshin takes a hasty step back, but the kid follows immediately. They're standing in the middle of the hall and none of the whispering students all around dare to walk past them."I wasn't running," Kenshin hurries to say.The council member kid tilts his head to the side with feigned disbelief. "No? So it's not that you were just too fast to notice me in time, but you ran into me on purpose?" Kenshin barely has enough time to shake his head and hectically suck in a deep breath to prepare his protest before the kid already snatches the notebook right out of his hand. "Or I suppose you were just too busy with this."It doesn't even seem as if he means to look. The whole encounter so far really doesn't appear to be the least bit interesting for him. Kenshin feels like the kid is playing his part, and Kenshin was ready to play his own part, grovel and apologize and then scurry off for all the curious onlookers to witness exactly the kind of power play they've come to expect these last few days.But the notebook is open and Kenshin's writing is pretty large and the other just needs to glance at the page for a mere second to quickly glean the contents.Kenshin is frozen. Something in the kid's eyes becomes clearer, a sudden flare of interest, of surprise and - something else that makes the color drain from his face.Slowly, he looks back up at Kenshin. His face hasn't changed one bit, but when he speaks, his nostrils flare with disgust for a moment. "What sort of creep are you," he says, low and monotone and dangerous.Kenshin's mouth is too dry, but he still tries to swallow and it scratches his throat. "I, I'm not -" he starts, but the knowledge that he has no chance anyways drains any will to fight out of him and he practically feels himself deflate on the spot.Watching the kid roughly turning some pages, covered to the rim with lists and notes about various classmates and mostly Kageyama, he feels his mind detach itself and gently float away from the situation. It's kind of nice, actually."How sad," the kid sneers, hands crumpling the pages, "that people like you manage to go unnoticed for so long." The book is closed with a snap and held up delicately between two fingers like a disgusting trophy. "At this school, we have respect for other people's privacy. Obviously that's a lesson you still need to learn. As a first step, this," and he gives Kenshin's fancy, expensive notebook a little shake, "is of course being confiscated.""Ah," Kenshin hears himself make softly. "Of course."The council member kid stares him down for another few seconds, then finally steps to the side. "You'll be late for class.""Okay," Kenshin says, and proceeds to class. His limbs feel a bit wobbly, as if he's moving them by pulling on strings attached to the joints from far away. Some people might be staring at him.Kenshin is not the least bit surprised when he's stopped by another council member the next day and the investigation of his bag reveals a pair of girl's underwear he's never seen before.It's okay though. Unlike most other people this happened to, he doesn't have friends or any kind of image to lose.His family doctor has known him for years and asks not a single question before agreeing to put him on sick leave for a few days.Kenshin stays home, in bed, only crawling outside sometimes for a bowl of cereal or something, and hopes that the doctor's word is enough to keep his parents mostly away for a while, seeing as his illness is apparently "harmless, but highly contagious."His sister texts him from the next room and sometimes he even answers. She asks "btw did that notebook help a bit?" and Kenshin sends three of the weirdest and least meaningful emojis he can find and shuts off his phone.At some point, a group of delinquents stands in front of his window, throwing pebbles at it until he opens and then dramatically requesting that he join them on their quest for revenge against the student council kid.Kenshin blinks for a while and then slowly closes the window again. After about a minute of him hiding his head under a pillow, they stop throwing pebbles and just leave.When Kenshin has to go back to school, he still keeps his head down, but now while paying attention to where he's going. Things seem to have calmed down a bit for now, though Kenshin wasn't here so of course he doesn't know what changed.He's kind of lucky, in a way. Not enough people had any idea who he even was and so many more interesting students got in trouble at roughly the same time, so his own personal stalker-slash-pervert scandal didn't really get a lot of recognition all around.Except in his class, of course. Because they do sort of know him. They are the ones who have been sitting next to him all day every day, the ones for whom his whole shtick of The guy who writes all the time was brutally turned inside out and changed to The guy who was stalking people and stole girl's underwear.Kenshin stops halfway through this train of thought, because he vaguely remembers that it started with "I'm kind of lucky," but now he can't recall the point he was trying to make to himself at all.Either way, he makes sure not to take notes anymore. On anything. Not even on the stuff he really, really should takes notes on. Listening to the teacher in math class makes the few days he missed feel like a few years and he seriously needs to write this down, but every time he moves his fingers towards the pen, suddenly a thousand pairs of eyes are boring into his neck all at once.The cheap, lined paper in front of him stays empty.So do the seats next to him during lunch.He doesn't sit there for long, the happy chattering all around the room is just as deafening as the silence of no one actually talking to him and that apparently bothers him now even though it never did before. Better to just up and leave and flee to the empty hallway with the vending machine.Just as he's fishing around his wallet for coins, there is suddenly a very small, very reluctant "Uhm, excuse me?" from behind him.With a pretty undignified squawk Kenshin jumps and nearly crashes face first into the vending machine before he finds his footing and quickly turns around.Kageyama takes a hasty step back. "Ah. Hello," he says, eyes flitting from left to right and back again.Kenshin can't possibly decide what horrifies him more right now - the fact that this guy is actually talking to him and that creepy council member kid could walk around the corner at any moment and see, or the fact that Kageyama looks as if he comes fresh from a wrestling match with a fucking bear.The choke marks are almost completely faded, but Kageyama's entire face is covered in darkening bruises, bandages and fresh scratches. His lips are split and his eyes bloodshot.Kenshin's silent, dumbfounded stare visibly makes his shoulders tense the longer it goes on. "I, I'm Shigeo Kageyama. Mob," he finally says, even softer than Kenshin has heard from him before. "We're in the same class."Kenshin swallows hard. "Yeah. I know that." Even with his heartbeat hectically pounding in his ears, he can't stop himself from putting emphasis on the I, knowing full well that this is not the time to get snarky, he's trying to keep a low profile so he really shouldn't be seen talking to - and being snarky to! - the guy he technically stalked before this whole mess.Granted, nobody but creepy council member kid knows about that, probably, but still.Kageyama nods. "Okay. I wasn't sure. It's been a few days since we talked."At first, Kenshin thinks he should mark it as a success that this time, Kageyama at least remembers him. But before he can get that far, Kageyama is already moving to hold something out towards him and any possibility of feeling good about himself today is snatched away in an instant.Kageyama has his notebook.Why does Kageyama have his notebook.This is the worst.Kenshin would very much like to stop existing now, thank you."Is this yours? My brother had it," Kageyama is saying, though there appears to be a bit of a delay before the words actually reach Kenshin's ears, and even then they sound oddly slowed down and far away. "He meant to give everything back he confiscated, but I think he forgot about this one."Kenshin's arm is back to being tied to a string and being dragged forward by it all by itself. He barely even feels it when his hand loosely closes around his book once again."Did you read it?" he apparently decides to ask, though how and when that decision was made he couldn't say, he wasn't present at the time."No." Kageyama starts to shake his head but then stops halfway. The movement must hurt. "Was I supposed to?""Not at all," Kenshin answers strangely cheerfully. With an unnecessary look around - nobody ever uses this vending machine, it's way too expensive and often broken so he knows the place is empty - he drops the notebook into his bag and then clutches it in front of him with both arms. "Why does your face look like that?"(Why has Kenshin's brain decided to just barf words out through his mouth without his permission, this is not fair and he would like it to stop.)With a glance past Kenshin and towards the shiny surface of the vending machine, Kageyama appears to check his own reflection."I'm not sure what you mean.""You know!" Kenshin crudely gestures to the bandages and bruises, flipping his hand back and forth between the two of them. "All - beat up like that.""Oh. That's because I got beat up."In a way, Kenshin is grateful for the terrible, terrible confusion this whole conversation is dropping on him, because it's sort of forcing him to come back to himself so he can actively try to figure out what's even going on right now."Cool?" he starts, slowly. "That's. I mean. That's cool. Sure. And, uhh," he wriggles his forefinger towards his own neck, "that? You had bruises there too, kinda looked like… choke marks?"Kageyama's nod is slow and thoughtful. "Someone did choke me. That's probably where it was from."It's not a surprise anymore at this point, but some small part of Kenshin was still hoping for the answer to be rash or alien girlfriend.He takes a deep breath, trying hard to swallow the frustration that is coming included with these half-answers he's getting. "Are you, like - alright?" he asks reluctantly, voice carefully lowered. "Do you need help or something?"Kageyama puts a hand to his chin as he seems to consider this. "Did you understand the math lesson today?" he asks.Kenshin is too dumbfounded by the question to do anything more than slowly shake his head."Ah," Kageyama makes, and this time there is almost an emotion in his tone. It might be disappointment. "Then I don't need your help, thank you.""Okay?" Kenshin laughs awkwardly, too loud and too shrill once again, the constant loops he's being thrown for in this confrontation are starting to get to him. "I meant with whoever was choking you and beating you up? Because that seems kinda bad?"Kageyama's eyes are flicking around the hall again, from one side to another, sweat glistening on his forehead. "We stopped fighting. It's fine now."Suddenly leaning forward into the other's space, Kenshin lowers his voice and whispers: "Was it Onigawara?"Kageyama is leaning back in turn and drawing up his shoulders, eyes widened as far as possible, considering they're bruised and almost swollen shut. "Who?""Gah!" Kenshin wants to throw his hands up, but remembers just in time that he's clutching his bag to his chest as if it's a giant teddy bear and he kinda needs his arms to keep it from falling. "You know, the guy with the recorders! The, the, he's got this hair and is leading a gang and all!"Something like reluctant understanding is ghosting over Kageyama's mostly empty expression, but it's drowned out by the persistent question marks that remain in his eyes regardless. "I don't really get it," he says, "but you don't need to worry. I just meant to give your book back. It looks expensive."Kenshin looks down to his feet in shame, fingers picking at the straps of his bag. "It was," he mumbles. And even though Kageyama said he didn't read it and Kenshin is actually inclined to believe him, he really can't stop himself from trying to justify this whole thing. "I didn't mean to make anyone uncomfortable with it," he says, barely even tripping over his words. "It just - helps me clear things up in my mind, you know."The way Kageyama tracks the nervous movement of Kenshin's fingers and then looks up to meet his eyes again seems almost politely interested. "I don't know," he says and at this point Kenshin is not even surprised anymore, this guy has literally only given him both the strangest and at the same time most mundane answers. "But it sounds useful. Ah, apart from - making people uncomfortable, I guess."Kenshin snorts lightly. "Yeah," he says slowly, glancing down at the floor again and then off to the side, not sure what to say next.Neither is Kageyama, it seems. It's just for a few seconds that the silence stretches between them, but it feels terrible and that just after they agreed to not make people uncomfortable, it's ironic or something, Kenshin is sweating and he wants to leave but he has no idea how to gracefully end the conversation and -"Well," Kageyama says softly. "Bye." And he turns and walks away.Kenshin stares after him with a strange sort of respect. The sort that makes him think "next time, I gotta try and end a conversation that way," even though he knows he'd never have the balls to do it.Just as he starts to lower his bag, meaning to finally fish out enough money to buy a goddamn chocolate bar, he notices someone stepping up to Kageyama at the end of the hall from the corner of his eyes.With a quick double take, Kenshin whips around again and watches as Onigawara leans down to Kageyama, talking casually, seemingly offering to carry his school bag. Shigeo-who-is-Onigawara-never-heard-of-him-Kageyama gently shakes his head once again.And somehow, somewhere in that conversation, Kageyama must have said something about Kenshin, because suddenly Onigawara looks up and straight at him.Kenshin stops moving. It's what he's heard you're supposed to do when being stared down by a dangerous animal. Or, wait, was it actually what you're not supposed to do? Was it actually "walk backwards slowly and don't make eye contact" or - dammit he doesn't remember!Just as he's silently reaching the peak of his panic, Onigawara straightens up at the end of the hallway, still staring him down with that customary frown of his, and nods at him. Once. While tapping his own chest with his fist in a sort of - respectful way? Or. Not respectful. Just, kind of, in a way of nearly friendly acknowledgment.Then Kageyama starts walking again and without a single word or signal or anything, Onigawara loyally follows behind.Ah.He already got it right before.Secret Gang Leader.Makes sense.Kenshin finally gets his chocolate bar, the cheapest one he can find. He replays that conspiratorial nod in his mind. He doesn't hope it means he's some sort of honorary gang member now.(Except he really does.)(Because shit, he's never been that cool before.)
10965555	sister golden hair	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": null, "Characters": "Logan (X-Men), Alex Summers", "Fandom": "X-Men (Comicverse)", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Teen And Up Audiences", "author": "by Murf1307", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-21T00:00:00", "words": "5,338", "Additional Tags": "Bigender Alex Summers, Trans Character, Nonbinary Character, Slow Burn, Fluff, Angst, Queer Angst", "Relationship": "Logan (X-Men)/Alex Summers", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": "F/M, M/M", "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	“ Once I thought I saw you in a crowded hazy bar, dancin’ on the light from star to star…” -- “Like a Hurricane” by Neil Young The first night Alex doesn’t come out to the bar with Logan, a week or so after they’ve gotten their road trip back on track after the nuclear meltdown in India, Alex counts on the disaster as his cover.That’s not to say he isn’t grieving Scarlett. She deserved better than she got, in the end, he thinks, and he’ll carry their few days together with him always.But, let’s just say this: he’s not his brother, and Scarlett was no Jean Grey.Logan nods at him a little solemnly, a little edgily. As if he can smell something Alex can’t. He’s been doing that all the time ever since the meltdown, really, and Alex doesn’t really want to know why.As it is, he exhales when Logan leaves, creaky door swinging shut behind him. Tijuana is a good city for a man like Logan, Alex thinks. It’s a good city for a lot of things.Alex stays sprawled out on his back on the bed for ten minutes more, then rises. He needs cover for this, because anyone would.His duffle bag has a false bottom, a zipper pocket against one end where he keeps things he would never admit to owning. He unzips the pocket and tugs them out: a white sundress, white kitten heels, a blonde wig, and a small collection of cosmetics. He’s never done this before, but he’s prepared for it, extensively. Exhaling, long and slow, he takes the things into the hotel room bathroom. He strips naked, carefully, and unfolds the sundress just as carefully.She’s lucky, she thinks, that the fabric doesn’t really wrinkle.The thing is: she’s got days when she’s not a guy. It’s taken her years and years to recognize the fact.Tonight, though, on this road trip with Wolverine, is her first chance to do something about it. They leave Tijuana in the morning, so if this goes sideways, there aren’t really any lasting consequences.She pulls on the sundress, her bare back strange against the open air as she ties the halter straps behind her neck.This part she’s done before, late at night, when the rest of the world’s asleep. She’s even gotten as far as makeup before taking it all off again. But tonight, she’ll go further. Tonight, she needs to make this real.Makeup comes next, and she contours her face to look less angular, to sharpen her cheekbones. Eyeliner and mascara darken the rims of her eyes, turn her lashes sooty. Lipstick is the last touch, a smear of red that looks an awful lot like Scarlett’s, in the end.Then the wig. She situates it on her head, pins it on as best she can. It’s good quality, expensive, maybe even real hair. She’s put it on all of twice. The hair falls to her collarbones in loose waves. When she looks at herself in the mirror, she sees someone new, someone she’s been hiding from her whole life.Tonight, there’s no more hiding. At least for a few hours, she’s going to do this. Live this way. She has to, she thinks. At least to know she can .She steps into the kitten heels -- half an inch at most, but she’s self conscious about her height, anyway. She turns in different ways to look at herself in the mirror.She looks like a model? The idea strikes her -- yes, supermodels, boyishly flat and Amazon-tall. She can look like them, if she’s careful enough.One last thing, though, before she leaves for the evening: a precaution.Perfume.She douses herself in a fragrance that mixes floral and green smells, that smells good on her. In case she winds up in the same bar as Logan, she at least has one extra layer of protection from being found out.One final flourish in the mirror, and she nods at herself, takes her room key, and walks out into the cool Tijuana darkness.Logan is well into a bottle of tequila when the woman walks in. He notices her first for the fact that she’s drowned herself in perfume, which means she’s either hiding something, or she’s that self-conscious, or both.He looks, and the first thing he sees is the way she walks.Even in heels, he’d know that gait anywhere. He takes a deeper breath, tries to get past the chemical flowers and green shit, and there it is: ozone and sunlight and smoke and paper and musk. Alex. Jeez. Alex looks gorgeous like this, the weeks in the desert burnishing the skin revealed by the white dress to a soft gold. It stirs something in Logan, something protective and, if he’s honest, a little hot.Alex approaches the bar, and the tenor in the room changes. Logan’s not the only one who’s noticed Alex’s entrance, apparently.That low, warm thing in Logan’s gut uncurls, tells him to go and protect what’s his.Considering Alex isn’t his, by any stretch of the imagination, it’s only a little bit of a surprise. Exhaling, Logan gets up from the corner he’s perched in, leaving the bottle for whatever poor bastard wants the rest of the tequila, and makes his way toward the bar.“‘S ain’t the best place for a pretty woman,” he says, cracking his neck at Alex’s shoulder.“Excuse me?” Voice not quite falsetto, but breathier than the one Logan’s used to from Alex. That, and the unmistakable panic in Alex’s eyes, though it doesn’t show anywhere else.Okay. So Alex doesn’t want him to know?Then he’s not gonna know.“Bar like this, pretty girl like you looks like a t-bone steak to some people,” he says, not giving the game away at all. “I can handle myself.”“Mm, I’m sure you can. Still, this is Tijuana. Town’s dangerous at night.” Especially for someone like Alex. Logan has seen some bad shit in his time, and some of the worst stuff he’s seen has happened to people like Alex.He doesn’t want it to happen to Alex.“I have a friend who loves towns like this,” Alex says. “He went out tonight looking for trouble. I just want to have a drink.”“Drinks, trouble, they’re the same thing here.”“You’re pretty convinced of that,” Alex teases, with a little bit of a smile. “You look like the kind of man who could could get me into both, at any rate.”Oh god, is Alex flirting with him?“A drink, at least,” Logan responds, smirking a little. “Trouble usually finds me afterward.”“A drink, then.” Alex smirks back -- and that’s all Summers, that half-twist of mouth. On Alex now, it’s the most attractive thing Logan’s ever seen.Maybe it’s the lipstick, he doesn’t know.“A drink,” he agrees, and then waves down the barkeep. “Una cerveza and a…” he glances at Alex. “Whatever she wants.”Alex’s smirk pulls into something loose and pleased, brightening. She , then, Logan decides. At least for now. “I’ll have a martini,” she says, glancing back at him.“Classy, for a joint like this.” Logan smirks at her.“Someone has to have some,” she says. And man, if that’s not pure Summers teasing in her voice, he’s an American. “So I will.”The bartender passes them their drinks, and Logan can’t help but notice the way the lipstick transfers from Alex’s lips to the rim of her glass. All that red, printed almost daintily on the edge. He takes a swig of his beer.He’s glad he can’t get drunk, to be honest. He’d say something stupid, most likely.“So, what’s a girl like you doin’ in Tijuana?” he asked Alex. Alex laughs, voice falling a little lower now, just for a moment. “I’m traveling with a friend. Like I said, he’s kind of a troublemaker. Tijuana was his idea.”“He have a lot of those kinds of ideas, then?” Logan smirks a little. He likes Alex’s nerve, using him against him like that. He doesn’t even try to defend himself, just chuckles a little. “Sounds like the kind of guy a classy girl shouldn’t associate with.”Alex laughs, just a little. “He’s fun.”“You like bad boys, huh?” He takes a swig of beer. “No shortage of ‘em here.”“Mhm.” Alex nods. “But I think tonight I just want a drink.”“Drink as much as you like. I’ll walk you home.”She shakes her head almost immediately, swallowing another sip of that martini. “No, I’ll be fine. I have a traveling companion, remember?”Logan really hates himself, sometimes. Jeez. “All right. If you won’t have me walk you home later, can I at least get a name for now?”“Ale-- Alice,” she says, and he knows quite well what she almost said.He nods. “All right, Alice. Pleasure to meet you.”Alex realizes that she’s lying to Logan. Pretending to be ‘Alice.’ But Logan doesn’t seem to recognize her. And -- the way he talks to her, it makes her feel good. It makes her feel like maybe she can do this, maybe she can be a pretty girl when she feels like a girl. She likes being pretty, likes being flirted with, and really, if she’s honest with herself, she kind of likes Logan.Yeah, like that. It’s easier to admit it when she’s a girl, to be honest.He makes her feel pretty, after all, and she knows he likes girls. She doesn’t know if he likes boys, so the other half the time, this is a lot harder to handle, but she does, she can. It is what it is.They’ve worked their way up the border -- if the went south across it and just kept going, they’d work their way all the way down the Baja Peninsula. This border town isn’t Tijuana, but it wants to be, and Logan goes out alone. “Alice” follows half an hour later, her hair curled and perfumed and her lips that deep, candy-apple red he seemed to like last time.This is the third time she finds him. She knows she’s pushing her luck. Eventually, he has to get suspicious, doesn’t he?Logan doesn’t try to touch Alex, or Alice, or whatever she wants to be called, until the fifth time. He takes it slow because he knows her, because he respects the risk she’s taking, flirting with him. She deserves his careful attention, his complete focus. He thinks the perfume went on a little weak this time, but he doesn’t say anything. He buys her a drink, her fingers skimming his when he hands it over to her. It has to be tonight. He can’t just keep doing this while she circles closer and closer to him where it counts.“Are you sure you don’t want me to walk you to your hotel?” He doesn’t reach out to her quite yet, but it’s a near thing. “I have to say, it doesn’t seem like your traveling companion ever comes out with you.”“Well,” she says, shrugging. “He’s usually already gone by the time I leave.”“I can’t imagine a guy not stickin’ around to see you,” he says, honestly. The only reason he doesn’t hang around is because she doesn’t come out if he stays.Alice smiles at him, and it’s a little sad. “You don’t have to flatter me.”“Ain’t flattery if it’s just the truth.”She looks away. “I can’t have you come back to the hotel, in case he comes back.”Logan reaches out and gently traces the side of her face. “Sweetheart, I’ll do whatever makes you comfortable.” Alice exhales, a little shakily. “I -- I want to. But I don’t know if --”“If it’s safe?” He understands that. He might not know what that must feel like, but he understands the idea of it -- he knows his own fear, after all, and fear always smells the same on everyone.“...Yeah.” She nods.“I won’t hurt you,” he promises, but relents.Logan is incredible. Alex doesn’t know how else to describe him, in these final winding days of their trip along the border; he can’t come up with any other words to talk about how Logan was the perfect gentleman to Alice when she backed away from going further.Alex feels one more girl day coming on before the end of their vacation, and wouldn’t you know it -- they’re back in Tijuana when it happens.She puts a little more effort into her hair, her makeup, and she wonders if that’s maybe counterproductive -- Lorna complained, sometimes, when they were together, about how women needed to stop dressing up for men. But Alex wants to be pretty -- she always wants to be pretty, when she’s a girl. And Logan’s been so kind to her, treats her so well.She finds him in the same bar, the one where it all started, and she tries to seem confident, tries to convince herself that she is.“Hey, Logan,” she says, and a little nervousness still threads in.Logan orders her a drink, and they flirt, and it’s all become so normal that he even jokes about asking if she wants him to walk her back to her hotel room when the night is through. Alex as Alice is every bit as funny, but just a little softer, more skittish about it. As if she’s self conscious about everything, not just the things that make her different.When the night ends and the bar closes, Logan takes her hand. “I don’t want to leave,” he admits to her. “I never like leaving.”Alice looks down at their hands. “I know -- I -- me neither. You’re so kind to me, every time.”“You deserve it,” he says, smiling at her, a low rumble of sweet contentment growing in his chest -- and this is rare for him. But his bright girl, his pretty blonde who wears too much perfume, she brings that out in him, and they’ve never so much as kissed.She blushes, and lifts his hand with hers. Then, she kisses the back of it. “Thank you.”It’s a sign, one he can read clear as day. He pulls her closer, slides his free hand around the small of her back. They’re on barstools, so the height difference is negligible.When he’s close enough, she takes the initiative, and presses her lips to his.They only make it out into the alleyway next to the bar before Logan presses Alex against a brick wall. Alex makes a soft, breathless noise, and leans down for another kiss, this one more heated than the last. Logan moans in return, his hands settled on Alex’s hips. It feels wonderful, Alex thinks, to be treated like this, to be kissed like this, and she leans into it, as awkward as the angle might be. She wraps her arms around Logan’s neck and shoulders, not sure what else to do with them -- she’d never done something like this before, not on a girl day.She’s even more surprised by the way he curls his fingertips into her hips, and she knows that even from this, there will be bruises in the morning, bruises she’s going to treasure until they fade away, trace her own fingers over as she thinks about him.She’s been thinking about him a lot, lately. It’s achy, to keep lying to Logan even as she takes so much from his hands, from the glittering of his eyes in these hazy bars, but she doesn’t know how to tell him the truth without maybe losing him. And this is the one time she’s going to let herself be selfish, another thing that defines her outside of her brother.Logan hitches one of his big thighs between her legs, and she freezes for a moment. It’s not that she thinks Logan doesn’t know she’s not like other women, but there’s a difference between theory and practice, and this has slipped very far out of theory.But he just smoothes her dress over her hips and kisses her neck. “It’s okay, sweetheart,” he rumbles against her skin. “You got nothin’ to be scared of.”He presses his leg higher, against her, and she rolls her hips with an almost virginal awkwardness, her arousal starting to become obvious against his thigh. One of her hands comes up and tangles in Logan’s hair and in return, he bites at the juncture between her neck and shoulder. “Oh,” she breathes, because it feels good, and she rolls her hips a little harder. The friction against her feels good, and she wants more of it, wants everything Logan is willing to give her tonight.It’s a strange sort of feeling, giving in to wanting when she’s like this. Giving in to what she wants with a man, with this man specifically.One of Logan’s hands slips around to her ass, helping drag her toward him as she keeps rutting on his thigh. It feels incredible, feels almost possessive, and for the moment, she wants to be possessed.She moans, her head back against the wall Logan has her pressed against, and he rumbles appreciatively in response. She starts to notice the way that, when she rolls her hips forward, her thigh teases against Logan’s arousal, which is very apparent in his jeans. He doesn’t say anything about it, and she doesn’t know how to bring it up, how to ask what he wants.“Wish you’d let me get you to a hotel room,” Logan says, nipping at her collarbone. “Treat you right, lay you out on white sheets and work you over good.” When Alex groans in response to the idea. “Maybe even fuck you, if that’s what you’re into.”Alex doesn’t know, but the idea of it, growled out against her skin as they rut against each other, is a hot, dirty one. “I’ve never done that,” she gasps back. “I’d like to try it.”Logan’s grin against her neck is a shit-eating one. “Next time,” he says, as if there’s going to be a next time, as if this sojourn in Tijuana can last forever.Not for the first time, she wishes it could. As always, she knows it can’t.They come back to Westchester without any more moments of indiscretion, without any more girl days, and certainly without any more sexual encounters. Logan doesn’t know if there’s a rhyme or reason to when Alex is Alice, but he misses her. She’d been perfect against that wall, and Logan can admit it: he’ll curl a hand around himself in the shower and think about that night more often than not.Alex consumes his thoughts now in a way that nobody has since Itsu, since Jean. It’s a hard realization to come to, because he doesn’t know if this is something he can keep, if it’s something he’s even allowed to have.He doesn’t even know if Alex will keep being Alice once they’re back in New York, if he’ll ever run into her again in a bar.It’s not just Alice he thinks about, though -- knowing how Alex sounds in the throes of passion, knowing how Alex smells with his own scent mingled in, it makes him think about Alex as a man, too, and what that would be like.Logan’s had his fair share of men in his long life -- not so commonly as women, but he’s been a soldier, and rumors of gay sex in the ranks come from somewhere . Sometimes he likes to think, jokingly, that those rumors come in fair part from himself, but there’s no way to know for sure.His bright boy, that’s what he’d call him, because ‘bright boy’ isn’t too suspect in public, but sweet enough to work as a pet name in private. Logan has a feeling Alex wouldn’t want to tell anyone about it, and he’ll respect that.He doesn’t need any public reassurance, and it’s dangerous for most people in a way it just isn’t for him.Sure, it would be nice to walk around with a hand on Alex’s hip, or waist, or, hell, slipped into his back pocket. But that’s an unreasonable fantasy in most of the real world, and he can’t dream too big when it’s Alex he wants.Alex, Alice -- either way, it’s a beautiful dream he’s not quite ready to accept might be over.Alex doesn’t really know what to do now that they’re back in Westchester. He doesn’t know what to do with Logan, or with girl days, or with the sense of loss that permeates thinking about that vacation along the border.He’s afraid of saying anything, and he’s even more back into the closet than before. He looks at himself in the mirror and can’t help but call himself a liar. He should’ve told Logan, shouldn’t have let it get that far, shouldn’t have enjoyed how it felt to be treated so sweetly. He’s smarter than that, or at least he’d thought he was.Today, he’s heading through the mansion, toward the kitchen, when he hears soft singing and the strumming of a guitar. It takes him a moment to realize, as he almost draws level with Logan’s bedroom, that that’s where it’s coming from.Logan is singing. Well I keep on thinkin’ ‘bout you, sister golden hair surprise, And I just can’t live without you, can’t you see it in my eyes? I been one poor correspondent; I been too too hard to find But that doesn’t mean you ain’t been on my mind... It’s a song by soft-rock band America, and it’s a few years old at least, but it’s a song Alex recognizes nonetheless. It stops him dead in his tracks.He leans against the wall nearest Logan’s door, and listens to Logan sing. His voice is soft, and low, and full of feeling. Alex looks up at the ceiling, a lump in his throat. It’s obvious, from the way he sings it, that he means every word, that it’s real .And it’s about ‘Alice,’ because of course it is. Logan is in love with Alice, and Alex wants to die.He stumbles away, back where he came from, as the song draws to a close. How can he live with this? Logan fell in love with a part of him that he can’t confess to being, and besides, he’s in love with part of him. God, he’s not sure this could ever get any worse.Logan doesn’t usually head down to the Village, but he wants a damn drink. Alex is avoiding him, he thinks, just a little, and Logan’s sure it’s because they’re back in New York, and Alex is scared.He wishes there was something he could say, some way to make it better, but he can’t. He’d pretended he didn’t know, and so, he’d made his bed and has to lie in it.It’s an empty bed, though, and he’s tired. The bar he chooses is a fairly quiet one -- nothing like the clubs and bathhouses littering the area these days. Dark wood, a soft rock cover band in the corner. You could mistake it for a straight bar if you didn’t see the occasional couple making out in a booth, or two men flirting with a drag queen at the bar.He gets himself a drink, asks for it strong.“Boy problems?” the bartender asks him, seeing it in his face.“Sorta. She’s a girl sometimes,” he admits, but doesn’t say more. He doesn’t like baring his soul to bartenders, never has.He’s there for an hour or so when the door swings open, and there she is. Alice. His heart twists in his chest, because god, he’s missed her. He looks at her, can’t take his eyes away, really, and she sees him too.When she reaches him, he sees her hands are trembling. He reaches out and takes them in his, squeezing them gently. “Hey,” he says, quiet, a little uncertain. “Fancy seeing you here.”“I-I was in town, and…” She swallows. “I’m glad I found you.”He’s glad she did, too. He lifts her hands and kisses the back of one. “I missed you,” he says, because it’s true, and she deserves to know that.“Me too,” she responds, and god, she looks a little torn up.“...Do you wanna get out of here? Get a hotel room or something?” He owes her exactly what he promised her against that wall, and this time, he thinks she might say yes.“I -- okay,” she says, her voice low and rough.He puts his money down on the bar, and walks away with her.He brings her to a hotel and pays for the room in cash. She can feel the nervousness building in her, because as much as she -- well, she loves him, too -- she can’t help but think that it’s different this time. They won’t just be rutting against each other in an alleyway. She might even be naked, this time, and that scares her.But he holds her hand all the way up to the hotel room, and pulls her close when they’re inside. She’s too tall for him to pull her down for a kiss, but he kisses her hand again, and then her shoulder. “Take off your heels, sweetheart, I wanna kiss you.”She toes out of the shoes and leans down, sinking into the kiss immediately. God, she loves him, she really does. “I wanna touch you,” he tells her when the kiss is done. “You all right with that?”“Y-yeah,” she says, and, biting her lip, tugs him over to the bed. “I -- you really want to?”Logan nods. “As long as you want to, too. I’ve been around a long time, sweetheart, you’re not gonna scare me off.”She nods, and pulls him close again, holding his wrists and slides his hands up the front of her chest. She wants this, more than she’s ever wanted anything, and that in itself scares her a little.He touches her, then pushes gently at her to get her to lie down on the bed. She blushes, and isn’t sure what to do until he kisses her again, having climbed on top of her, straddling her hips. “I promised you I was gonna do you right someday,” he says, and his low, warm rumble makes her want to moan. “And here we are.”“Yeah,” she repeats, biting her lip. He’s heavy, but in a good way, the weight of him on her reassuring that this is all real, that he really wants to be here, pinning her down. “Here we are.”He kisses her again, and she touches him this time, her hands in his hair, and he touches her body. It feels strange and new and beautiful, and she never wants him to stop.Lucky for her, he doesn’t.Logan gets up early in the morning, looking over at Alice, her body stretched out on the bed. Her makeup is smeared on the pillow, and her wig has fallen so askew it’s essentially off. He smiles down at her, because she’s still asleep, and leans down, kissing her cheek.She moves a little, but doesn’t ultimately stir. He gets off the bed, and dashes off a quick note on the hotel stationery: Went to grab us some breakfast. Be back soon. -- L. He gets them egg sandwiches on bagels, because he knows Alex likes those, so it follows that Alice would. It takes him a little longer -- Saturday morning is a busy time for bagel places in New York -- than he’d hoped, but within half an hour he’s coming back up to the room.When he comes in, though, he finds Alice curled up and sobbing. She’s still naked, her wig thrown across the room. When he closes the door behind him, she freezes, having noticed now that she’s no longer alone. He moves toward the bed, putting the bag of food down on the dresser, and she turns around. “L-logan?” she says, and she’s shaking. “Yeah?” he says, carefully, sitting down on the edge of the bed. He’ll give her space, if she wants that, but he wants to show her he’s not going to run from her. “You wanna tell me what’s wrong?”She swallows. “Isn’t it -- isn’t it obvious?”He reaches out toward her, his hand falling on the sheets when he can’t reach her. “You think I didn’t know, huh?”“--You -- you knew?” she asks, eyes wide. Her voice is rough from crying.“Yeah. Since that first night.” He nods. “But you seemed so happy to think you’d fooled me. And -- I liked flirting with you. Wasn’t sure how you’d take it if you knew I knew.”She blinks, tears coming again. “But -- if you know -- then --”“I still wanna be with you, bright girl,” he says. “Doesn’t matter what name you’re using.”“Even though -- even though I lied to you all this time?” She sounds shocked, and when he nods, she adds, “Even though I was too scared to tell you anything?”He nods again. “Yeah. However you want me, I can work with it.”As long as, in some capacity, Alex Summers is his . Even if her name is Alice, even if it’s only in gay bars at night, or cheap hotel rooms in the Village, or in smoky border towns in Mexico.She moves toward him, slowly, nervously, until her knees are bumping against his hip. “I -- I don’t know. What I want. I want -- fuck, this is...this is so complicated. ”“Do you still wanna be called Alice?” he asks. It’s somewhere to start, he thinks.“...Yeah, I think so. Um. And -- I’m not always a girl,” she says to him. “I like it when you call me Alice when I am, though.”He nods. It’s a little bit of virgin territory, he thinks, that Alex isn’t always one or the other. “Okay. Then I can do that. What about when you’re not Alice?” Do you still want me then? She swallows. “I. I don’t know what to do about that, yet.”“Okay,” he repeats. “We’ll get there.” “Can I kiss you?” she asks, her hands tangled in her lap. He nods. “Of course, sweetheart.”And she does.They make love, in that hotel room, and fall asleep. When Alex wakes up, the sun is setting, he’s not Alice anymore, and anxiety pools in his gut. For all Logan said all the right things this morning, he’s still afraid.He rolls over, a little closer to Logan, whose nose twitches a little in his sleep. Logan stirs, one arm lazily falling over Alex’s waist and hauling him closer. Alex feels a little smile pulling at the corner of his mouth, because, even nervous as he is, this feels right. It feels good , Logan wrapped around him as the sunset burnishes the room a little bit orange.“...Sweetheart?” Logan rumbles softly, starting to wake up properly. “How’re you doin’?”He flushes a little. “I -- I think I’m good.”Logan nods, pressing his face against Alex’s neck. “Pretty girl.”Alex shakes his head. “Not a girl, right now,” he says, the nervousness peaking, because this is the moment of truth -- is Logan going to be okay with the reality of this?He hums. “All right. Pretty boy , then,” he amends, not moving his face. In fact, he kisses his neck, nipping a little. “My bright boy.”It has the sound of something Logan’s thought about calling him before, and Alex doesn’t want to hold out hope, but maybe, just maybe -- maybe Logan’s wanted this part, too. Not just Alice.“We should probably get up,” he murmurs. “We missed checkout. Hotel manager’s probably pissed.”“Don’t care. He can fight me.” Logan holds him even closer, a smile pressed against Alex’s skin. “I don’t wanna move.”Alex laughs, softly, and for the first time since Tijuana, the anxiety starts to unravel.
10906224	Undercover For A Cat	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": null, "Characters": "Lance (Voltron), Keith (Voltron), Hunk (Voltron), Pidge (Voltron)", "Fandom": "Voltron: Legendary Defender", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Teen And Up Audiences", "author": "by XxKilledbyMusicxX (orphan_account)", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-14T00:00:00", "words": "2,737", "Additional Tags": "Shiro's mentioned a couple of times, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge \| Katie Holt, look - Freeform, i wrote this with no pairings in mind, and well, it kinda shows?, eh, but keith is a sap, and that's all that matters, also was suppose to be for a friend, barista keith, Highschool AU, and i still suck at using this site so fuck it", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": "Ambiguous or Implied Relationship(s), One-Sided - Relationship, Keith/Lance (Voltron)", "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": "Gen, M/M", "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	Of course, Lance had heard about the new cafe only a couple of blocks down the street from the local high school. Who hadn’t by this point? Called “Voltron’s Cafe”, it was a newcomer in a relatively old and connected town, and everyone, down to crazy old Mr. Johnston, was curious (or annoyed, depending on who you were) and then pleasantly surprised by the adorable little shop. Apparently, from what Lance had heard through school gossip and the friendly old ladies that lived on his street, it was filled with almost constantly with the sweet smell of pastries, hot coffee, and, the real selling point for Lance, pictures of adorable widdle kittens . So really, it was only natural for him to drag his two best friends down to visit the place. The only real question is why it took so long. “Lance, can’t you go by yourself?” Pidge protested as they shoved their laptop in their bag. “Not all of us have time to drop everything to visit a stupid cafe!” Lance waved them off as he bounced on his heels. “Nah, friendo!” He said easily, “First off, it’s an experience, you gotta savour it-” “By yourself? Cause, this code won’t write itself-” “- With friends. Best friends! Second off, it’s not stupid! The whole town has been there-” “We haven’t!” “We’re the only ones, Pidgey! This is an outrage of the highest degree!” “...It was worth a shot,” Pidge sighed and tossed their bookbag over their shoulder. “If I have to go, shouldn’t Hunk come along?” Lance waited until they made it out the door before he followed them down the hall. “Of fucking course he is. He’s super excited to try that raspberry lemon souffle- he’s been talking about it for weeks, you know!” “...Wasn’t he talking about making it?” “Details, details- Com’on!” Pidge yelped as Lance started pushing them down the halls past everyone else. “H-hey! Slow down, Lance!” Lance saw Hunk looking for them among the crowd of students rushing out of school as the school day ended, and he ran forward, scooping up Pidge as he did so. Pidge screeched as they awkwardly clung to his neck as he weaved in and out of the crowd. Luckily, Hunk noticed them just before they ran into him and jumped backwards as they burst through the doors; Pidge practically screaming as Lance laughed. They landed in a pile on the sidewalk which earned some strange looks granted, but Lance was used to it by now. He stay where he was, laughing on the ground as Pidge shot him a glare and took Hunk’s offer of a help up. “What? You can’t tell me you didn’t enjoy that, Pidgerino!” “I can and I will!” Pidge mocked huffed at him. “Could of have killed us both, you know!” Hunk stepped in between them, well used to… well. Everything. He tried a patient smile before his face cracked into a grin. “Oh god,” He cackled, “The looks on your faces were priceless , but Lance-” he looked a little green when he looked up at his friend. “-Try not to kill me next time?” “No promises, big guy!” Hunk sighed. “I was afraid you would say that.” Lance laughed as he sat up. “Come on, guys!” He offered, “The cafe only got a limited number of pastries, and if we start moving now then we can get there before everything sells out!” Lance flipped onto his feet and almost fell over again. Ignoring Pidge’s brief “Ha!”, Lance beamed at his two friends. He noticed Hunk’s face brightened at the mention of the cafe. Ha! Take that, Pidgey! He wasn’t lying about Hunk wanting to go! Hunk laughed, “Then what are we waiting for?” Lance wrapped an arm around his friends. “That’s the spirit! Was that so difficult?” “For you, maybe,” Pidge sniped. “Ouch.” Lance clutched his heart as his friends chuckled. “That really hurt, you jerks!” He gasped as they started walking to the cafe. “Has my best friends, my allies in combat, my companeros, betrayed me to the cruel grasp of sarcasm?!” Hunk laughed while Pidge merely smirked up at him. “Nooooooo,” Hunk protested as they waited at the stoplight. “Lance, my man, we only want the best for you-” They ran across as soon as a lull in the cars happened, waving sorry to the cars that beeped angrily at them. “Awwww.” “-and that means we gotta poke ya sometimes to keep that ego of yours down,” Pidge teased. “BETRAYAL.” “Aw, Pidge, come on- give Lance a break!” Hunk chuckled, sweeping Pidge up in hug as the trio moved down. “He’s paying for everything after all!” Lance, despite his internal fear for his wallet because Pidge was definitely the type to buy the most expensive thing on the menu out of pure spite, played along, seeing the cafe in sight. Sweet, it looks like they made it before the line. “Yea, Pidge ,” He laughed, “See if I buy you that espresso I know you desperately want.” Pidge squirmed out of Hunk’s grasp in mock outrage, and Hunk let them go. “How dare you tread on such sacred ground!” They yelled, laughter in their voice, “Coffee is life , you heathen!” The two bickered the last couple blocks with Hunk interjecting and switching sides every so often. By the time they had reached the cafe, the conversation had moved on from coffee to Lance’s favourite blue pen that went missing in Physics to conspiracy theories to how adorable Hunk’s cat, Melemele, was to muffins. “All I’m saying is, my pal,” Lance said as he opened the door to an adorable little chime, “You can not physically top blueberry muffins, especially not with your disgusting pistachio muffins of all things.” “First of all, how dare you-” An annoyed voice cut in, and Lance stiffened. “Hi, welcome to Voltron’s Cafe- we don’t feed strays, so unless you’re going to buy something, can you please get the hell out ? You’re holding up the line.” Lance turned, more than a little offended. “Well, gee, you don’t have to be rude about it-” Wait. That annoying as hell smirk. Those eyes. THAT MULLET . “ KEITH!?” Lance shrieked. Hunk choked on nothing while the employee revealed to be Lance’s rival (something Lance had privately declared over a tub of ice cream to Hunk) looked startled. “Who the fuck are you!?” Keith asked bluntly, reaching for something behind him. Oh, Lance was just offended. “It’s me, Lance?! Your rival?! We have Physics, AP Calc, and Honors English together?!” “Wait, hold on a minute?! That’s Keith?!” Hunk said, his eyes jumping between Keith and Lance. Pidge just looked confused. “Who the fuck is Keith?!” Keith, still holding on to that pen that dick had apparently stole from Lance during Physics, paused. “Well,” he said, his face unreadable. “ Fuck. ” ~o~ So it turns out Keith was working part-time here as a barista, and Lance wasn’t entirely sure whether or not that was good or a bad thing. For one, he got to see Keith’s manager, a man named Shiro, come by to reprimand Keith for swearing at customers, and they had managed to get prime seating near the entrance because of it. On the other hand, he was trusting Keith not to fuck him over when he brought his drink over. Pidge, the little bastard who did buy the most expensive drink on the menu, leaned over the table and stared at Lance. “Sooooo,” they started slowly. Lance glared at them. “Don’t. Even. Start.” He gritted out, his ears flushing slightly. Oh no. Oh nonononononono- they’ve got that look in their eyes. “How much do you hate this guy?” Pidge said cheerily, shoving half of the sugar packets into his bookbag. Before Lance could say anything, Hunk rolls his eyes and leans forward. Hunk, you traitor , Lance thinks desperately. But it’s too late for Lance. “He used to come back home swearing angrily at nothing,” Hunk informed Pidge, “Because this one kid got a higher score on a test then he did and bump the curve down just low enough for him not to get the A. After like 3 years, Lance was willing to go through a week of all-nighters to one up this guy. ” “Reeaaaaaallly?” Pidge drawled out, “That sounds like some serious dedication to me, Lancey boy.” “One,” Lance stated flatly, trying to hide his flaming ears. Damnit, could they not talk about this with the guy like two feet away?! “Never call me that again. Two, I was going through a rough time for the all-nighters thing- Hunk, stop laughing I was having a crisis - and three, yes, I fucking hate him, why shouldn’t I?!” “I dunno,” Pidge continued to drawl with an ever growing smile on their face. “He’s pretty, smart, clearly your type-” “Nyma was one time!” “She was still a bitch.” “Amen to that,” Hunk murmured. “Hunk, no.” Lance groaned out, his face making contact with the table. God, somebody kill him now. “I warned you!” “I told you I was sorry-!” Suddenly, a tray slammed down on the table in front of them, and the trio jumped, with Lance’s slamming his knees on the table and him crumpling over in pain. “Keith!” A voice shot out sharply, and the hand hold their tray of drinks twitched. Keith sighed and gritted out, “Two Lattes, one mocha-swiss, fudge drizzled large caramel espresso, and one raspberry-lemon souffle.” Hunk and Pidge cheered as Lance groaned. “Damn you, gremlin,” he got out as he pulled out his credit card and slide it in Keith’s general direction. But Keith pushed it back with a flush on his face. “Don’t bother. I already paid for it.” The table stared at him with wide eyes. Lance was confused. “Wh-what man?” Lance sputtered out, gesturing with his hands wildly. Hunk saved his drink luckily though. “Man, I thought you didn’t recognize any of us?!” Keith rubbed the back of his neck as he held the tray behind him. “...You sounded familiar after you told me-” “No way man, I’m calling bullshit!” Lance ranted, “Come on, spill! You definitely want something from us!” “Lance!” Hunk hissed at him as Keith flushed and looked a little angry. But Lance’s next words died on his tongue when he saw the small amount of fear in Keith’s eyes. “Look,” Keith started angrily, “As long as you keep your mouth shut, everything’s going to be fine, alright-?” “Whoa, man,” Lance started, “Are you bribing us?” Keith flushed, and he practically threw his hands up. “What else am I supposed to do?” He hissed back, waving his tray around a little. “I don’t know you, but you know me which means we go to the same school-” “Oh. Ooooooohhhhhhhhhhhh.” Suddenly, things made a bit more sense. And looking around the table, it looks like everyone else understood too. Lance supposed it would make sense for Keith to worry. After all, as Keith didn’t hang out with them long enough to realize that wasn’t the type of people they were, and apparently wasn’t a good enough judge of character to realize they’ve done equally stupid shit. Working a job, which was technically against school rules and could get you expelled, was something everyone did. But Keith’s situation, by working in a place that was entirely new, could actually get him caught, so Lance could forgive him for panicking. Apparently, Hunk, bless his heart, felt the need to reassure Keith that they wouldn’t say a word. “Man, it’s alright- we won’t tell! We’ve certainty done worse, and we’re still in school.” “By miracles,” Pidge murmured. “Sssssssssh, Pidgey,” Lance said soothingly, practically lying down on half of the table to reassuringly (or what he considered reassuring) pat Pidge on the shoulder. “What mullet doesn’t know won’t hurt him.” Keith was apparently relieved enough to let the mullet comment slide. “R-really?” He said relieved. And Lance won’t lie- his heart kinda melted at the relief in Keith’s eyes. “That’s great, I guess.” “Why do you even need this job?” Pidge asked curiously, “I mean, you don’t have to answer, but-” “It’s fine,” Keith replied, and added somewhat awkwardly, “Actually, give me a moment?” They shrugged, and Keith went off to talk to Shiro in corner. Pidge shot Lance a look . Lance shrugged back, and Hunk passed back his coffee with a small hand pat. Lance shot him a glare as Keith came back. And slid into the chair next to Lance?!? “Uh…” Keith started looking really out of place, “Do you mind? Shiro said I could take my break, and I owe you guys some explanations-” Lance, curse his weak heart, nodded. “Y-yea! I-it’s not a problem.” He told himself internally that he was fighting over his feelings of rivalry, but honestly, some people can just pull off an apron really fucking well. Keith turned back absently and nodded at Hunk and Pidge. Lance was remotely offended, but then again, they were the ones to ask the question. “Look,” he started off all business- ruined entirely about the awkward crack in his voice and the flush on his face. “The shelters are having trouble, and they had this one cat that was causing trouble and everything. They don’t have room for it… so they were going to put it to sleep. And… I happened to be walking home, and it comes running at me?” He shrugged a bit helplessly. The trio sat there and stared at him for a little bit. “....wow, you are a sap,” Pidge says flatly. Lance almost breaks down into laughter as Keith flushes angrily. Pidge backpedals a little when they see how uncomfortable Keith is. “No! I mean,” They say hastily, “Don’t take it the wrong way, but most people would have just left it there.” Keith sighs and places his head on the table. “I should have, honestly,” He grumbles, “Look, what it basically boils down to is that my fosters don’t know we have a cat, and here I am, working at a cafe to pay for what it needs.” ...If that wasn’t the sweetest thing Lance had ever heard from a grumpy asshole then he’s straight. And he’s not. Hunk is waiting for Lance to say something, and Lance is confused- oh. Fuck. Damnit, Hunk. Curse you and your kind heart, and curse Lance’s weakness for grumpy assholes. “...Does your cat have a name?” Keith turns his head to face him. “What the fuck does that have to do with anything.” Lance plays mock-offense, hand on his chest and coffee in the other. “How rude! Here I am, about to make you the offer of a lifetime, and you’re acting like I’m about to shoot you-” “Are you?” Keith challenges. Lance sputters. “O-of course not! What kind of person do you think I am?!” “An asshole.” “Wow,” Pidge says slowly with a smirking threatening to take over their entire face as Hunk breaks down into laugher. “He summed up your entire personality in a phrase.” Lance sniffs and flips Pidge off before continuing his sorta-heartfelt speech. “I was going to suggest two things. One? You let me pay you back for the food because cats are more important then people-” “Maaaan, I would be so offended if I didn’t feel the exact same way,” Hunk said cheerfully. “Love ya too, man,” Lance says at him with wink and fingerguns. Wow, Keith looks confused. Uh, back on track before they confuse the kid further. God, it’s kinda like he didn’t really know how to interact with people much. Which would make sense from what Lance notices at school. Guess aloofness comes from social awkwardness. “And second? My family’s already got a cat at home, so we can have them meet and see if they get along. If they do, you can drop the adorable kitty -” “Don’t say it like that- you make it seem creepy-” “-off at my place to hide from your fosters, and you can swing by whenever you want to hang out with them!” It seemed like a foolproof plan to Lance, but Keith still looked doubtful. “And your family won’t mind?” Lance waved him off. “My mom loves people. And cats. Especially cats. She’ll welcome you both over all the time.” “What about you?” “Well,” Lance said, shooting the widest grin he could. “You’ll just have to help me with the physics homework in return, huh?” And Keith smiled.
10946016	Tales from Another	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "F/M", "Characters": "Gloria, Christian", "Fandom": null, "Language": "English", "Rating": "Teen And Up Audiences", "author": "by orphan_account", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-19T00:00:00", "words": "830", "Additional Tags": "domestic abuse, Gloria's dad sucks, Jingletown, Running Away, American Idiot - Freeform", "Relationship": "Gloria/Christian", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": "Tales from Another Broken Home", "Collections": null, "Fandoms": "Green Day, Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown (Album)", "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	Gloria touched her cheek. It still stung. The glowing pink had not yet faded and neither did the tear-stains. The bed creaked under her as she shifted around, failing greatly at any attempt to get comfortable. The static-riddled noise of the barely-functioning television still managed to reach her room. This house was never quiet. There was always too much noise, too much yelling. Gloria was no stranger to the sound of plates and picture frames shattering. Even when the fights didn’t come to throwing things, there was the inevitable screaming match in the kitchen. Nobody wins, nobody leaves happy, the fight was pointless, but seemed now like a necessary evil. Gloria kicked her shoes off and crouched at the foot of the bed. She dug around under her mattress and pulled out a crumpled, mostly-empty pack of cigarettes. She sat on the floor, looking more defeated than ever before. Dale’s fist was about the only thing that hadn’t been thrown at her, until now. Closing her eyes, she took a long drag from her cigarette. The smoke left her mouth in a shaky breath. It took everything she had not to set the room on fire. Dale frustrated and confused her to no end. Nothing in this house would ever feel like home, and she had to wonder whether or not she had a home anymore. A quiet but firm tapping against an already cracked window pulled her out of her thoughts. A familiar face sat outside, waving, giving a hopeful fraction of a smile. Gloria lifted up the window and held a finger to her lips. Christian nodded, making his way through the small entrance as quietly as possible whilst wearing combat boots. Both stood still for a moment, expecting the worst, hoping for the best. Gloria shut the window. “Not that I don’t appreciate the visit,” She started while Christian dusted off the shoulders of his jacket. “But you came at kind of a bad time.” She fell onto the bed and sighed. The light from her bedside lamp was barely enough for Christian to make out the pale pink still stuck on her cheek. He frowned at the ugly scene it painted in his mind. “You had another fight?”Gloria nodded, keeping her gaze pointed at the carpet. The two were silent. Christian didn’t even have to ask anymore, he knew Gloria’s story by heart at this point. It never changed. “What was it about?” Gloria just shook her head and stuck her tongue into her cheek. Christian had known her long enough to recognize it as anger. “It was about you, funny enough.” Her words had become so quiet they almost sounded like a single breath. Christian shifted his weight onto his heels. “He thinks you’re a bad influence, or something like that.” She almost laughed. “As if he isn’t bad enough.” Gloria took another drag and tossed the cigarette to the floor. She pulled her knees up to her chin and sighed. Christian knelt in front of her. “We should get out of here.” Gloria tilted her head up. “And go to your house? Dale would kill us.” “I don't mean the house.” Christian reached out and squeezed Gloria's shoulder. “Out of-” “Out of this shit show of a town.” Christian finished. “This place is garbage, Lori, this house is garbage. You get treated like a dog and it's disgusting.” Gloria pursed her loops and looked down at the carpet. He was right. She'd given thought to running away before, hell she'd done it a thousand times, but it felt so scary now. Maybe because this time it was more than the side-effects of teen angst, this time she would do it. She needed to do it. “How are we gonna do this?” She asked, her voice still uncertain. Christian stood and paced the small space. “We can take a bus out to the city. We'll get a sleazy apartment or move in with a bunch of students or something.” “Where do we get the money?” Gloria gestured to a few dollar bills poking from the drawer of her bedside table. “I've got about a hundred bucks.” she shrugged. Christian hummed, deep in thought. “The seven-eleven. I'll grab some cash from the register and we'll book it out of here.” Gloria tried to hide the grin spreading over her face. Christian returned to his place, kneeling in front of her. “Lori, we can do this. Dale probably has a stash somewhere, right?” Gloria nodded hesitantly. “He keeps some in the kitchen, sure-” “Then that's it! That's all we need!” Christian smiled wide and took Gloria's hand. “But when do we leave?” “Tomorrow.” “Tomorrow?” “Tomorrow!” Gloria couldn't help but laugh at Christian's goofy smile. He took both her hands and pulled her up from the bed. “Pack your stuff, get your cash, and by midnight tomorrow we're saying good riddance to this town forever, okay?” Gloria's smile could light up the room. Out of jingletown. Forever.
10965018	Space	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "M/M", "Characters": "Greggory Lee, Angus Delaney", "Fandom": "Night In The Woods (Video Game)", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Mature", "author": "by orphan_account", "chapters": "2/?", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-21T00:00:00", "words": "1,254", "Additional Tags": "Arguments, Yelling, Angst, Angsty angsty angst, sorry fam, Bipolar Disorder, Bipolar!Gregg, Unresolved Conflict, Humanized, Human!NITW", "Relationship": "Greggory Lee/Angus Delaney", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	When Gregg comes home with his hands scratched up and shaking, and glittering shards of glass stuck in his jacket, Angus knows exactly where the blonde boy has been."Are you kidding me?" He confronts him in the kitchen, as the small boy is washing the blood and dirt from his hands at the sink. Gregg jumps away from the sink, hiding his hands behind his back. "A-Angus! Hey!" "You were with Mae. I thought you were over all this?" Gregg scowls "Leave her out of this c'mon, it was my idea." "And what exactly was your idea?" Gregg chuckles nervously, "Well uh... I'd throw light bulbs up in the air and then she'd swing and try to hit them with a bat? And when she did, glass kinda went everywhere and-" "Gregg!" The smaller boy jumps "You said you were done with all this stuff, 'crimes' or whatever, but suddenly Mae's back and-" "I said leave her out of it, c'mon!" Angus walks back out to the living room, rubbing his temple "I just don't get it. Why? Why do you do this? We're never gonna get out of here if i'm paying to get you out of a police station." "It's not even that big a deal, I don't know why you're so upset." Gregg mutters, shutting off the sink. "Do you think I like being the bad guy who has to like, tell you how to behave or something?" "No! Maybe just...don't instead?" Angus whips around "Gregg! Please." "Jeez I'm sorry dude! You wouldn't get it anyway." "Try me! Even if I don't understand, I can try!" Gregg stays silent. "Hasn't that been the one thing I've tried to do this whole time? Understand?" Gregg stays quiet again. He knows he has two choices; he can tell Angus what he's thinking, he can spread the contents of his brain on the carpet like playing cards, or he can crack a joke and be the asshole, but at least he won't be vulnerable. "I'm just..." He trails off. Angus groans "Gregg I can't help you if you don't talk to me." "Who said I want help?" Gregg crosses his arms and looks the other way.The room is silent, and tension crackles like fire. "I...I need some space."Greggs head shoots up. "W-what?""I can't...I don't...I can't get to you. I don't know what to do anymore." "You're...So you're breaking up with me?" Greggs trying to stay composed in the moment, but his voice breaks and he feels the burning behind his eyes start again. "I don't know." Angus is only a few feet in front of him, but Gregg knows this is the furthest they've ever been from each other. There are entire forest fires separating them, and there's so much smoke the air suddenly feels thick and unbreathable. "I should...I'm gonna go." Before Gregg can say anything, can drop to his knees and beg forgiveness, the door shuts quietly and the apartment is empty. It's quiet, and the air has gotten cooler. Gregg eats a brownie from the kitchen and pulls the glass from his jacket before he collapses onto the couch in broken sobs. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Angus isn't good with confrontation. He never has been. He never had the type of parents to teach him about dealing with feelings in a healthy way.Gregg had a lot of feelings. Some days he was on top of the world and impulsive, other days he was twitchy and nervous, and others he was downright depressed. He could never seem to be right on top of himself.Angus hadn't meant to walk out. One second he was trying his best to reach Gregg, to calm him down, the next something inside him popped like a bubble.He loved Gregg, of course. He just couldn't handle all of Greggs issues on top of his own. He was a boyfriend, not a psychic.His mind flashes to their last falling out. Gregg had snapped in one way or another and he snapped back and then the door was slamming in his face. He remembers falling back on the couch, assuming his boyfriend had gone outside to smoke. And then forty five minutes passed and he noticed the pouring rain.He had found the smaller boy sitting on the stoop outside, soaking wet, with his arms on his knees and his head buried in between sobbing. After Angus managed to coax him inside he locked himself in the bedroom for a day and a half, and when he came out he pretended it had never happened.Angus comes to a stop outside the apartment building. He's run out of clean clothes which means it's time for confrontation.When he enters the apartment, it's dark and freezing cold. When he looks around he notices the blinds are shut and the space heater is shut off. He also notices the small figure wrapped in a blanket on the couch."Gregg?"He jumps up into a sitting position "A-Angus! Hey dude! How ya doin'?""Shit Gregg, you look like hell."The boy frowns. His hair is ruffled in a thousand different directions and there are deep circles under his eyes."Bug, have you been eating? Have you let any sunlight in?"Greggs gaze hardens "Why does it matter to you, huh? Aren't you just here to get your stuff? You're gone for good or something? Found someone better?" His voice cracks on the last sentence."Oh my God, Gregg-""Sorry. I'm being annoying again..." the blonde lays back down and faces into the couch, hoping the dark-skinned boy standing a few feet away won't see the tears leaking from his eyes.Angus kneels in front of the couch, tentatively putting a hand on Greggs shoulder.Gregg turns around again, meeting Angus' eyes. The past few days hit him then and there. Angus was gone. Angus was there and Gregg is lost again. Angus. The space is back. Greggs no longer laying on a couch, but drifting through space, falling through an ocean, bumping the stars lightly as he floats."Gregg listen to me. Have you eaten anything?"He loosely shakes his head "N-not really."Angus sighs, "Stay here."He walks to the kitchen and flips the light on. The plate of brownies is still there, and a glass from just before Angus left. There's still a few dried drops of blood on the counter from Greggs hand.Angus grabs a soup can and pours it into a sauce pan, going back to the living room and leaving it to cook.Gregg is sitting upright now, and when Angus opens the blinds to let light in, he sees the dried tear stains on his boyfriends face."I'm sorry.""For what?""For doing stupid stuff. And for not talking to you. And being an all around dumb fuck.""You're not a dumb fuck Gregg.""Hmmph.""Do you wanna talk before or after you eat?" Angus stands up and turns off the stove."'m not hungry." Gregg mutters."Yes you are." Angus hands him the bowl and he takes a tentative bite.It quickly becomes clear that Gregg is taking his sweet time, trying to avoid the conversation they have to have. Angus sighs, and returns to straightening up the apartment, scraping the stale brownies into the trash can. He looks up when he hears movement, just in time to see Gregg vanish into the bedroom. He knows it'll be some time before he comes out again.
10929921	A comfy busride	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "M/M", "Characters": "Jonathan Combs, Napoleon Maxwell Sowachowski \| Sock", "Fandom": "Welcome to Hell - All Media Types", "Language": "English", "Rating": "General Audiences", "author": "by Mpkorver", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-17T00:00:00", "words": "687", "Additional Tags": "Lap-sitting", "Relationship": "Jonathan Combs/Napoleon Maxwell Sowachowski \| Sock", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	Jonathan quickly shoved some bread into his mouth and ran to the busstop, which fortunately was close to his house. “You’re late!” Sock said cheerfully, waiting for him like always. “I hate you.” Jonathan replied with the bread still in his mouth. He didn’t mean it though. Yes, Sock could be annoying, but besides being a general nuisance he was funny and nice to talk to, sometimes. Jonathan felt a little less lonely and it was just nice to have Sock unconditionally at his side, whether he wanted it or not.“It doesn’t matter though, the bus is late too.” Sock continued. “It should have arrived for a while already…” “Huh.” Jonathan replied.While waiting for the bus, Sock kept annoying Jonathan. The latter would never admit that he was actually quite amused by Sock, and time passed quickly. When the bus finally arrived, it was quite full. Jonathan found the last empty seats and sat down. Sock sat down next to him.Since the moment Sock introduced himself to Jonathan (“I, uh, I’m a demon… and I’m here to haunt you? Wait, that was terrible”) and some more explanation (“So you’re actually a ghost?” - “Demon, actually”), Jonathan understood that no-one else could see Sock but him. At first he always left the seat next to him free for Sock, but to prevent anyone else to sit there, Jonathan put his bag on the seat next to him, just in case. The bag meant ‘reserved for Sock’, and with him being a demon, he could sit through the bag anyway. (Jonathan didn’t want to think about the nightmare he had about Sock’s spooky hole. He was both fascinated and frightened by it. Sticking something in it seemed like a horrible and a fantastic idea at the same time.)So this time, like at any other day, Jonathan had put his bag on the seat next to him and Sock in his non-material form was sitting through it. Except that today, the bus was nearly full.At the next stop, a girl stepped in. She looked around and found the only 'empty' seat, which was next to him.“Hey, Jonathan, was it? Can I sit here?”He vaguely knew her from one of their classes, but he couldn’t think of her name so quickly. Jonathan didn’t exactly dislike her so he didn’t want to be rude immediately, but he didn’t want her to sit on Sock either… “No… Sock is already sitting there.” he replied, panicking a little.“Seriously, you call your bag ‘Sock’? Well, you can put your ‘Sock’ on your lap, I don’t want to stand for half an hour.” she replied, getting annoyed.How could he explain that Sock was his invisible demon? Jonathan felt he had no choice and slowly, dramatically put his bag on the ground, near his feet. “Sorry Sock…” he whispered.“Thank you.” What’s-her-name said in a ‘finally’ tone. She sat down cross-legged, put on headphones and opened her book.Meanwhile, Sock had to act fast. Hypothetically he could have just kept sitting there, but he didn’t want to sit through a stranger. He quickly jumped on Jonathan’s lap. Since he didn’t want to sit through Jonathan either (such an intimate hug was a little too early in their friendship, he figured), he materialised. Jonathan was surprised, but he couldn’t help to make a small smile when he felt Sock’s weight on his lap. He didn’t dare to admit that it was a nice feeling, and he felt vaguely warm in his stomach. Their height difference seemed perfect for comfortable lap-sitting.Sock smiled back. Jonathan looked next to him. The girl had only eyes for her book and only ears for her music. Jonathan carefully wrapped his arms around Sock, who smiled wider and shifted a bit closer until he sat comfortable, leaning against Jonathan.They knew they didn’t have to say anything so in a comfortable silence they continued their way to school. Jonathan was almost disappointed when they arrived and he had to get up. He secretly hoped that on the way back, the bus would be full again.
10988370	If Tom Was Lokis	{ "Archive Warning": "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings", "Category": "Other", "Characters": "Loki (Marvel), Tom Hiddleston, Odin (Marvel), Frigga (Marvel)", "Fandom": "Loki/Tom Hiddleston/Therapist", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Teen And Up Audiences", "author": "by Thephoenixalchemist", "chapters": "2/?", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-24T00:00:00", "words": "3,779", "Additional Tags": null, "Relationship": "Loki/Tom Hiddleston (Patient/Therapist)", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	'I will not spend my time listening to some obnoxious physician blabber on about my actions of attempted glory and my rightful seat upon the Asgardian throne!' Loki snarled at Odin, who glared at his adopted son from his golden throne. Loki stood, encased in his cuffs and chains that clinked and swayed with every movement of his wirey frame. Nor Frigga or Thor were present, as were Odin's orders.'You will do as you are told, Loki.' Odin remarked. 'You have no choice in the matter. Your actions upon Midgard are inexcusable, and so proper and just measures shall be taken to ensure a great enough punishment be applied.''These visits to the physician will last until I believe that his use in your sentence has ended. You will be spending the rest of your time in your cell. You will be meeting the Midgardian every day, your guards will stay with you at all times...' Odin leaned forward from his seat, his gaze showing rage. 'And if you so much as touch the Midgardian, I will send you to the deepest and darkest hole in the universe, so you may rot.''Now, now Odin,' Loki teased. 'Let's not be too hasty!''Do not taunt me, Laufeyson.' Odin spat out Loki's title. 'If I was not counselled by Frigga and Thor, you would be dead.''I guess I have Thor and Mother to thank for persuading your judgement upon my sentence.' Loki rolled his eyes.Then he leaned forward, the guards holding his chains tensed. 'Do not let them make your decisions for you. If I am for the axe, just swing it...then be done with me for the remainder of your rule...oh, but then, would Mother or Thor ever forgive you?''Do not tempt me, Loki.' Odin said. 'Their forgiveness need not be given if I kill you, for they will know that it was for the betterment of the universe and all its occupants. And neither have Thor or Frigga have swayed my decisions upon your head; they simply showed interest in your survival, as they have become...somewhat attached to you.''Attached?' Loki scoffed. 'You speak of my "family" bonds as if I am a pet! A pet who of which has bitten the hand that has guided him, and must be punished for his foolish actions?! My actions would have brought me glory and the rule over the homosapien race. They were created to serve and bow before us, the gods of the skies. I ask you this Odin; why protect such an inferior race? They shall serve us as the mewling dogs as they are, and beg for their lives.''You underestimate the human race, Loki.' Odin started. 'The one thing you have failed to learn in all your years of life, is that every living creature is made for a reason. Everything from the smallest ant, the cow that supplied the leather for your garments, and the humans of Midgard are all infinite as is everything around them. They were born for independence and strength. To rule over themselves as they deem fit. You cannot enslave an entire race for your entertainment; for you need nothing to rule, as you give everything to your followers. You, Loki, strive to force an entire planet's occupants into slavery and expect them to be loyal. You are arrogant and pathetic and will never learn the ways of life, or rule.'Loki stood, listening to Odin's words. 'My, my Odin. You care for the humans as much as Thor does. Has your heart melted as his has? Have you softened? You show weakness in front of me?!' Loki's voice raised with every word. 'Now you listen to me, Odin King of Asgard. You watch your back, sleep with your good eye open, for I shall extract my revenge upon whomever I deem fit! You would dare show weakness in front of me? Your brain has been affected by the cobwebs of your mind.''Compassion is not a weakness, nor is mercy. For without, all you will be given in return is fear.' Odin waved his hand to the guards, and the tugged at Loki's chains.Loki was escorted to his cell, where his chains were removed, and he was left alone.Compassion? This was something that Loki once had, but it had faded away long ago. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- 'Loki...Loki, are you paying attention to anything to anything I am saying to you?' Odin said, standing outside the magical protective veil that separated Loki from the thousands of guards adorned in golden armour that assured Asgard that none of the many convicted criminals escape.'Loki, look at me when I am talking to you.' Odin's patience was wearing thin with Loki, who was laying upon his luxurious bed reading a novel. To be perfectly honest, Odin believed that Loki was being treated too well, considering his sentence and current situation, he should not have hand-crafted furniture, books to pass his jail-time, and a comfortable kind sized bed to sleep in. Odin had noticed the many menacing stares and snarls from the other cellmates, and even with Loki's rage and hatred towards Odin, he fears for Loki's life in the cells. No one has ever escaped from the Asgardian dungeons before, but to many of the convicted, it would be an incredibly enjoyable task to many men, women and creatures sentenced to life in the cells, to kill Loki, as he had a hand in putting many in the dungeon, and due to his many tricks and illusions deemed "annoying and much-hated", Loki had been crowned with a target on his head to the Nine Realm's creatures of the criminal underworld.Loki sighed and laid the book beside him on the green silk sheets. He then sat up, faking much resistance as he rose. Loki looked at Odin with a face of annoyance and intended condescendence.'Ah, Odin, yes,' Loki stretched his arms above his head and cracking his neck. 'What were you saying? I wasn't listening. The book of Midgardian poetry was a better read than the words you were attempting to use as a conversation. How long is your prison visit?'Loki, do not attempt to annoy me. I am trying to talk to you about the Midgardian physician.' Odin rubbed his weary eye.'I don't think that a doctor from Earth will help me in anyway, Odin. I am pretty sure my health is at its full capacity,' Loki swung his legs over the edge of the bed. 'Though, thank you for the heart-warming concern. Really, it touches my frozen, beastly heart.''Loki, please cease all meaningless conversation that exit your lie-twisting mouth.' Odin snapped. 'You are to meet the physician today. Your first meeting is at noon, and the palace guards will escort you to the meeting room.' Odin leaned forward so that his forehead was nearly touching the golden veil. 'But if you even touch this man, I swear to you I will keep my threat that I hold over you. And I mean this Loki.''Of course you do, Odin.' Loki sprang off the bed, and holding his hands behind his back and casually pacing in front of the great king in his beautifully adorned holding cell. 'And I have no intentions on hurting the weakling doctor at all, so please, save your menacing words for threatening another poor soul.''You will attend these meetings without any hassles, and you will do as the doctor says. It is in your better interests and future involvement in your existence.' Odin stepped away from the cell, intending on leaving. 'You have ten minutes before noon, so get ready.''There is no need. I am already ready to proceed.' Loki smiled and bowed, practically leaking sarcasm. 'Oh, gracious king, you are too kind upon my miserable life!'Odin grumbled to himself and walked away from the cell, which held his adopted son captive. He could not believe that he had entrusted the help and wise council from a mortal. It was Thor's idea all along. He had words with his "mortal girlfriend", and she had suggested this to him, with much convincing that Loki can be salvaged from the miserable and angry shell that once held the happy, mischievous and fun-loving Loki Odinson.Now all that remains, with help from his murder spree on New York, is a cold and heartless Frost Giant bastard child, whose future was to die at the hands of the chilling and ruthless ice wastelands of Jotunheim.~Loki walked with his guards, his chains which restrained him clinked and clanked as he walked. The guards said nothing to him, nor have they ever since his sentence. Their shining golden armour glistened in the Asgardian light as it poured through the open windows and into the marble hallway, illuminating the grey walls with golden light of the sun. The sun. Loki thought, if not for this sentence to meet with the Midgardian physician every day, I would have not seen the sun for many years, if not the rest of my life.The guards halted in front of a golden door, where Loki's adopted mother, Queen Frigga, stood. Her face wore an expression of weary sadness as she looked upon Loki's face, but then was replaced with a cheerful smile and a slight twinkle in her eyes.'Loki, my dear.' Frigga turned her attention to Loki, as the guards didn't move from their position in front of Loki. And due fully right of them. No way was there a chance in Hel that Odin would trust Loki with anyone alone, let alone his wife.'Dearest Mother.' Loki sneered, and bowed his head as a sign of respect. The guards would have possibly kicked him til he bowed, so to save them the time and effort he did it anyway. 'How goes the day? Still fighting with Odin? With Thor also?''I am not fighting with your brother or your father. I came to speak with you for a moment before you go to meet the psychiatrist.' Frigga said.Loki frowned. 'What is a psychiatrist?''He is the Midgardian man you are going to see. The mortals call them that, or therapist if you wish to abandon the ridiculously tongue-twisting name that I doubt nor you or I could spell.' Frigga smiled. 'The man is a sort of physician. He has been given the title of 'doctor', but as Miss Jane says, there are many different types of doctors on Midgard.''It is too difficult and confusing to try to comprehend the ways of the humans. They are a very strange race indeed.' Loki said, not smiling with his mother.Frigga took a deep breath. 'Loki, please do not attempt to make any more attention known to yourself by harming the Midgardian. He is here to help you, and in many ways, he's here to protect you. Listen to his wisdom and obey what he says.''I will not bow so low to do what a mortal says.' Loki snarled at his adopted mother, making her flinch. 'Humans do not rule over us; we rule over them. Do not confuse those with each other, as it is the balance of life.'Frigga shook her head. 'You're wrong Loki. Very wrong indeed.''As Odin has pointed out on many occasions, I am wrong in so many other ways. Why don't we start with my existence in this universe?' Loki's harshness with Frigga nearly made her cry. To see her much-loved son react like this and speak the way he speaks is upsetting on so many levels. But to avoid Loki seeing her tears, she immediately turned tail and walked fast down the corridor. But she nearly turned around when she heard Loki call out after her.'Ahh, see, Mother?! I disgust you also! Heed my words, and do not return to see me, if you wish to keep your sanity intact!' Loki screamed after his crying mother.~Loki was ushered from the golden hallway, and into a small room, where the guards pushed him into and closed the door behind them. Loki muttered something rude towards the guards.‘Please excuse their manners. I don’t think they like you very much.’ A voice said behind Loki. He spun around to see a man sitting on a chair, looking at him. ‘Please, sit down.’ He waved his hand at a chair opposite him. Loki was wary of the man. ‘No guards? No one to protect you?’‘Patient and doctor confidentiality is of the utmost importance between us.’ The man smiled. ‘No one will be listening in.’‘I don’t care about your Midgardian “confidentiality”. You must be very brave or very stupid not to have anyone here to keep an eye on me. Do you even know who I am?’ Loki sneered.The man nodded. ‘Yes, Loki, I know. Your father filled me in on-‘‘He isn’t my father!’ Loki spat. ‘That man whom sits on his golden throne and stares down at me as if I’m an insect on the ground has no relation to me.’‘Hmm,’ the man produced a notebook and pen from his bag next to the chair he sat on. ‘So, you and Odin have a rocky relationship?’ ‘Who are you to ask questions, mortal?’ Loki tried crossing his arms, but failed as the chains stopped him from moving his arms. Loki shook the chains in annoyance. ‘Valhalla damn these chains!’The man stood and approached Loki. He didn’t seem scared of Loki at all, more friendly. Did he even know what he has done? He was a murderer and powerful god; he should be trembling at his feet.The man dug into his pocket and revealed a key. ‘Your father, I mean Odin, insisted chains were compulsory to our meetings because I denied any guards, but I don’t think they’re necessary.’‘Necessary?’ Loki questioned the man as he unlocked the chains and let them fall to the ground. Loki rubbed his wrists where the chains were. ‘You’re not…afraid of me? Not at all?’‘Why would I be?’ The man asked. ‘Because I am a god. You are a mortal. I have murdered many and I hold great power. You should be terrified.’ Loki boasted.The man chuckled. ‘Loki, I’m not afraid of you. Not at all, because I think that you can be much more than just a ruthless killer and a murderous trickster.’ Loki was stunned at the man, though didn’t show it. The mortal was genuinely unafraid. ‘How can you not believe the things you have been told about me? Where you not there when I lead my conquest onto Midgard?’‘No. I live in a different country. Though I did see all about New York on the news. You did some serious damage.’ The man shook his head. ‘Oh, where are my manners? My name’s Tom. Tom Hiddleston.’ Tom extended his hand for a handshake. Loki didn’t shake his hand, so Tom let his hand fall to his side. ‘Okay, let’s take a seat and get started.’ Tom sat down in his chair and motioned Loki to sit as well.Loki was very confused. Odin had selected either a very courageous or a very stupid mortal for whatever this task was.Loki sat in the chair that Tom had said to, slumping in his chair. Formalities and pleasantries were long gone, and Loki was tired. ‘Can I ask, with all that leather and metal, aren’t you a bit hot?’ Tom asked. Loki shook his head. ‘I’m used to it.’Tom smiled. ‘I could never wear something like that. A shirt and trousers are all I can wear in summer.’ ‘You say that you live in a different country. Isn’t there just one on Midgard?’ Loki asked.‘On Earth? No, there are so many different countries, cultures and people. On Earth, different people have different gods and different ways to life.’ Tom explained. ‘I live in a country called England. There’s a large city called London, kinda like New York, and I live there.’‘You Midgardian’s are strange indeed.’ Loki confessed. ‘Why worship so many gods? Why not instead just worship one?’‘There are many different religions. Norse mythology, basically you guys, are just one of many aspects of our history. There’s Christianity, Jewism, Hinduism. Although I don’t think anyone really practises Norse religion on Earth anymore.’‘No one?’ Loki frowned. ‘So, no mortal on Midgard knows us anymore? We used to be gods to them.’‘Hmm,’ Tom smiled. ‘I have an idea.’ Tom leaned forwards to Loki. ‘Do you want to learn more about Earth?’Loki thought about this for a second. ‘You aren’t here to teach me about your planet. You’re here to…”psychiatrist” me, or whatever the term is.’Tom chuckled. ‘I’m here to coach you through your emotional trauma and hopefully get you back to your old mischievous ways. I understand this all started when Thor was to be crowned king before you because he’s older?’‘He was to be crowned king because he’s Odin’s son.’ Loki corrected Tom. ‘I am younger, yes, though because I don’t share a bloodline from Odin, I am not to ascend to the throne.’‘The way I understand it, is that you’re supposed to inherit the throne from Thor if he were to become unable to rule or die. You may not be related to Odin, but that kind of makes you his ward.’‘”Ward”?’ Loki scoffed.‘Yep. You were adopted into Odin’s family when you were cast out to die. If both Odin and Thor were unable to rule, you’d be the next candidate because you’re adopted.’‘Frigga would step in and rule in their place.’ Loki said bluntly. ‘It must be very different on Midgard, who rules over the planet.’Tom laughed. ‘Oh, no Loki. We don’t have a king. Well, in my country we have the Queen, but she doesn’t rule England. The Prime Minister and his band of politicians do.’ Tom babbled. ‘Each country has a President or Prime Minister or a person that is elected to represent the country and help that country with the assistance of opposing politicians who battle to become the next Prime Minister or President or whatever.’ Tom rubbed his eyes and chuckled. ‘It’s a lot more different than here. Not one person, but many people “rule” Midgard as a leader of their country.’‘Wait,’ Loki sat up trying to soak in everything Tom just said. ‘One man rules one country, with the help of others who want to rule that country too and step into his shoes.’‘Yeah, basically. Although it isn’t just a man. A lot of countries can have a woman leader, and one person doesn’t get to be Prime Minister or President all their life either. After a certain amount of time, there is an election and the population of the country then choses another leader from a selection of those opposing politicians I mentioned before.’‘So, there is no royalty? No bloodline that leadership gets passed down?’ Loki asked, suddenly intrigued.‘Well, not in English speaking countries there isn’t. But in my country, there sort of is but they don’t get any say in the affairs of the country. They inherit land, but that’s about it. The Prime Minister is the leader of my country.’Loki sighed and took this all in. Midgard was a very difficult place indeed.Tom leaned forward more. ‘Loki, I think that we can make a deal here.’Loki frowned. ‘What do you mean?’‘It’s obvious you want to learn more about Earth, and I want to help you get through whatever you’re experiencing. If I teach you about Earth, our ways and different cultures and so on, will you open up to me? Will you let me help you? I know we’ve only just met, and I didn’t think that we’d get far in this session, but in the future would you open up a bit more and let me help you?’ Loki considered this. Earth definitely had a very strange way of running itself, especially without a sole leader to be its king. ‘But then again, maybe teaching you about Earth might be a mistake, seeing that you tried to dominate the whole world.’ Tom looked through some of the papers he had on his lap. Loki raised an eyebrow. ‘What? You think your education of your Midgardian is better used on someone else?’‘Who knows? Maybe you might escape and try to destroy Earth again. The information I have is kind of sensitive…’ Tom strayed from his words to read one of his papers as Loki slowly tapped his foot in annoyance. He knew what the Earth doctor was trying to do; manipulate him into revealing his true emotions to him in order to obtain vital information about Earth.Loki crossed his arms and gave Tom a glare. ‘I see your true intentions, therapist…’ Loki sighed and sat back on his seat and decided to offer the doctor something.‘I will give you my word,’ Loki began. ‘For when our “sessions” commence every day, I, Loki of Jotunheim, will…talk about whatever it is you wish to converse about.’‘And in return, you want to learn about Earth?’ Tom looked up from his papers and leaned forward, a small smile appearing on his lips.Loki grimaced and roll his eyes. He stood and held his hand out for a handshake. ‘I do believe this is how Midgardians seal deals.’Tom smiled and placed his papers on the table in front of him, stood and shook Loki’s hand. But he didn’t let go, but held on tightly as the smile disappeared from his face. ‘But I swear Loki, if you go back on your deal, or do anything shady, you’re just proving that you really are what Odin and everyone on Earth thinks you are.’Loki gripped tighter to the doctor’s hand also, and pulled Tom in closer and smiled. ‘You may think you have the upper hand, but I am not called the god of mischief for nothing.’‘And I’m not called England’s best therapist,’ Tom pulled out a small throwing knife from his back pocket and showed the silver glinting metal to Loki. ‘And best knife thrower in Western Europe for nothing.’Loki smiled and let go of Tom’s hand. ‘You appear as any ordinary mortal, yet you have some formidable talents. I also am familiar with the art of knife throwing.’Tom pocketed the knife back in his pocket and sat down again. ‘Well, I’d better keep this away from you then.’
10909098	Jealousy Lust and	{ "Archive Warning": "Graphic Depictions Of Violence", "Category": "Multi", "Characters": "Lance (Voltron), Shiro (Voltron), Keith (Voltron), Allura (Voltron)", "Fandom": null, "Language": "English", "Rating": "Explicit", "author": "by rad_space_dad", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-15T00:00:00", "words": "6,199", "Additional Tags": "Smut, Bloodplay, Violence, Galra Keith, Dubious Consent, Breathplay, It turns feelsy too, Angst, klance, DarkShiro, BDSM, Choking", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": "Allura/Shiro (Voltron), Keith/Shiro (Voltron), Lance/Shiro (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron), Allura & Lance (Voltron), Keith/Kuro (Voltron), Kuro/Allura", "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": "Voltron: Legendary Defender, Voltron - Fandom, vld - Fandom", "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	This whole mess had started innocently enough"Shiro we should totally fuck on the sofa..." Allura giggled hard''Whoa Allura, Calm a little'' His voice cracked. ''This isnt where that kinda thing happens. We save that for bedroom"Allura frowned and growled, standing up and dragging shiro by the leg. She was stronger than he thought. She picked him up and threw him on the bed with ease. "Did I stutter?"''Hey!!'' He shouted as he had no choice but to go along with it. ''Some warning would be nice'' He struggled lightly in her grip. Impressed at how strong she was.She took him by the neck. "Want me to stop~" she mocked with a smirk. "Remind you of the galra?" She laughed and bit her lip. "You're so sexy when youre below me. Scared." She dragged a nail down his cheek. "Hm?:He turned his cheek away from her acting uninterested in what she had to say. He had never expected her to be that strong. As he turned his head he exposed his neck teasingly, hinting at her that he was ready for what ever she had.She grabbed his lawline and looked down at him. "Look at me when I'm talking to you." She spat on his cheek. "Pathetic. You just take it. Like a bitch." She pushed him down with her heel and smirked. Bending over, she grabbed handcuffs and tied him to the bed. "Now. You and I will have lots of fun. /won't we/?"He didnt even get a chance to wipe away the spit that fester on his cheek. He pulled at the handcuffs that restrain him, they were already digging into his flesh on his wrist. ''If you say so'' He taunted at her. ''Fun is Subjective''"Mmmm. Well /I'm/ going to have lots of fun." She laughed and looked down. "My little bitch." She bit her lip and pulled his shirt open. "Now. What are you into. Like...really into." She smirked "blood play? Knife play? Bdsm? Tell me all your dark fantasies."''Why dont we try it all and find out'' He said with a dark smirk as he eyed her up and down wondering where this version of Allura came from. ''But lets just say, Vanilla isnt my favorite flavor'' His words dripped with suggestivenessShe gave a snarl at him. "I thought as much. Fucking filthy." She stood up. "Now...lets see what you've been hiding from me..." she dug through his bedside table. "Huh. You're a real creep, aren't you." She grabbed the blade. "I knew those scars were for show. How about I...make a few more." She laughed, toying with it in her handsHe watched the shiny metal catch the light in her hand and he raised an eyebrow at her. Was she serious about this? He hoped so. ''Bring it on, bet you dont even have the guts. Youre just for show'' he taunted at her, wanting to get under her skin."Oh you doubt me. Ill make you pay for that." She grinned and moved to his trousers, beginning to cut them off, sawing very close to his dick. "Hm...sharp." she nodded in approval as papercuts now peppered his legsPretending not to love the feeling that his body was hers he simply spoke sounding bored ''I liked those trousers'' His disinterest a mockery at her. He loved that she was marking him, Claiming him as her own."Do you like your left arm too?" She smirked over his now exposed body. She lifted the knife and dragged the knife around his arm, as if she was cutting it off. Flesh split open, a crevice dribbling red pitifully. She bit her lip at the ring of pain, looking at him. "Now. Do you still doubt me? Hm?"He hissed through gritted teeth as he felt the blade tear through fresh skin. The angry pleasure, the feeling of blood dripping from skin. It was all so strong in his mind. ''I guess this means Im all yours? ''"You always have been." She gave a laugh. "Now. Be a good boy for me." She sneered. "Get on your knees." That would mean twisting his hand in the handcuffs, meaning digging in. She half hoped it would break the skinHe obediently moved and twisted and contorted himself, his arms behind him and the dull pressure got to him quickly. The blood ran from his arm and dripped into the handcuffs. ''Is this good for you?'' He asked with a defiant tone."Oh I'm enjoying myself." Blood poured from the wound and she laughed, probing it with her finger. She trailed the finger down his back leaving a path of deep crimson and slipped the slick finger in his hole, lubricating with his own blood. "You know...im glad A is so easy to carve..."He gasped at the intrusion, another raspy breath escaped his lips. ''Allura~'' He knew where this was going and he was ready. ''You are probably used to signing your name on paper work at your old job'' He spoke ''Well how about we make it so /Im/ the work you have to do''"I didn't allow you to speak." She glared. "Careful or ill gag that beautiful mouth of yours. But yes. You belong to me." She smirked and glided the blade along his ass -A-"Mmm you take this so well." She smirked. "Such a pathetic boy. Had practice?"He held his breath as he felt the hot slice of the blade, he didnt want to say anything. To give a reaction but his body betrayed him. He flinched under her touch. He enjoyed being called Pathetic, it made him feel powerless, even more so than being restrained. ''Im being pathetic? Only my whole life'' He darkly jokedShe frowned. "Oh be quiet." She stood up and grabbed rope, perfectly rough. "I warned you. Now you don't even get a pretty gag. Feel it burn you " she tied it tight and moved to the A, licking down the blood pouring down. "Lets play a fun game, how much blood can you lose before you pass out ....or bleed out."He moved against the rope only to feel it bite hard against his skin, even the slightest muscle tensing would tighten it. The touch of her tongue felt so different to the touch of the knife. It wasnt painful it was almost kind; But still possessiveShe laughed. "Oh Shiro. If only your friends could see you now. Tied up. Helpless. /bleeding/ hurting " she slapped the wound. "What would they think of their strong leader." She kissed his hole, red painting her lips. The first noise came from his throat, a groan, a mixture of Pleasure and pain. It rolled off his tongue filled with submission. Once her lips disconnected with him, he begged for more attention. He moved his ass upwards into the air. A soft whine left his dry lips.She smirked and started to slide the dildo in, slickened by blood. Laughing, she didn't wait for him to adjust. She suddenly felt light headed and her eyes were heavy. No...not sleepy now...no....His breath got caught in his throat unable to leave him. His eyes watered as he didnt get a chance to prepare for this. He buried his face down in the covers to hide his tears. No amount of lubrication could help with this. ''Allura~'' His whine muffled by the blanketsShe slid it in the rest of the way but she was swaying, unable to keep awake. This was dangerous now, the blade lazily on the bed now and Shiro losing blood. She attempted to steady herself, feeling sobriety from her dominance, having exhausted herself, her energy sappedThe force from the dildo in his ass made his arms weaker as his stomach muscles tensed around it. A knot in his stomach formed as he felt like he couldnt take any more. He muffled some more as he curled up the cuffs digging into his wrist, His left on the edge of breaking the skin.She frowned. No. She can finish this. "Turn around." She commanded, flipping him. Sliding onto him, she moaned, only conscious from the throbbing pleasure inside her. Whimpering, she began to slide up and down. "Fucking cum for me!!!" She cried out, shaking with pleasureHow he longed to be able to reach out and grab hold of her ass, he swore at the handcuffs holding him back. He bucked up his hips as the friction from her movements weren't enough. ''I need more'' He complained through harsh breaths. He felt himself growing under her and pressure building up inside him, but it wasnt enoughShe untied him, suddenly submissive. She was shaking, unable to look at the damage she made, not that he noticed much. "I order you to destroy me~" Surprised by the sudden freedom, he still did as he was told afraid it was just a trap. He grabbed hold of her arm and pinned it above her head, He placed hard kisses onto her collar bones, kisses that turned to bites. He didnt want any tools to mark her when he could do a good job.She moaned as he was now over her, Whimpering with pleasure. Not even closed eyes could stop the drip...drip... on her arm. "Do you need to be bandaged up?" Her voice was small, afraid. She could only act so long. "I...I didn't mean to go that deep..."''No'' He growled at her ''Leave it, I want it to bleed'' He insisted. Seeing the blood flow was freeing to him. He paused for a moment to watch her beneath him, her submissive frame so fragile beneath him. ''Touch yourself for me'' cold and demanding.She blinked up, her finger slick with his blood. She began to stroke herself, surprised herself that it felt so wet. Biting her lip she looked up at him, Whimpering and writhing under her own touch. "Shiro~" While she was busy he continued his rough kisses moving down past her collar bones to her breasts, leaving a trail of red bites that he hoped would bruise. He twirled his tongue round her nipple playing with it and rolling his teeth around it.She moaned. "Taka...I can't take much more~" she moaned, grabbing his hair with her free hand, hands trembling with pleasure. "Please....fuck....me...." she begged shamelesslyShe needed him. She had waited too long. Biting her lip, looking in his eyes...it was all foreplay to her. Shiro was so sexy she doubted if it wad all a dream, whether she'll wake in a cold sweat shouting his name-It was pleasure that brought her back. The sounds of her womanhood, the wetness on her fingertip, the pools of pain on her chest. He was real...and he loved herHe kept looking up at her, into her beautiul blue eyes. He wanted to make sure he was doing it right, to make sure she was happy with what was happening. It looked like she was. He dragged his mechanical hand down her skin, the cool metal igniting goosebumps, and let it settle on top of hers as she was working away. He guided her to an agonisingly slow speed.She slipped her fingers out, writhing at the disconnection. "No more teasing. Fuck me till I break!! Make me hurt!!"He placed a finger to his lips, Shushing her. ''I say when you are ready'' He gave her a quick slap to the face ''And dont speak unless you are spoken to'' He forced her hand back down so she was rubbing at her self while he pushed two slick finger into her. Adding another finger each second She whimpered happily and massaged her swollen clit. "Yes, sir." She half mocked. Breathing softly, she nuzzled into his neck, having to bend over to do soHe curled his fingers up inside her hitting the sweet spot, He wanted to make sure she was pleased but also he wanted power. He wanted her to obey his every word. ''Beg for it, Tell me why you deserve this. Why you deserve me, youre just a needy whore'' He teased with a dark smirkShe blinked. "I am your toy ... I'm worthless to anything except your cock and fingers. I belong to you...everything I do is for your cum, master." She was in a trance like state. She needed him. Hunger burned in her eyes. "Please."''Better'' He growled. ''Now Turn over'' He gave orders like it was nothing, his voice cold and unforgiving. ''I said turn over'' He hissed while giving his own member a couple of strokesShe was slow to respond and blushed. "I'm sorry!" She lay on her stomach and raised her butt in the air. She shaved just for him and anxiously waited for his approval. She desperately needed for him to praise her, to sooth her. Yet, she still wished he would really let loose. She had been told that shiro used to street fight and he had a sadistic and twisted side. Maybe she should try and get that out. She began to giggle and wiggled her butt playfully, felineHe gave her a sharp slap to her butt Before pulling her closer to him. ''So well taken care of, you must like to please.'' He leant over her, leaning his body on hers. He got close to her ear, drawing the moment out, making her anticipate his words ''Lets ruin it'' "No." The words slipped out like a giggly whisper and a rush of adrenaline hit her. What will he do to her?? Her heart was pumping and she nibbled her lip nervously as the high dipped. What will he do to her? She never felt so alive He let loose a dark laugh at her teasing refusal, He gripped on tight into her hips, nails biting into her flesh. ''Stay still, or there will be a punishment'' He warned as he ran his tongue around her hole. She wanted him to let loose? she will get it"Think I prefer the punishment." She warned before moving a little. She once again felt her heart beat fast and stop. His laugh sent shivers down her spine and she wanted more. "Hello Kuro..." she tried, her last resort At hearing his name he ran a hand up her spine and twined it into her hair. With a sharp tug he forced her to look back at him. ''I see you have heard of me?'' His voice growled like sand. He held himself differently, he wasnt tense he was relaxed but ready. ''But you probably dont know about me'' He said grinding his crotch against her ass. "Then show me." She spat back. "I bet its all talk." She smirked. "Like a domesticated big cat." She loved this, wondering what comment would make him snap. "Little kitty lose her claws?" She cooed. It all seemed rather too challenging as she lay in a submissive position, forced to look at himHer taunts hit a nerve as the last remains of Shiro faded from his eyes, Replaced by a golden fire. This was now just Kuro. ''Would a little kitty do this'' He roared as he Pulled her up against his body by her hair. He ran his free down her small, Breakable, Frame. He paused by her breast to give a light brush before giving it a hard squeeze. His hard member rub against her ass harder as he lean into her. She whimpered as he snapped his hand, dragging her. "Gah!!" She bucked down. "Please don't tease." Step one: out his other side. Now he just need to destroy her. "Shiro break me." She whimpered''Oh but if I dont tease how will I know you really want this?'' He shoved her back down onto the bed, but still kept hold of her hips. He forced his other hand into her mouth demanding she suck. Once his fingers were sufficiently wet, he ran one round her entrance. ''We cant we too kind now can we? I want this to hurt'' She blinked, nodding. "Yes, sir." She looked at him, shifting to her back. "Kuro...please...I need your cock!!!" She whined loudly, their friends could probably hear Sensing the need in her voice he decided it was time. He lined himself up with her ''Make sure you have something to bite onto'' he snarled sinisterly. He placed his tip against her giving her only a second to prepare before pushing in deeply. He slammed hard against her."GAH!!!" She cried out, anyone could have thought she'd been stabbed. She dragged nails down his back as he snapped his hips. It washed so much pleasure washed over her. She was a mess. "Gaha...ha....ha." she breathed deeply, almost wheezing."Allura?! Is everything okay?!" Lance called through the door, joined quickly by Keith His grin only grew as her sounds mixed with the others outside the door. He continued to thrust somehow deeper and deeper. He leaned into her aiming for the sweet spot, ''Just think what would your friends think if they came in and saw you being fucked like this?'' his voice dripped with cruel seduction. He wanted them to see her as his, he belonged to her. No one would take away his toy. She wasnt even Shiros. Just KuroShe melted under him as he hit her sweet spot over and over. She cried out loud, forgetting and not hearing that they weren't alone. "QUIZNAK!! GAH HA FUCK!!!" She was a mess, never knowing he was /this/ strong.Lance was panicked and Keith knew Shiro wasnt in there. Lance tried to open the door, worried. "Allura?!" He called, shaking at the handle.Not missing a beat he continued to fuck her, giving her what she wanted. To be destroyed. He gave her ass a quick hard slap, pushing her away from him. He pulled her back hard spearing her on him with a hard thud. ''Oh what will they think of you, once they see you are nothing more than a filthy slut.'' "H...huh mmmm please." She couldn't understand him and mumbled something in response. She felt so much pain and she had never felt so good at the same time.Lance kicked down the door and blinked at the scene. It was Keith that saved him. "Kuro. Let her go." He stood his ground, ears defensively flat. Lance, meanwhile, was struggling with open mouth and a raging boner He turned to Keith, a casual expression on his face. He didnt stop, this was what Allura wanted after all. ''Oh sorry, were we being too loud?'' He stared at him blankly, ''As if a pathetic low level Galra like you would do anything'' He had faced his fair share of them. he was a legend among fighters. He turned to a red faced Lance and merely winked at him.Lance melted. "Is it fucked up I wanna join in." He muttered under his breath.Allura was still obviously being impaled by Shiros throbbing member. She was grabbing at the sheets, mind hazy, dizzy, sleepy and wide awake.Keith snarled. "Kuro. You're going to hurt her. Lance I swear to God if you join in-"He would be tempted to join in too. He had released tension with Shiro before and he was very possessive, needy and praise seeking. He had never gambled with his life, doing anything with KuroHe cackled loud ''Thats the plan Keith''He wasnt even tired or Fatigued, still going hard. He grabbed a handful of hair once again pulling her from her trance to look at Keith and Lance ''Honey dont be rude, we have guests'' He was enjoying the moment, the attention, the judgement. It pushed him to go further. Another hard slap to her ass rang round the room. ''Oh and Lance, there is always room for one more. This could be you'' He offered. Nodding to AlluraAllura gasped and tried to cover at least her chest. "Gah!!" She blush dark crimson, reaching the tips of her ears. "W...what? U...um..."Lance was caught in his hypnotic gaze and moved to him. "Where do you want me~" he looked at him, blushing hard.Keith grabbed Shiros jaw and kissed him deeply. "Fuck it." He mumbled into his lips. "Why not invite pidge too..." he rolled his eyesHe turned his attention away from Allura, more interested in his new prey. He placed a hand on Keiths Jaw, He had always dreamed of having a moment with him. His gentle touch quickly turned into a hand around the throat. Pressing on his windpipe reducing the air. ''Lance, Come have a look at what a galra cock looks like'' He ordered as he teased at Keiths Boxers. ''Oh and Allura, I think its time you returned the favour''"F...favour?" She watched at Keith struggled for air, his dick getting harder by the second. "Shiro. Hes not-" but lance was already peeking into Keith's boxers, pulling them down. The first time he had seen it. "Master, may I help~?"''Who cared what hes not, What he is, is enjoying himself'' he shrugged as the boy struggle under his grip. ''Lance, Make sure he enjoys himself more.'' He said while placing a foot on his back pushing him closer to Keiths dick. ''And Allura, or should I call you my little slut? Come here and prove that your mine, do something for me'' The sight of Keith loosing his breath was too much for him to resist. He placed a deep kiss on his lips reducing the air even moreLance kneeled and took the galra cock in his mouth. Slight purple fuzz tickled his nose and he looked up, Keith turning him on more.Allura pouted. "Divided attention...." she needed to do something as he said, that would catch his attention. Shiro was holding Keith, Lance under him. She suddenly slipped lance into her pink tinted womanhood. She took Shiro in and relaxed her throat muscles, bobbing her head and pushed back onto lanceThe first moan escaped from his lips as Allura began working on him. She knew what she was doing. He clenched his teeth tightly, and loosened his grip on Keith slightly. He gasped as air returned to his burning Lungs, followed by coughing. It wasnt until he felt Allura moan around him that he realized that she was also grinding up against Lance. ''This wont do'' He breathed out. He grasped a hand into her hair and pulled her head deep onto his cock. He wanted to see tears in her eyes, to see her physically gagging. ''Are you forgetting who you belong you?''She didn't have time to breathe through her nose and clawed at his thighs. She frowned, recoiling and struggling. Lance smirked. Gotta take the opportunity. He grabbed Alluras butt and began slamming into her. He moaned onto Keith's dick, in too much pleasure to think straightHe stood back and watched Lance enjoy Allura, If thats how he wants to play it. Time to play him at his own game. He moved away from them and placed a hand on Keiths chest, Pushing him back till he hit the wall, he dragged him away from his boyfriend. ''Ive always wanted this'' He spoke ''Ive seen you through his eyes, I know his every thought about you. And here I am, His darkest thoughts'' He whispered into Keiths ear. ''He isnt man enough to do what I would to you.'' He bit deeply into his furry shoulder, wanting to matt his fur with blood.Lance glared. He will show him! Allura will never be fucked so hard before!! He moved and tried his hardest but Allura wasn't responding like she was with Shiro. He...he wasn't good enough. His heart shattered.Keith glared at Shiro. "You know what you're doing, kuro. You've done what you've wanted to with Allura...you can leave now." He wasn't paying attention to lance. "Or there will be- gah quiznak!" He groaned''You can try to deny this all you want Keith'' He ran a hand across his exposed manhood grasping at it lightly. ''I know you have always wanted this, what you and Shiro had before was never enough for you'' He kept him pinned against the wall, he was much more interesting to play with than Allura. She was too willing, there was fight in this one. ''I want to break your spirit'' He moved his hand up and down Keiths cock keeping eye contact with sultry eyes.Keith spat in his face, the only thing he could do, pinned and vulnerable. "You're just pissed you're galra rejects. You never were part of them you white bastard!" Keith wrinkled his nose. "Yes galra. No galra. It was painful to watch. You would do anything for them. Still would. You've not changed. Youre not the resistance. You're a coward!" He laughed but it was bitter. "Break me. Go on. I dare you."He hung his head low, a deep laugh rolled from him. He raised his head quickly, eyes glowing brighter then ever. ''Are you seriously trying to anger me more?? You are nothing more than a pathetic life in my hands right now'' He removed his hand and slammed it against his throat in turn slamming his head into the wall. ''I was a legend to them, You are nothing to them. '' His voice boomed out. ''All of you would be nothing without me, I picked you all up from the dirt and made you into what you are now.'' He slammed his head against the wall once more and raised his hand, holding Keith up till only his toes touched the floor. ''And I can quite easily turn you all into nothing ''Keith was dipping in and out of consciousness, breathless and in pain. He was just as impulsive as ever....but it was Allura who saved him. "Put. Him. Down." She tried to sound confident but the knife shook in her hands. Sexually, Kuro was perfect, not like this. Not to Keith. "Did I fucking stutter??" She called out again as Keith fell limp, his lungs still.He dropped Keith, letting him fall to the floor lifeless. ''Someone else who wants to challenge me?'' He looked at her with pity almost. ''Oh how did you know I was into that, you know me so well darling'' His voice sickeningly sweet suddenly. ''Would you really stab your dear Sweet Shiro?'' He mocked Shiros normal voice, the kind caring side. ''How about I do it for you?'' He walked towards her backing her against the wall until the tip of the blade lightly dug into his skin.Her hands shook as she felt muscle and bone grind against the blade. Tears streamed her face and her heart was beating. She couldn't take this, there was no escape. "Please stop please I'm sorry! This is all my fault." Keith wasn't awake yet and Lance had left. This was all her fault. All her fault. She deserved to be punished. It should be her that should have the knife in. Maybe then she won't have to deal with the aftermath. Shiro will blame himself. She hates it when he does. He'll be in pain if she flinches...he will be hurting and its all because she was greedy. She wanted a little bit moreHe saw all the thoughts on her face, all the worry and all the fears. All Summed up in the tears that stream down her face. ''He really means a lot to you doesnt he?'' His voice seemed betrayed. ''I thought you wanted this, You wanted me?'' He shouted throwing his arms up. ''I was going to make you mine because a Princess like you deserves more than a weakling like him'' he ran a metallic hand over her cheek wiping away the tears. He hung his head defeated, He looked up to her, Tears forming in his own golden eyes. ''we could have been great together'' His eyes began to fade from gold to a darker gunmetal grey and before the last of the gold dissipated he moved. ''Have fun explaining this to him'' He stepped forward, lodging the blade deep into his abdomen. And Like that the last of Kuro was goneAllura didn't understand what just happened. Did...did Kuro love her?? Did... h-She was brought back to Earth as blood spewed over her hand. She was scared. Keith /still/ hadn't woken up and she felt like a child, wanting someone to hug her and tell her everything was okay. She didn't get as far as thinking about leaving the knife in or taking it out. She began to weep. She failed him. She let temptation allow her to stray from him."Shi-" was all she could choke, hands still holding the handle, jerking it around subconsciouslyHis eyes clenched shut as he woke- was that the right word to use? Came round? What ever it was he felt pain. What had happened, He opened his eyes to see a weeping Allura in front of him, he wanted to reach out to her comfort her but he followed her gaze to his abdomen. He inhaled deeply as he saw her hands, bloody, wrapped around a knife that was deeply planted in him. He tried to speak, ask for help, anything but his mouth was flooded with blood. He felt himself crumple to his knees, falling he renched the blade from her hands. He saw behind her Keith, on the floor out cold. He looked up to her confused and afraid. What happened? He hoped his eyes could say that where his voice failed him. He saw all the thoughts on her face, all the worry and all the fears. All Summed up in the tears that stream down her face. ''He really means a lot to you doesnt he?'' His voice seemed betrayed. ''I thought you wanted this, You wanted me?'' He shouted throwing his arms up. ''I was going to make you mine because a Princess like you deserves more than a weakling like him'' he ran a metallic hand over her cheek wiping away the tears. He hung his head defeated, He looked up to her, Tears forming in his own golden eyes. ''we could have been great together'' His eyes began to fade from gold to a darker gunmetal grey and before the last of the gold dissapeared he moved. ''Have fun explaining this to him'' He stepped forward, lodging the blade deep into his abdomen. And Like that the last of Kuro was gone.Allura didn't understand what just happened. Did...did Kuro love her?? Did... h-She was brought back to Earth as blood spewed over her hand. She was scared. Keith /still/ hadn't woken up and she felt like a child, wanting someone to hug her and tell her everything was okay. She didn't get as far as thinking about leaving the knife in or taking it out. She began to weep. She failed him. She let temptation allow her to stray from him. "Shi-" was all she could choke, hands still holding the handle, jerking it around subconsciouslyHis eyes clenched shut as he woke- was that the right word to use? Came round? What ever it was he felt pain. What had happened, He opened his eyes to see a weeping Allura in front of him, he wanted to reach out to her comfort her but he followed her gaze to his abdomen. He inhaled deeply as he saw her hands, bloody, wrapped around a knife that was deeply planted in him. He tried to speak, ask for help, anything but his mouth was flooded with blood. He felt himself crumple to his knees, falling he renched the blade from her hands. He saw behind her Keith, on the floor out cold. He looked up to her confused and afraid. What happened? He hoped his eyes could say that where his voice failed him."Sh-" she managed less syllables now, her legs unable to support her. She killed him. He's dying. She was the monster here, not him. She was frozen in fear, looking down. Do something you pathetic bitch!! Hunk came rushing in and started to treat Shiro, used to not asking, used to asking later. Allura was weeping, exhausted and still shaking violently. "Shi-" ''please I'm sorry. I love you Shiro. Please I'm sorry I love you I'm sorry I die deserve sorry Shiro no more I cant Shiro-He weakly reached a hand out to her, even while bleeding out he was still thinking of her, ''It was him, not you'' He managed to choke out, His voice weak. He knew what Kuro was capable of, he had heard stories. It was inevitable he would raise his head sooner or later. Shiro was a danger to those around him, Kuro was easy to tempt out. Allura helped calm him from the edge many times before but this time was too much. ''Im sorry'' He spurted out through blood that splatter his chin. ''I still love you'' Hunk pushed hard on the wound with many layers of bandages, hoping it would be enough. The blood was slowing but he had lost a lot"It was my fault. I'm to blame Shiro I'm not this is my fault and i just...but you...them Keith...lance....it just..." she selfishly rambled on and she wiped the blood from his chin. "Shiro I can't lose you I'm scared. Please Shiro I'm sorry...." she wept into his chest uselessly. "Sh-"He put a finger to her lips, Telling her to be quiet. He didnt care whos fault it was, he was just fighting to not pass out. He knew the danger of doing it and he carried on anyway. Pointing bloody fingers wouldnt change anything. He looked up at Hunk to see the worry on his face. He furrowed his brow as a wave of pain ripped over him."Please be okay." She whispered and was shaking badly. "I'm scared Shiro I don't know what to do...Shiro I'm sorry!" She was weeping, helpless. Hunk was doing all he could, attempting to close the woundThe knife was out and he was being stitched up as best a cheap first aid box could do. ''Just lay here with me'' Shiros voice barely audible. He just wanted reassurance that he would be okay, and that if he wasnt. He would be with her till the end. ''I love you'' he ran a hand through her hair.He cant go. Not now. She wanted to marry this man....she loved him. Now was the time to stop being selfish. "Shiro...you're going to be okay. Everything is going to be fine...whats your happiest memory, hm?" She choked through exhausted tears. "Talk to me about your happiest memory..." He took a moment to clear his mind, try to block out the pain and think. He could have said about meeting Keith or Allura. Freeing himself from the Galra but none of that came to mind ''It was the day I met my Lion'' He started, recalling the day perfectly. ''I had worked so long and hard to earn money, I over looked her in the dealers.'' He smiled weakly ''But she just spoke to me some how. I knew we had a bond'' He laughed pathetically as coughing because of it ''I probably sound delirious'' He placed his hand near his side. ''Probably from all the blood thats currently seeping out from me'' He looked at the worried expression on her face and immediately felt guilty ''Sorry, Just a joke''She shook her head and cupped his cheek. She needed to keep him talking, keep him awake. She kissed his forehead. "No...you two have a bond...its amazing to watch..." she smiled softly. "Shiro. I believe in you...." "Shiro?!" Pidge ran in "A...Allura?!" The only person that could have done this. So much blood. "Shir...o...." he stuttered, not knowing what to do what to say what to think- "Shiro. I admire you. You're the strongest man I know. What I love more is your resilience to live. We all need you, Shiro. After all, good guys always win...youre a good guy, Shiro. And I'm not going to let you die."Tears welled in his eyes, He didnt deserve those words but he was in no state to fight them ''Pidge im so proud of you, You have come so far. Grown so much'' He tried to sit up not thinking but fell as a fresh wave of pain bolted through him and blood seeped from his wound. ''Shiro, dont move. Please'' Hunk begged him. It was starting to feel a lot like a goodbye as everyone crowded round him. ''Call me stupid, but someone check on Keith'' He spoke pained but still worried.
10983630	Chance Encounter	{ "Archive Warning": "Underage Sex", "Category": null, "Characters": "Satoshi \| Ash Ketchum, Haruka \| May, Kasumi \| Misty, Hikari \| Dawn, Iris (Pokemon)", "Fandom": "Pocket Monsters \| Pokemon - All Media Types", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Explicit", "author": "by ImoutoFics (WattStalf)", "chapters": "3/3", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-23T00:00:00", "words": "3,634", "Additional Tags": "Omorashi, holding contest, Vaginal Sex", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": "Haruka \| May/Hikari \| Dawn/Iris/Kasumi \| Misty/Satoshi \| Ash Ketchum, Hikari \| Dawn/Satoshi \| Ash Ketchum", "Series": "Ash Ketchum's Harem", "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": "F/F, F/M", "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	Ash, Misty, May, Dawn, and Iris all happened to be in the same Pokemon Center, by some strange course of events, and the five of them were all happy to see one another, but all happiest to see Ash. They spent a lot of time getting caught up before it hit them all just how tired they really were. After all, they had come there to rest, and that was what they needed to do. It came time for them to go their separate ways and get rooms, but as Ash went off to his, the girls decided that they would save space by having a slumber party. Not only would there be more rooms available for others, but they wouldn't have to stop getting caught up.So the four girls got a room together, quickly changing into their nightclothes. May wore a flannel nightgown, Misty wore a yellow tank top and light blue shorts, Dawn wore a pink nightgown, and Iris wore a pink tank top and pink shorts. They all settled in together, talking about their travels and sharing all sorts of stories about the road. Eventually, Ash came up, and it was May who admitted, “I used to have such a huge crush on him.”“Really?” asked Dawn, looking a little surprised. “I mean, me too, but I never said anything because he was so...”“Oblivious?” interrupted Iris. “Because that was my problem with him. That boy is completely clueless about those sort of things.”“No way, you too?” Dawn asked, staring at Iris.“Seems to be pretty common,” she replied.“Yeah,” said May, turning to Misty with a grin. “Come on, what about you?”Blushing, she glanced off to the side and muttered, “I mean, we did spend a lot of time together so I guess...”“And he never noticed with any of you?” Dawn shook her head in disbelief. “Wow, I can't believe it. I knew he was clueless, but I didn't know he was that clueless!”“It's not like I didn't try,” groaned May. “And, boy, did I ever try. I tried all sorts of crazy things to get him to notice, but nope! Not even a hint of interest!”“I know what you mean.” Misty sighed. “It didn't matter what I did. I don't think the boy's interested in anything outside of Pokemon.”“I bet I tried way crazier stuff than either of you,” said Iris, laughing.“And I bet I could give all of you a run for your money!” added Dawn.They went back and forth after that, sharing their stories about different experiences they had trying to get Ash's attention. It started out pretty tame, and they only talked about different outfits they wore. They'd describe whatever excuse they had for wearing such a thing, and then groan over the fact that Ash either didn't notice it or that it really didn't change much of anything. It didn't matter how they dressed, his attention wasn't swayed by any of it.The only time he really seemed to pay special attention to them were with matters involving Pokemon, and even then, it was strictly platonic. One of them mentioned that he must like something more unusual, and that was when they really began to open up about the things they'd done, even the more shameful ones. Dawn confessed to leaving her shoes off whenever they were alone, posing in such ways that really showed off her feet in the hope that he was into that, and May recounted the time that “accidentally” let a pair of panties get lost around camp. “But what if we tried...” One of them started, and it seemed that no matter what they came up with, they would be met with the response of, “I tried that! It didn't get so much as a reaction out of him,” or “been there, done that,” or, “I did that for an entire week, and he didn't seem to notice at all.”They had all run into the same problem, over and over and over again in their attempts to get Ash to figure out how they felt about him. No one had been able to come up with anything for him, and no one had been able to actually win the dense boy over, and the longer the night went on, the more frustrated they all became as they remembered all their failed attempts.And the longer the night went on, the more they all remembered just how much they wanted to be the one to make Ash crack, until they were really trying to come up with something to do. It had not been spoken aloud, but they all knew that at least one of them would try to win him over that night. It really spoke to their camaraderie in the matter, knowing that each of them would have supported any of the other girls equally.“What about...” Misty paused, before finally coming out and saying what had been on her mind. She'd thought about it before in the past, but had never had the guts to try it, and was a bit ashamed to admit her interest in it. But they were all working together, and they were willing to try anything. “What about desperation and wetting?”For those who didn't fully understand what she meant, she got some assistance in explaining it from those who did. There was a pause as everyone truly considered this, and considered what it meant that it was something that nobody had ever tried for him before. And, what was more, they all considered their reactions to hearing it, and each girl had more of an interest in it than they had expected.“I would be willing to try something like that,” Dawn said finally, breaking the silence.“Me too,” replied May, and Iris nodded.“I just thought it would be a little embarrassing,” said Misty, “but maybe...maybe it might work.”“So, how are we going to do this?” asked Dawn, and it had already been decided that they were going to do this. “I mean, if all of us are willing to try it...how do we decide who gets to actually do it?”They talked it out then, because that really was a very important question. Going back and forth, each one insisting why they should be the one to get to do it, they finally reached a decision. Finally, they settled on something; they would have a holding contest, and whoever lasted the longest would go to Ash's room to wet for him, and if he liked it, then they would have their chance with him.After a little bit more discussion, the four realized just how much they wouldn't mind sharing him. They had grown close over just this one night, and they agreed that the winner should try to convince him to make them all into his harem. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- In order to get things started, Misty went to fetch drinks for everyone. None of them were completely empty, so they weren't starting from nothing, but if they wanted things to get serious, they were going to have to speed up the process quite a bit. The four of them took turns drinking, until it became a bit more noticeable that they were all starting to get desperate.Iris was the first to make her need visible, squirming a bit where she sat. “I don't know if this was such a good idea,” she joked, and they all laughed nervously. It was difficult to get up the nerve to do something like this in a group, and the longer this went on, the more serious they realized it had become.Iris had started to notice that she needed to pee as soon as the subject of holding and wetting had come up. Once she had actually thought about it, she realized that she hadn't been to the bathroom recently, and her need had been in the forefront of her mind ever since. She was almost reluctant to agree to this contest, simply because she knew that she had no chance of winning.She looked over the room, watching the others for any signs that they were in as bad of shape as she was, but all she got was sympathetic glances as she crossed her legs and struggled to hold on. It was a while before anyone else showed off their own desperation, and by then, her bladder was absolutely aching for relief.May let out a small squeak, blushing as she squeezed her thighs together. She was really starting to feel the effect of all that she had had to drink, but she was determined to ignore it for as long as she could. If she had any chance of winning this, she was going to try as hard as she could. She wanted Ash just as badly as everyone else, and though she wouldn't be hurt if it weren't her, she definitely hoped that it would be.Misty, meanwhile, was doing all she could to keep herself calm, knowing that getting nervous would only speed things up. Her bladder was steadily filling up, but she was tougher than that, and if she did what she could to remain calm, she stood a chance of winning this. She could at least tell that she stood a much better chance than Iris currently did.The poor girl was already to the point where she couldn't even try to sit still, biting her lip hard and whimpering as she struggled to hold on. Even jamming her hands between her legs didn't do much to help her out, and it seemed that she wouldn't be able to last much longer at all. She looked close to tears just from the strain of holding on, and just looking at her made it a little difficult to ignore the growing pressure. Misty quickly looked away.Dawn was surprised at how well she was holding up. She could already tell that the other girls were struggling, and though she could tell that it was getting bad for her, it seemed that it was worse for all of them. Iris would be out of the game in no time, and she was sure that Misty and May couldn't be that far behind. If Dawn could hold out long enough, she really could be the one to win, and she steeled herself, vowing to make it to the end. If she wasn't the winner, she would at least strive for second place, if only for the sake of her pride.Iris crossed her legs as tight as she could, keeping her hands pressed to her lap all the while, but she knew that it was no good. The others were only just starting to show signs of desperation, while she was barely hanging on. She wasn't going to win, and she knew she wasn't going to win, and so when she felt herself begin to leak, she stood up, face flushed, as her body announced her defeat. The other girls couldn't help but stare as she began to soak her pajamas, trying not to show just how much she wished she hadn't lost so early on.As a puddle began to form at her feet, she sighed, only enjoying the relief a little bit. The contest had been stacked against her from the beginning, and now she was out of the running for good. But May bit her lip as she watched, feeling her own bladder practically beg her to do the same. It wouldn't be much longer for her either, and she squirmed, looking to Misty and Dawn to see what state they were in and if she had any chance.It was becoming more clear that the both of them were desperate, but May could also tell that she was going to have a much tougher time than them. She stood up with her legs crossed, jiggling her knees as she fought to hold on, and for a while, she managed to do just that. Tears stung at the corners of her eyes as she was pushed above and beyond her normal breaking point, and soon both of the other girls were standing as well, both doing what they could to hold back just a little bit longer.Misty had her hands between her legs and Dawn was practically dancing in place, while May was doubled over, breathing labored as she fought the very last legs of her losing battle. But then she felt her body giving up, even as she didn't want to, and there was nothing she could do to stop herself from giving in, her nightgown becoming a bit wet on the front while her pee ran down her legs, puddling on the floor beneath her. She sighed, saying, “I guess I'm out too...”Misty groaned, the sound of liquid hitting the floor almost too much for her to handle right now. She had been in enough positions where she'd had to deal with the sound of water with a full bladder, but it had never become anymore bearable, and right now was no exception. She grit her teeth, staring Dawn down as they both battled for their chance with Ash.Dawn was proud to say she had at least definitely made it into second place, but she wasn't ready to give up yet. First place was still a possibility, still within her grasp, and she redoubled her efforts, clenching her muscles as she ignored her bladder's pleas to be emptied. She had to wait until she was with Ash, she reminded herself. This would be how she won him over.But Misty was thinking the exact same thing, and no more willing to give up her chance at victory. She was reaching far beyond her limits and she didn't know how much longer she could last, but she put everything she had into it, biting her lip and urging herself on, thinking about the payoff if she could just manage to outlast Dawn. Victory was so close, so very close, and yet so far away, because no matter what she did, she couldn't stop it when she began to lose control.Groaning, Misty felt her cheeks burn as her pajama shorts were flooded and she was overcome with a relief that barely registered in the wake of her humiliation. She had been so close, but as her bladder emptied itself, she lost all chance, and she could only hope that Dawn's seduction would work and that Ash would be keen on the idea of a harem. Otherwise, she and the other two girls were out of the running for his affection forever.Dawn would have been a lot more thrilled about her victory, had watching three girls wetting themselves not made it a lot harder for her to hold back. But she had to hold back because she had to go after Ash now and see if he even wanted something like this. It was their last effort to win him over, and it rested solely on her shoulders.“Alright,” said Misty at last, “you won. You better get to Ash before it's too late.”“Yeah,” agreed May. “Go for it! We'll clean everything up here.”“Good luck,” added Iris.“Thank you!” said Dawn, before beginning the walk to Ash's room, each step a struggle due to the fullness of her bladder. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- It took a lot of slow, pained steps for Dawn to get to Ash's room with how full her bladder was, but she managed to keep herself in control the whole time, finally reaching his door. Ash was laying on his back, wearing only his boxers and sound asleep. Dawn stripped down to her panties and made her way to his bed, getting in with him and thinking about all that she wanted him to do to her.She imagined him fucking her with her bladder full like this, imagined her being fucked until she couldn't hold it anymore, peeing uncontrollably as the two of them came together, and she couldn't resist touching herself. Dawn rubbed herself over her panties, and she made no effort to keep herself quiet; after all, she did want him to wake up and see her there, she wanted him to be enticed by her and finally give her the chance she had been waiting for for so long.Moaning louder and louder, it wasn't long before the noise caused Ash to wake up, bleary, and it was clear by the look on his face that he had no idea what was going on. “Dawn?” he said. “What...what are you doing?” He had never in his life expected to wake up to one of his friends, nearly naked and masturbating in his bed.Dawn replied, in a somewhat husky tone, “I'm just so desperate for your cock and I'm so desperate to pee...” She held his hand against her swollen bladder to emphasize her point, and though Ash still didn't understand what was going on, he quickly began to get hard, something that Dawn noticed immediately.Taking his cock out of his boxers, she stroked him, getting him to a full erection in no time at all. “I've wanted you for so, so long,” she murmurs. “I've wanted this inside me for so long and I just can't wait for you anymore.” Not only that, she wasn't sure if her bladder could wait anymore, and she was so desperate in more way than one that she couldn't keep dragging this out, and so Dawn quickly removed her panties. Straddling him and positioning herself over his erection, she practically impaled herself on his member, crying out.Ash was still too surprised to do much in reaction, and he moaned in sudden pleasure as he was engulfed in her warm folds. And the sudden penetration disrupted her bladder enough that a small spurt escaped onto him. Dawn didn't even really notice the pain of having her hymen torn, her over full bladder and her desire for Ash completely distracting her, and she cried out again, this time sounding much more pleasured. It was better than she'd ever dreamed, but it was all real, and she was going to make the most of every moment with him.The fact that he had stopped questioning her and had never done anything to stop her and was still letting her have her way with him meant that she had actually won this time, that she was successful. Ash was hers, after so many failed attempts, after spending so much time thinking that she would never get this chance. Now she had it, and not only that, but she had gotten closer to the other girls through this and, if they were lucky, she had earned them their chance too. She felt such a strong solidarity with them that she couldn't help but grow more excited as she imagined Ash fucking each and every one of his admirers as a harem.Her bladder kept aching for release and she kept ignoring it, riding him like she had no intention of ever stopping, and if she had it her way, she probably wouldn't. Her moans were getting louder and louder, and she had a brief thrill as she imagined if the girls could hear her all the way down the hall, if they could hear just how good Ash was making her feel, and how good she was making him fell. Her head tipped back, and she knew that it wouldn't be long for either of them, given the fact that it was both of their first time.Ash mumbled her name a few times, the first thing he had really said since they had begun. It was taking him a bit of time to catch up with what was going on, considering how stunned he was by all of it, but he couldn't complain about it. Dawn was beautiful, and it was certainly something to wake up to her wanting him so much that she couldn't wait for him a moment longer. Just looking up at her was almost too much for him to handle, and he was almost there, biting his lip and moaning loudly.Finally, it all became too much for Ash to handle, and he practically exploded as he came inside of Dawn, and this triggered her own orgasm in response. Not only that, but it meant the end for her bladder, and as she felt her walls contracting with her orgasm, she also felt a rush of hot liquid begin pouring out of her, soaking the two of them as she wet herself and they came together, just like what had happened in her fantasy before. It was so much better in reality, though.There was a moment of silence as they came down from their pleasure before Ash finally spoke, finally able to process all that had happened. “That was amazing!” he exclaimed, and Dawn nodded in agreement.“It was,” she said. “Better than I ever could have dreamed.” They were quiet again, and Ash had softened inside of her, but then Dawn grinned and said, “The other girls wet themselves too, you know. It was a contest to see who would get to come in here and seduce you. They're all waiting for you, and I think they'd enjoy a turn.”Almost immediately, she felt Ash begin to grow hard again. “You like that? We'd all love a lot of turns with you, actually. We have a proposition for you, actually...” He wasted no time in getting up then, putting on a t-shirt and helping Dawn back into her pajamas, and then the two of them went back down the hall together.
10910133	the man that got away	{ "Archive Warning": "Major Character Death", "Category": null, "Characters": "Jason (Falsettos), Whizzer Brown, Marvin (Falsettos), Trina (Falsettos), Mendel (Falsettos)", "Fandom": "Falsettos - Lapine/Finn", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Not Rated", "author": "by RiverLetheStyx", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-15T00:00:00", "words": "4,199", "Additional Tags": "honestly this is basically just jason's pov of the musical, focusing on his and whizzer's relationship because i love them", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": "Whizzer Brown/Marvin, Mendel/Trina (Falsettos)", "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": "F/M, M/M", "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	Jason’s earliest memory was from he was three years old. He remembers sitting in the backseat of his dad’s ugly blue 1967 Ford Station Wagon, watching his parents in the front seats. His father was driving, his mother sitting in the passenger seat looking out the window. They were probably arguing, but Jason couldn’t remember the exact details. It was inconsequential anyway, he knew now that their entire marriage had been a sham. But, he remembered his mother. He remembered the way the sunlight had shone through the front window and reflected on her hair. Trina was always calm when she and Marvin fought. She had assumed it was merely a “rough patch,” that they’d work it out, and fall back into the passion they felt before Jason, before their wedding, before the fighting. Jason would never remember a time when his parents were happily together, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t remember when they were together. And they weren’t happy when they were together. Years later, Jason’s memory gets more vivid. He can remember exact details of when, where, how, and what his parents fought about. He could remember Marvin yelling at Trina when dinner wasn’t finished, storming out in a rage and coming back with flowers (roses) later that night. He remembered Trina melting under the affection, allowing her husband to come running back to her arms with a feeble, fake apology. It was bound to happen all over again the next week, anyhow. Jason vowed from an early age never to treat his mother, or anyone else for that matter, like Marvin treated Trina. Marvin bought Jason his first chess board when he was eight. According to Marvin, Jason was finally old enough to understand the convoluted rules and mature enough to develop his own personal strategy to win. Marvin had fun teaching Jason to play, and it was one of the only memories Jason had of his father being pleasant while still married to his mother. Jason took to the game quickly, deciding the knight was his favourite piece and sacrificing everything to save both his knights. He always forced his opponent to play the black pieces, which Marvin was happy to do to gain some bonding time with his son. Jason was happy to have an opponent, even if Marvin did get upset when he started to lose. As Jason got better, Marvin became more of a sore loser. Jason started playing by himself after that. When he was ten, Jason knew the exact moment when Marvin did something so horrible that Trina would never forgive him. He hadn’t caught his father with another man like his mother had, but he would always remember the look on Trina’s face as she forced Marvin on the street with his hair disheveled and his work shirt unbuttoned. That was the first time he had seen his mother truly break down -- she ran her fingers through her thick hair rough enough to make Jason think she was attempting to pull it out of her head, her cheeks were stained with tear streaks even though Jason hadn’t seen her cry, and she fled to the kitchen for any form of distraction. Jason got chocolate cake for breakfast the next morning, a mixed-berry pie for lunch, and his choice of cookies, brownies, and another pie for dinner. He ignored the flour that had found its way through the house during his mother’s baking spree. When Marvin came home two days later, Trina wouldn’t let him near Jason. Not that Jason wanted anything to do with his father -- he would prefer his mother, and he wasn’t necessarily upset that his parents were getting a divorce. Perhaps that was wrong of him. He was only ten years old, but he had already determined that he loved his mother and would rather be without his father. Weren’t ten-year-old boys supposed to love their fathers? Jason supposed that rule could change if your father liked kissing other men more than kissing your mother. Marvin never stayed at Trina’s house after that night. That was something else that Jason had noticed -- Marvin left, and it became “Trina’s house” and “That boy’s apartment.” His father had left his mother and abandoned him for another man, but he hadn’t heard that man’s name. Trina only referred to him as “that boy.” Jason had caught the briefest glimpse of him when Marvin was caught with him, but all he knew was the man had short, brown hair, and looked too young to be dating his father. He decided that he didn’t care all that much. The first time Jason truly met him was an accident. Both Marvin and Trina had scheduled meeting with their divorce lawyers when he got off of school on Friday afternoon, and he was supposed to stay with Marvin for the weekend. Marvin must have decided that a ten-year-old was old enough to take the subway and wander the streets of New York city alone, and that was how Jason found himself staring at a small piece of paper with an address written in his father’s sloppy handwriting in front of a dirty green door with golden numbers declaring it apartment number 56. He found the spare key under the mat as instructed and let himself in. His initial reaction was that the apartment was too clean, too modernly stylish for his father to be living here. Then, he remembered that Marvin didn’t live alone. His friend must be the one cleaning and designing, Jason decided. He wandered into the small living room, hesitant to touch anything. Jason felt like a stranger in this place, for good reason, he supposed. He was a stranger here. He had never met his father’s friend, had never seen the place his father was currently staying, and now he was here by himself. He could have entered the wrong apartment and Jason never would have known. He waited there for half an hour before someone came home. He was sitting on the edge of his seat, his backpack still hanging limply off his shoulder and his shoes still tied, as if he was ready to run out the door at any second. Jason looked up at the sound of the door opening, expecting his father. The person who stood in the doorway instead looked utterly surprised to find a ten-year-old sitting on his couch. “Um,” Jason started, unsure if this was the man he had heard about, or if he genuinely had the wrong apartment. “Is this apartment 56? Where Marvin lives with his friend?” The strange man nodded, not looking away from Jason. “Yes, I’m… Marvin’s friend. I’m afraid he didn’t mention that you’d be here. It’s Jason, right?” Jason nodded, relaxing a bit at the comfort that he at least had the right apartment. “That sounds like my dad. I’m lucky he told me where the key was.” He watched the stranger walk around his apartment, hoping for a hint at who the stranger was. He knew nothing about him, but Jason assumed they would have to quickly get used to each other. The stranger nodded, taking his jacket off and hanging it neatly in the front closet by the door. He took his shoes off, leaving them on the rack at the bottom of the closet, before walking to the kitchen. “Do you want anything to drink, Jason? I’m not sure what time Marvin will be here, he said he has a therapy appointment tonight after the divorce thing.” “Therapy?” Of all the things Jason knew about his father, that was not one of them. How long had Marvin been seeing a psychiatrist? Since he realized he liked men while still married to a woman, Jason assumed. “Yep. The appointments usually last an hour or two, so I guess he’ll be home around 8 tonight, but who knows?” The stranger walked out of the kitchen, holding two glasses of water despite Jason never answering his question. “It’s just us till then.” Jason nodded, accepting the glass when it was offered to him. He set it on the end table between the couch and the wall after taking a sip, then finally took his backpack off and set it on the couch next to him. “Do you know how to play chess?” “A little,” the stranger admitted. “Not as well as you, I’m sure. I probably haven’t played since I was your age.” Jason reached into his bag for his chess board anyway. “I’m sure you’re fine. As long as you’re not as sore a loser as my dad.” The man laughed, and it lit up his face. Jason thought this man was definitely too good for his father. “I doubt that’s even possible. I’ll play with you, if you want.” Jason smiled, setting the board up. “You can use the black pieces.” “Sounds fine with me.” That was when Jason decided he liked his dad’s new friend. After his mom picked him up on Sunday afternoon, Jason didn’t see his dad or Whizzer for a few weeks. “ Whizzer ?” Jason asked when he had finally learned the other’s name. “What kind of a name is Whizzer?” “It’s my name, kid, don’t make fun of me!” Whizzer had laughed, losing at chess yet again but taking it happily. He was a much better sport than Marvin. Whizzer and Marvin arrived at Trina’s house late on a Friday evening, a few weeks after the divorce was finalized and Marvin officially moved out. Jason was playing chess by himself when they got there, and Trina answered the door. Jason could hear her and Marvin arguing before they even walked into the room. Dinner was not the most pleasant family dinner they’d ever experienced, to put it kindly. Trina ended up taking a liking to Whizzer, or at least pretending that she did. Her hostility towards Marvin was tangible, hanging thickly in the atmosphere around them. In the middle of dinner, Whizzer leaned over to Jason and whispered that he was surprised Trina didn’t poison any of the food. Marvin overheard him and refused to finish his plate. A month later, Jason had grown considerably closer to Whizzer. He and Marvin came for dinner every week or so, Marvin’s attempts to retain his “tight-knit family” nearly destroying the once-nuclear family. When Trina thought Jason was suffering because of this and she and Marvin decided he needed therapy, Jason had hoped Whizzer would be on his side. He was wrong. At least he was allowed to suffer through therapy in the comfort of his own home, he supposed. He liked Mendel. He seemed like a good man, even though he wasn’t a very good psychiatrist. He noticed something going on between him and his mother, and he thought it was good for them. Jason couldn’t remember a time he had seen his mother so happy. He didn’t remember a time when his father was so angry, either. Jason was there when Marvin hit Trina. He was ten-years-old, sitting in the living room, playing chess while his mother and step-father-to-be figured out wedding plans on the couch. He was there when Marvin barged in, followed by a quiet Whizzer who stayed toward the back and tried to blend in with the background. He was there as voices were raised, as Mendel tried to mediate, as Whizzer tried to warn. He was there when his father raised his hand, and he watched Trina flinch away from him. To be quite honest, Jason was amazed it hadn’t happened sooner. Marvin was thrown out swiftly after that, by both Whizzer and Mendel. Whizzer stayed behind, trying to help Trina as best he could. Jason couldn’t be sure when he would see his father next, and he wasn’t sure he ever wanted to again, but he knew that he wanted Whizzer to stick around. He wanted this man who helped his mother to be a presence in his life, and he did. Whizzer stuck around. Whizzer lived with Trina and Mendel and Jason for a couple weeks, till he gathered enough savings to get a studio apartment on his own. Trina and Mendel hired him as the photographer at their wedding. Jason decided he loved Whizzer, and thought of him fondly. He stayed with Whizzer while his mother and new step-dad went on a short honeymoon. He never called Whizzer “dad,” but he was certainly more of one than Marvin. It probably was another six months before he saw Marvin again. He showed up one day, knocking at the door. Trina answered and almost didn’t let him in, but he apologized. Jason heard his father genuinely apologize to his mother for the first time in his life. He was eleven now, and had never heard his father say “I’m sorry” and mean it as much as he did right now. Trina allowed him some custody over Jason after that. Jason would visit on weekends, and live with Trina during the week. Marvin could have Jason for Thanksgiving and two days of Hanukkah, Trina got him for the other six days of Hanukkah and for Passover. Marvin never apologized to Whizzer though, so Jason had to find his own way to continue to see his third father. On Fridays, when Jason would travel to Marvin’s, he took a detour. Marvin wouldn’t get home till 5 or 6 if he was lucky, so Jason took the subway to the other side of town. He would knock on Whizzer’s door at 4 PM sharp, and Whizzer would yell “The door’s open!” and Jason would let himself in. He left his shoes and jacket by the door, walking into the apartment to spend half an hour with Whizzer before he had to get the next subway back to Marvin’s. Jason almost wished Marvin would call Whizzer and apologize, just so he could spend more time with him. He got to see Mendel for five days a week, Marvin for two days, it didn’t seem fair that he only saw Whizzer for 30 minutes. Once Jason turned 12, Whizzer encouraged him to join the baseball league. He was already considering doing so, but Whizzer gave him the final push to do it. He gave Jason his entire baseball card collection for his birthday, which Jason decided was the best gift he’d received since his first chess board. He cherished that collection. So, when Jason asked him to come to the final game of the season, how could Whizzer deny him? Jason’s family had grown civil around each other while Whizzer was away. Marvin and Trina could now talk and sit next to each other without it ending in a fight, Marvin made a few friends that were considered family, and Mendel and Marvin didn’t scream at each other over who’s family was who’s. Whizzer almost missed the old Marvin, but after meeting the new one, he decided he much preferred Marvin in 1981. When Marvin asked for his number at the baseball game, he wrote it down and gave it to him. Jason found that he had nothing to complain about when Whizzer moved back in with Marvin the following week. He got to spend more time with him, which was what he was hoping for to begin with. Whizzer started picking Jason up from school on Friday afternoons and taking him out for ice cream before Marvin came home from work -- trying to create a new tradition that was unique to the two of them. Jason always tried to get something new, and Whizzer always got an Oreo flurry made with chocolate ice cream. Charlotte and Cordelia joined them for dinner on Sundays when Trina and Mendel came to get him, making another new family dinner tradition. The dinners became like a potluck, with each couple bringing a passing dish. Jason once asked to help Whizzer in the kitchen (who had grown considerably more comfortable cooking during his time spent single), and quickly became Whizzer’s “apprentice.” He mainly did the things Whizzer didn’t like doing, which meant Jason spent the majority of his time in the kitchen handling raw meat. Whizzer didn’t like the cold feeling it left underneath his nails, and Jason was young and eager enough to not be phased by the strange sensation. They played chess while waiting for their dish to finish cooking. Whizzer improved considerably during each game, but was never quite good enough to beat Jason. There was one time where he had Jason in check for three turns, but Marvin hovering over his shoulder had shared that Jason had allowed him to get so close to winning. Whizzer played more defensively after that. He had enough dignity to lose to a twelve-year-old, but he had too much pride to win by Jason allowing him to. Jason still wouldn’t play with Marvin, so Whizzer tried his best to improve in order to be a worthy challenge for Jason. Jason was thankful for that. Whizzer continued to be a better opponent with each game they played, even if his strategy switched from offensive to defensive. It was a Friday afternoon when Jason heard that Whizzer was in the hospital. He was waiting at the corner where he usually met his third dad -- he had been waiting for almost half an hour. Whizzer sometimes was five or ten minutes late, but never this late. When he saw Mendel arrive in Trina’s ‘67 station wagon she won in the divorce, he knew something was wrong. Jason was a smart kid, it wasn’t his fault that his parents seems to continuously forget that he was. “What’s wrong? Where’s Whizzer? He’s supposed to be here,” Jason said as he climbed into the passenger seat, looking at his stepdad. “He’s never been this late. Is he okay?” “About that,” Mendel started, not meeting Jason’s eyes as he pulled out of the terrible temporary parking job. “Your mother and father didn’t want to worry you, but Whizzer would want you to know. And besides, you’d find out sooner or later. It’s a shitty thing to keep secret.” “What is it?” Jason asked again, trying to pry out the answer. “Whizzer was admitted to the hospital this morning. It’s probably nothing serious, but they’re keeping him overnight for observation, so you’re going to spend the weekend with me and your mother. Everything will probably be fine by next week. It should be fine. Why wouldn’t it be fine? Everything will be alright.” Everything was not alright. Jason spent that weekend with his mom and Mendel. He spent the weekend after with his mom and Mendel, too. He spent every weekend for a month with his mom and Mendel. He was tired of it. He knew Whizzer was still in the hospital, they hadn’t been able to keep Jason from visiting him, but wanted things to go back to how they were. Jason wasn’t sure when the adults in his life decided to continue the charade, but it couldn’t have been for his benefit that they did it. They knew that Jason knew that Whizzer wasn’t okay. They had to have known that Jason was smart enough to watch his third father fade into an echo of the man he used to be. He started letting Whizzer win at chess, hoping the satisfaction of winning alone would be enough to help him get better. If not that, then perhaps the anger at being allowed to win. Maybe Whizzer would get mad enough that he would regain the energy to fight with Jason for his right to lose with dignity. He never really fought, though. He never got satisfaction from winning, either, he simply looked sadly at the white king as he surrounded it. Jason let him play with the white pieces after that, his last attempt at using chess to make Whizzer well again. It never really worked. When Trina and Mendel came to him with the suggestion of cancelling his bar mitzvah, he was relieved to know they weren’t living in some bizarre fantasy world. He was, however, upset at the suggestion of having the bar mitzvah without Whizzer . The man was his third father, and Jason was offended at the mere thought of having a celebration without him, or while he was alone and miserable in a hospital bed. He wanted Whizzer there, happy and healthy, with more baseball cards to add to Jason’s collection and comments about the guest’s fashion sense that would make him laugh. He wanted Whizzer to laugh again. He wanted Whizzer at the bar mitzvah. He wouldn’t have one without him. Jason wasn’t sure how, when, or where it would happen, but he was determined not to have his bar mitzvah unless Whizzer was in attendance. And that was how he came to the brilliant idea of having his bar mitzvah in Whizzer’s hospital room. The celebration was about family, wasn’t it? He didn’t need a gigantic party, he needed his family there. And Whizzer was his family. Jason hoped that, in the end, it was a good final memory for Whizzer to have. He hoped that Whizzer truly enjoyed spending his final day at Jason’s bar mitzvah. The last conversation Jason had with Whizzer, just the two of them, wasn’t very long. Whizzer had somehow managed to convince everyone to leave them alone (“No one can deny me anything when I play the ‘I’m dying’ card,” he had laughed when he told Jason). Jason had brought ice cream as requested from the Dairy Queen between his school and the hospital, letting Whizzer hold his slowly-melting Oreo Blizzard with chocolate ice cream. Whizzer probably only had the appetite for two or three bites, and he certainly wouldn’t be able to keep it down, but Charlotte wasn’t around to stop him and no one else had the balls to. Marvin didn’t even fight with Whizzer anymore. Whizzer watched Jason as he finished his ice cream, today’s was cookie dough with brownie added, letting his own melt. Jason leaned back in the visitor’s chair when he finished, the empty cup sitting on the table between him and the wall. “Why did you wanna talk to me alone? Are we gonna talk about the stupid charade the others are continuing to play?” Whizzer laughed, the first genuine laugh Jason had seen from him in days. “In a way, I suppose. I wanted to thank you.” “Thank me?” “You’re the only one who hasn’t lied to my fucking face. Every day they come in here, smile and wave, and say something like ‘you’re getting better every day!’ It’s obvious that I’m not getting better, that I won’t ever get better. You came in earlier and said ‘gee, you look awful.’ No one’s told me that since I was admitted. Thank you.” Jason wasn’t sure how to reply, so he never did. His dad came back in the room within five minutes, and his last time spent alone with Whizzer was over just as quickly as it had begun. Whizzer’s favorite ice cream had to be thrown away. The funeral was too quiet for a man who was so boisterous. Hardly anyone came, one or two of Whizzer’s friends from high school, all of Jason’s family, a handful of people Jason didn’t recognize and didn’t bother to talk to. If they weren’t important enough for his third dad to introduce them, then they weren’t important enough to talk to now that he had died. The burial was even less than that. The only ones who went to the graveyard was the family: Marvin, Trina, Mendel, Charlotte, Cordelia, and Jason himself. Whenever there’s a funeral and burial in the movies, the weather is always dreary. The clouds hang mere inches over your head and threaten to pour rain at any moment. In reality, it was sunny, partly-cloudy with a low temperature of 63 degrees Fahrenheit. Jason hated it. The casket was closed when they finally made it to the site of his grave. Jason wasn’t sure whether he was relieved or disappointed -- he hated seeing Whizzer like that, but he knew he would never get to see him again. Marvin had brought a bouquet. He set the ten blood red roses on top of the casket while the rest of the family took five steps back, letting Marvin say his goodbyes in peace. Jason still hated it. He hated everything about today. He hated everything that had happened since Whizzer started feeling sick. When his dad was slowly pulled away from the grave, crying into Trina’s shoulder, Jason approached. “Hey, dad,” he sat by the headstone, looking down. “I know I never really called you that when you were alive. I should’ve. It was wrong of me not to. Anyway, I thought you might want this.” Out of his pocket, Jason pulled the two white knights from his first chess board, gently placing them in the bouquet Marvin had brought. “Maybe you’ll get better at chess and actually be able to beat me someday. That would be fun, wouldn’t it?”Jason wasn’t sure how long he sat there before Trina and Mendel took his hands and walked him to the car.
10918110	Bind	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "M/M", "Characters": "Haldir of Lothlórien, Legolas Greenleaf", "Fandom": null, "Language": "English", "Rating": "Teen And Up Audiences", "author": "by yeaka", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-16T00:00:00", "words": "592", "Additional Tags": "Vignette, Blindfolds, Open Relationships", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": "Haldir of Lothlórien/Legolas Greenleaf, Aragorn \| Estel/Legolas Greenleaf", "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": "The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms", "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	The princeling looks sullen as Haldir steps beside him, and it’s strangely attractive on his fair features—his youthful grace paints it cute instead of irritating. Haldir takes great pleasure in being the one to bind him. The silk they use for the blindfolds is smooth and soft, but as Haldir lifts it to Legolas’ face, he still purrs, “Will this do, my prince?”Legolas sighs, “It must,” and leans his head subtly into Haldir’s reach. His slender arms remain lax at his sides, delicate shoulders lowered and unguarded. Haldir loops the blindfold over him, then pauses with it just beneath Legolas’ aristocratic chin. Legolas’ clear blue eyes slide over to him, and it strikes Haldir again just how very beautiful they are, and what a shame it is to hide them. They’re the sort of eyes one could get lost in.Haldir switches the fabric to one hand, freeing the other to gently finger-comb Legolas’ white-gold hair back behind him. Haldir slowly and carefully tucks each stray strand behind Legolas’ shapely ears, and Legolas’ breath hitches at the touch. His lashes lower a fraction; perhaps he’s catching on. There’s an intricate braid woven on either side of his high cheeks, and Haldir tenderly brushes them over each shoulder. Only then does he lift the silk again, finally out of excuses to delay. While he draws the action out, his brothers have already gone through all the company and are now arguing again with the dwarf. Haldir tunes them out, instead taking the chance to linger.He draws the fabric over Legolas’ pink lips, up the gentle arch of his nose, and finally across his eyes, tied just below his golden brows. Legolas tilts again into it, lips slightly parting, and Haldir finds himself drawn to the movement. Half for the blindfold itself and half for the way he stares at such beauty, he murmurs, “I am sorry.”Legolas lets out a lilting sigh and quietly admits, “It is not so bad. In truth, I have been blindfolded by Aragorn many times, and the action itself does not trouble me... it is only that this is a place I truly did wish to see.”Haldir glances over his shoulder, then leans closer, nearly brushing his mouth across Legolas’ ear to purr, “I will show it to you later, if you still wish it... and if Aragorn does not mind.” That’s an added complication he hadn’t foreseen, but it seems unlikely that a single Man, even one so true as Aragorn, could fully claim such a gorgeous prince. Indeed, Legolas’ plush lips turn up at the corners, and Haldir instantly knows that his offer will be taken up on.Legolas merely asks, “And do you also wish to guide me by the hand?” His tone is now teasing, flirtatious, and it shivers through Haldir’s body with a dangerous allure. He’s wanted this since he first saw such an ethereal creature wander into his woods and sing beside the stream. It’s a great effort not to bring their mouths together right here.Holding himself back with all he is, Haldir whispers into Legolas’ ear, “Do not tempt me, princeling.” Then he dares to nip the shell, only wishing he could afford to linger. When he pulls away again, Legolas’ breath is quick, his cheeks flushed. He no longer looks sullen, just intoxicating.Haldir wrenches his eyes away to head back to the front of the company, though the image of Legolas blindfolded will last long in his memory. He looks forward to his promise.
10935681	El Arreglo	{ "Archive Warning": "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings", "Category": "M/M", "Characters": "Le Chiffre, Jean Le Chiffre, Adam Towers, OC Amigos de Adam, Jonathan Le Chiffre", "Fandom": null, "Language": "Español", "Rating": "Teen And Up Audiences", "author": "by DaughterOfTheMurderHusbands", "chapters": "6/6", "completed": "2018-05-22", "published": "2017-05-18T00:00:00", "words": "13,223", "Additional Tags": "Mpreg, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Omegaverse, Alfa!Jean, Omega!Adam, Anal Sex, Fluff and Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Sì tiene un final felíz, Embarazo medianamente críble, sexo casual, Malenendidos, Malas desiciones, Adam es un omega muy necio, Jean es un alfa peligroso", "Relationship": "Le Chiffre/Adam Towers", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": "Hannibal en Español", "Collections": null, "Fandoms": "Casino Royale - Fandom, Basic Instinct (Movies), Hannibal Extended Universe - Fandom", "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	1.-Encuentro de una noche.Adam era un omega feliz. No tenía Alfa, no tenía cachorros, tenía casi 30 años, una carrera respetable (o eso le gustaba pensar) como periodista, su propio departamento, dinero para gastar, un rostro bonito y una personalidad encantadora. Adam lo tenía todo. Y lo sabía, justamente porque lo sabía dedicaba su vida a disfrutarlo.No quería responsabilidades y no quería problemas. Tenía ambiciones y metas, en ninguna parte de su plan estaba casarse, mucho menos tener hijos. Tenía dos tipos de amigos, los que conocía de toda la vida y los que había hecho cuando se convirtió en adulto.Los primeros nunca cambiaban y tenían la vida que él no quería. Iba a verlos cuándo quería algo de calma, cuándo quería estabilidad o cuándo un celo especialmente salvaje le recordaba su naturaleza y cuán conveniente sería tener un gran y fuerte Alfa cuidando de él. Mientras sus amigos iban por ahí con tres o cuatro cachorros alrededor, viviendo en casas aburridas en calles aburridas, Adam recuperaba la perspectiva.Los segundos eran los que lo acompañaban en noches como esta. Habían pasado ya por tres bares antes de llegar a este. El ambiente era agradable igual que la música, los tragos no eran demasiado caros y había la suficiente exclusividad para sentirse celebridades por un rato. Entre el retumbar del bajo, los gritos para comunicarse y el constante flujo de alcohol Adam lo estaba pasando de maravilla. Se reía, coqueto, exponiendo su cuello desnudo, sin marcar, con orgullo. Dejando en la mesa vaso tras vaso de licor y pavoneándose como el ejemplar que sabía que era.Para Jean la vida no era muy diferente. Había nacido en un pueblo pobre al sur de Francia y se había cambiado el apellido en cuanto tuvo oportunidad, alejándose de la sombra de su padre adicto y su madre desinteresada tanto como pudo. Una educación formal, un linaje extraordinario, ser un Alfa de pura sangre, nada de eso tenía valor alguno para Jean que había tenido una niñez tan miserable. Quería formar una familia, tener niños que criar como nunca lo criaron a él.Pero tampoco tenía prisa en llegar a ese día. Había pasado toda su juventud usando su mente excepcional para construir, de forma casi siempre ilegal, la fortuna que ahora podía gastar como le viniera en gana. Por ejemplo en negocios sólidos y legítimos como el que ahora se encontraba.No solía ir al club de noche, no era especialmente aficionado al mismo ruido y caos por el que la gente prácticamente le arrojaba dinero cada noche, pero había tenido un día especialmente ocupado y no había tenido más remedio. Ahora trataba de revisar los libros, llenar órdenes de pedido para proveedores, firmar cheques para su personal y hacer declaraciones de impuestos en medio de la incesante música y los gritos de emoción de la gente que llenaba el local. Menos mal que era una persona brillante, o aquello representaría un reto.Al final de la noche estaba cansado y malhumorado, su guardaespaldas Basil iría por el auto y podría irse dormir. Tenía lugares en dónde estar, dinero que ganar. O en eso pensaba hasta que lo vio.La pista de baile era una bacanal de gente moviéndose a un ritmo salvaje que tenía poco que ver con la verdadera habilidad y más con la pasión o la decadencia. Las luces llenaban el ambiente con una sensación que a Jean le recordaba más al color rojo que a los extraños tonos de azul que transformaban los cuerpos en seres purpúreos y sobrenaturales.Pero en medio de todo eso había una criatura preciosa, una que gustaba tanto de él como el mismo, pues cuándo sus ojos, dos hermosas orbes azules como el mar, se fijaron en los suyos no pudieron desviar la mirada. O así fue hasta que Adam pensó que hacerlo sería la mejor forma de empezar la cacería, ya había encontrado su Alfa por hoy.No le importaba mucho que ya estaba bailando con alguien más, alguien mucho más aburrido comparado al alto e imponente Alfa que cruzaba la pista con determinación. Parecía un hombre severo, con ese traje negro perfectamente cortado y el pelo castaño rojizo peinado impecablemente. Adivinada además un cuerpo firme, ancho de hombros. Adam se atrevería a apostar que debajo de toda esa ropa había vello corporal, mucho si tenía suerte. Tal vez eran sus angulosas facciones o tal vez el ojo nublado lo que lo hacía tan amenazante, pero Adam también veía pasión ahí, y más importante aún veía deseo. Y con eso era suficiente para darse a entender.Jean se tomó un momento para limpiar una gota de sangre de su ojo antes de comenzar a moverse, lo que menos quería era lucir aún más aterrador cuándo trataba de conocer a alguien. El muchacho era precioso, con piel pálida y suave, rizos castaños hasta los hombros y esa forma de vestir. Había muy poco que imaginar debajo de aquellos ajustados pantalones de cuero. La camisa negra a medio abotonar era refinada y elegante, buen gusto. Mientras más se acercaba, además, notó su aroma.Con razón era tan hermoso. Debió saber que era un omega en el segundo en que sus ojos se cruzaron. Bailaba con alguien más, bueno si a ese extraño ritual de frotar sus cuerpos al ritmo de la música podía considerársele baile. Algo en su interior se encendió como una hoguera, una necesidad imperiosa de pelear y reclamar.—Buenas noches.—Hey.—Tu vaso está un poco vacío. —Dijo señalando cortésmente, Adam ensanchó su sonrisa y dejó de bailar. — ¿Me permites?—Por favor—Oye, viejo, yo lo vi primero…—Dijo el chico detrás de Adam, tomándole del brazo cuándo este comenzó a caminar hacia la barra. Fue suficiente una mirada para hacerlo retroceder.—Por aquí. —Adam se despidió con una sonrisa deshonesta y lo siguió a la barra. — ¿Qué estás bebiendo?—Hace horas que deje de preguntármelo. —Adam miró dentro de su vaso, no estaba lo bastante ebrio como para meterse en líos, pero estaba un poco confundido. —Tomaré otro de estos.—Yo estoy bien. —Le dijo Jean al hombre de la barra que asintió, casi corriendo para atender a su jefe. — Soy Jean Le Chiffre.—¿En serio? Wow, me han dado nombres falsos antes pero este se lleva un premio. —Bromeó el Omega, dejando salir una risa tonta, tal vez este no era el tipo de hombre que creía. De igual forma se sentó en uno de los bancos altos de la barra, pero el alfa se quedó de pie, cerca, de forma predatoria.—No es mi nombre de nacimiento, pero es mi nombre legal.—Temo preguntar, así que no lo haré. Soy Adam. Adam Towers.—Europeo.—Sólo tanto como tú. —Jean sonrió. — Me gusta tu traje.—Me gustan tus pantalones.—Me veo mucho mejor sin ellos…—Añadió rápidamente, Jean ensanchó su sonrisa pero no se movió. Adam le dio un trago al vaso que finalmente estaba frente a él y soltó un suave jadeo ante lo refrescado que se sentía. Jean irradiaba mucho calor, no podía dejar de mirarlo, era como un sol. Y mierda si olía estupendamente, nadie olía de ese modo, Adam lo sabía ahora, nadie olería nunca tan bien como este Alfa Europeo con un nombre falso.— ¿Es bueno?— ¿Quieres probar?—No bebo en el trabajo.— ¿Eres policía? Porque juro que soy mayor de edad. —Dijo alzando los brazos. Le Chiffre sonrió de nuevo.—Este es mi bar. —Adam alzó una ceja, impresionado.—Es de mis favoritos. Hay otras formas para probar además de beber. —Aseguró, dándole otro trago a su bebida y luego aferrándose al cuello de Jean para unir sus labios en un beso. Al principio era sólo un juego, una forma coqueta de dejarlo probar el licor de sus propios labios, pero luego se convirtió en algo más. La forma en que su lengua se adentraba en la ajena, más aún la forma controlada y sin embargo ardiente en que Jean le respondía, presionándole contra la barra, robándole el aliento, sus manos en sus caderas y las de Adam aferradas al cabello de su nuca.Separarse fue casi doloroso. Adam sentía unas ganas casi salvajes de hacer el amor ahora. Menos mal, pensó, que faltaban 3 días para su celo o esto sería muy peligroso. Podía sentir el aliento caliente de Jean que acariciaba sus propios labios entre abiertos.No estuvieron separados mucho tiempo, los besos continuaron subiendo peligrosamente de temperatura, desaparecieron de la pista apenas el tiempo suficiente para que Adam los guiara al baño en la parte trasera, Jean parecía incómodo con eso.—Esto no…—Oh vamos, es uno de los baños más limpios que he visto en la vida. —Dijo Adam sin dejar de besar su cuello y frotarse contra su cuerpo, enloquecido por el aroma y la sensación de la lubricación que salía de su cuerpo y escurría por sus piernas, produciendo un aroma que tenía al Alfa duro contra los pantalones que el omega trataba de abrir.—Vivo muy cerca de aquí.—No puedo esperar tanto por ti, Alfa…—Intenta. —Insistió, separándose suavemente y apreciando el puchero que deformó ese hermoso rostro, el rostro de alguien ardiendo por él.—Bien…Fueron 10 minutos muy poco agradables para Basil, quién trataba de hacer su trabajo y conducir fingiendo que no escuchaba los suaves gemidos que venían de la parte trasera del auto, o los suspiros de placer de la voz que reconocía perfectamente como su jefe entre mezclados con besos húmedos y el inconfundible sonido de la tela al rasgarse.Adam nunca supo cómo llegaron tan rápido del ascensor a la cama, pero estuvo muy consciente del esfuerzo que fue quitarse la ropa sin hacerla trizas, más de lo que ya estaba, y tratar de no babear mientras miraba con la boca vierta el cuerpo atractivo que efectivamente se escondía bajo la ropa. No se había equivocado con el vello rubio que bajaba por su pecho y su vientre, un sendero provocativo que siguió a besos hasta un miembro bastante bonito. Grande, húmedo y terriblemente incitante. Pero ninguno de los dos quería pasar más tiempo en juego previo de los minutos que Adam le dedicó mientras largos dedos le abrían suavemente, provocando sonidos terriblemente lúdicos con la humedad que comenzaba a mojas las sabanas.—Por favor… Alfa. — Eso era espera suficiente, necesitaba sentirlo dentro tanto como Jean necesitaba penetrarlo, su miembro enrojecido e impaciente palpitado contra su entrada mientras Adam se presentaba, sobre sus rodillas como a los Alfa les encanta. Sintió la cabeza forzar suavemente y saboreó su longitud hasta que escuchó un gemido roncó que indicaba que Jean había entrado hasta el fondo. Fue una mutua sensación de voluptuosidad que una vez superada se transformó rápidamente en un golpeteo salvaje que lo obligo a recargar el rostro contra la cama, gritando de placer mientras sus dedos se aferraban con tal fuerza a las almohadas que sus nudillos se pusieron blancos.Jean no se detuvo, mantuvo un ritmo constante y enloquecido, inclinándose suavemente para cambiar el ángulo y Adam dejó escapar un grito ante el certero asalto que comenzó contra su próstata. Aquello era increíble. Adam había tenido mucho sexo, con muchas personas, pero nunca se había sentido tan perdido, tan maravillado, como si todo su cuerpo se abriera como un fruto maduro sólo para el deleite de alguien más y eso de alguna forma se convertía en el suyo.—Jean…Jean… Por favor. Por favor, anúdame. —Susurró entre ronroneos involuntarios, ojos húmedos de placer que volvieron a cerrarse ante la siguiente estocada. Jamás le había permitido a un Alfa anudarlo, nunca. Pero ahora lo deseaba con locura, si tenía que probarlo en algún momento ¿por qué no ahora?— ¿Estás... ¡mierda! ¿Estás seguro?—Sí, por dios, lo necesito… —Gimió, un ruego que le dio al Alfa en el lugar correcto, presionando un par de veces más y mordiendo suavemente el hombro del tembloroso omega debajo, lo sufrientemente cerca de la glándula de olor para hacerle venirse, su interior presionándolo de forma tan deliciosa que echó atrás la cabeza, completamente perdido, mientras una lágrima de sangre bajaba de su ojo y por su mejilla.Adam atrapó esa gota su la lengua, volteando a mirarle entre las olas de su propio orgasmo y bebiéndola con devoción. La acción mando al Alfa del otro lado en segundos, presionando su cintura con fuerza mientras forzaba su nudo una última vez, sellándolos juntos y manteniendo dentro de ese cuerpo caliente y perfecto cada chorro de semen que dejó salir hasta caer saciado sobre el moreno.Rodaron suavemente para quedar recostados uno junto al otro. Adam aun ronroneando como un colegial mientras Jean jadeaba sobre su hombro, llenando su cuello de besos de forma distraída. El nudo no bajaría en un rato pero ninguno de los dos parecía tener ganas de hablar. Aquello era muy intenso para arruinarlo con palabras. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- ¿Qué hora era? Su celular ya debería estar sonando para despertarlo, tendría que irse a trabajar en cosa de minutos por la forma en que el sol entraba por la ventana. Por suerte unas gruesas cortinas impedían su paso. Aunque él tenía persianas y no cortinas en su apartamento.Levantó la cabeza, confundida y se incorporó, esa no era su casa. Probablemente alguien menos acostumbrado a no dormir en su cama se habría preocupado, Adam estaba más interesado en saber qué diablos habían hecho ya que la cama estaba tiesa por los fluidos, su cuerpo adolorido y lleno de moretones purpúreos en diferentes estados de curación.Casi corrió al baño, gracias a Dios la puerta que abrió sí era un baño, revisando su cuello. Había un par de mordidas alrededor, pero su glándula continuaba intacta. El suspiro de alivio que dejó salir levantó un gran peso de sus hombros.Recorrió la habitación en busca de su ropa, armando un bultito, había varios vasos de agua en la mesa de noche, unas cuantas envolturas de barras energéticas, el cesto de basura estaba lleno de condones y de sus empaques dorados, rasgados. ¿Cuánto tiempo estuvo ahí?Encontró su celular conectado en la mesita de noche. Llevaba 3 días ahí. Mierda. ¿Había entrado en celo? ¿Había pasado su celo con alguien que había levantado en un bar?Los recuerdos lo invadieron suavemente, besos, caricias, un nudo que lo hacía sentir de maravilla incluso con un condón de por medio. Recordaba un par de comidas, agua, momentos de cálida intimidad entre rondas de sexo salvaje. Mierda, la había metido y hasta el fondo.—¿Adam?—¿Sí?—El desayuno está listo. —Adam sonrió al ver a Jean, en lugar de su traje apenas vestido con unos pantalones de dormir y una camiseta de algodón ajustada. Lo miró dejar la bandeja en la cama y limpiarse la sangre del ojo. ¿Qué le habría sucedido?—Fue una infección, no tiene importancia.—Lo siento, no pretendía ser grosero.—En lo absoluto. Preparé hotcakes, use arándanos porque no estaba seguro si te gustaban las chispas de chocolate.—Luce increíble. No pareces de los que cocina. —Admitió aceptando un plato y sentándose en la cama.—Estoy lleno de sorpresas.La comida fue agradable, amena. Estaba deliciosa. El juego estaba fresco y refrescante, casi nunca se quedaba tanto tiempo con alguien como para desayunar, mucho menos en la cama. Charlando como viejos amigos mientras Jean acariciaba suavemente los rizos que caían sobre su rostro.—Esto ha sido increíble, pero tengo que ir a casa antes de que llamen a la policía para buscarme.—Avisé en tu empleo que tu celo no te dejaría disponibilidad.—Oh, gracias… No recuerdo detalles como ese.—Lo entiendo, pero no debes preocuparte, yo me ocupé de todo.—Gracias… te debo un par de sábanas.—El dinero no es algo que me haga falta, no es necesario que repongas nada.—Si tú lo dices. —Dijo alzándose de hombros, rebuscando entre su ropa y poniéndose la que estaba en mejores condiciones.—El próximo viernes un conocido planea inaugurar una nueva galería, nada muy elegante, vino tal vez canapés y Arte pretencioso y sobrevalorado. Pero, si vas conmigo puedo mostrarte ese lugar de comida Tailandesa del que te hable.— ¿Por qué querrías ir conmigo? —Bromeó Adam, dejando su vaso vacío en la bandeja. Jean lo miró confuso.— ¿Por qué no?—Se supone que lleves una cita a esos eventos, no al sujeto que intentó follarte en un baño.—Te aseguro que ese incidente puedo pasarlo por alto. Tu compañía sería muy gratificante para mí.— ¿Me estás invitando a salir?—Acabo de pasar tres maravillosos días a tu lado durante este celo. No quiero que eso termine. Creo que habría preferido hacerlo al revés, pero estoy dispuesto a ser flexible por nosotros.— ¿Nosotros? —Adam estaba ahora alerta, buscando con la vista su cartera y sus llaves. — ¿De qué nosotros hablas?—De esto. —Señaló el hombre entre ellos, Adam lo miró atontado. Claro, le preparó de comer, sólo otro Alfa que provee para su pareja. Ni hablar. Adam podía proveerse solo.—No hay nada aquí, eres muy amable en dejarme quedarme y ni se diga del sexo. Ese ha sido el mejor celo de mi vida. —El rostro de satisfacción de Jean se borró lentamente mientras Adam continuaba hablando. — Y gracias por el desayuno y eso, pero no voy a salir contigo.— ¿Te he ofendido de alguna forma?—No, no me malentiendas. Yo no salgo con nadie, no me interesa.— Somos extremadamente compatibles, Adam.—Estoy seguro de que hay partes de ti con las que… soy muy compatible. —No, Adam, no te fijes en lo grande que es su miembro, sólo continua. — Pero no me interesa tener un Alfa.—Nosotros…—No, Jean no hay nosotros. —Añadió de inmediato, el rostro herido del Alfa le taladró el alma. — Y sabes que, gracias, pero joderme un celo no te da ningún derecho sobre mí, no iré en citas contigo, ni a conocer a tus amigos ni nada de eso. Yo no hago eso. Quería un buen polvo y vaya que lo encontré.— ¿Eso es todo? Un polvo y te largas.—Es una buena vida, y la aprovecharé mientras dure.—Estoy seguro que podría enamorarte si me das la oportunidad.—Shh. —Interrumpió Adam, estaba perfectamente vestido ahora, Jean miró con nostalgia las marcas de su “dominio” en la piel pálida. — No quiero dártela. Tengo que irme.—Adam—Adiós, Jean. —Dijo cortante. —Y gracias de verdad.Jean lo miró salir con tristeza, que se transformó en ira a medida que el dolor del rechazo daba paso a la humillación. Bien, podía irse y no volver nunca en lo que a él le importaba. Algo seguro había aprendido, nunca más tener encuentros casuales como ese. O mejor dicho a no enamorarse como un estúpido de cualquiera que se mueva así por la vida.---------------000000000000----------------Tal vez era el calor del celo, pero los dedos que jugueteaban en su entrada se sentían mejor de lo que lo habían hecho jamás. Podía ver a Jean entre sus piernas, una mano en su muslo y la otra dentro de su cuerpo, gruñendo de satisfacción cuándo sus dedos salieron acompañados por su propia semilla de su última ronda.El omega goteaba, tanta lubricación de dulce aroma que Jean podría beber hasta saciarse él. En realidad es lo que más deseaba hacer, la mano en su muslo subió para apresar su miembro y el suave gemido que eso provocó se transformó en un grito cuándo su lengua se adentró en su cuerpo, penetrándolo al ritmo de sus dedos sobre su miembro. Torturándole por minutos que parecieran horas, memorizando su sabor y su aroma.—Jean… Oh, mierda…—Vente para mí.—No, no… quiero tu nudo, por favor…—Adam, no…—Por favor… por favor.A pesar de las súplicas pudo razonar lo suficiente para ir hasta mesita de noche por los condones que había comprado cuándo sintió el aroma de Adam cambiar a la fiebre del celo unas horas antes. Rasgó el paquetito y se puso el preservativo con habilidad que Adam habría admirado de no necesitar tan desesperadamente ser montado.Jean empujó suavemente, maravillado de que a pesar de la humedad y de que le había abierto con bastante entusiasmo, Adam continuaba deliciosamente estrecho. Sintió su calor apresarle como una llama hasta que llegó a la base, moviendo sus caderas suavemente mientras compartían un beso, que a falta de otro adjetivo, era adorable.Sintió delgados brazos rodearle y uñas en su espalda mientras continuaba, lenta y casi tortuosamente, saliendo casi por completo sólo para volver a entrar con la misma lentitud, dejando en su cuerpo la misma “o” perfecta que el omega tenía en los labios.Podía sentir a la perfección su entrada forzarse ligeramente por el tamaño, un Alfa en celo no es cosa de juego, y también el nudo comenzando a inflamarse, chocando suavemente contra su propio cuerpo, asaltado por el placer y un aletargamiento delicioso que se transformó en un orgasmo arrollador en cosa de minutos. Por la forma en que gruñía en su hombro, cosas en francés que podría pero no trató de entender, Jean estaba cerca. Su entrada presionando de forma erótica e inesperada obligándolo a sellarlos juntos antes de venirse en un jadeo quedo que lo obligó a usar un inhalador (hasta ahora desconocido para Adam) un par de veces mientras aún estaban unidos.El nudo evitaba la separación pero sólo hacía más intensa la sensación de Jean agitándose suavemente, presionando contra el mismo punto sensible sobre el que Adam inútilmente trataba de mantener control. Perdió la batalla, un segundo orgasmo amenazando con llevarlo de vuelta al cielo.Y entonces despertó.Adam no había cambiado su estilo de vida, no lo haría por Jean, ni por nadie. Apenas unos días después de su encuentro ya estaba en cama de alguien más, agitado por sus sueños que parecían estar en el lecho de otro.Bostezó y se puso de pie, vistiéndose rápidamente, en completo silencio, antes de despertar al enorme Alfa que había encontrado la noche anterior en un bar. Un nuevo bar, no se atrevía ir al bar de Jean. Aquello probablemente era producto de pura vergüenza, o de una infantil sensación de culpa, pero estaba presente y lo obligaba a alejarse.El Alfa de anoche, no estaba nada mal, grande, intenso, lo había disfrutado. Tenía que irse antes de que decidiera hacer algo más. Adam no quería nada más, ningún desayuno incómodo nunca más. Ya bastante malo era tener que ir en sábado al obstetra a averiguar porqué mierda no había tenido su celo hace casi tres meses. Quería decir que tenía sexo seguro y con preservativo 100% de las veces… pero podía pensar en una excepción. Un desliz. Una tontería.Le preocupaba una infección, si bien no sentía dolor, o una enfermedad mucho más peligrosa. Tenía que descartar cada posibilidad así fuera la menos posible. Además, mientras más pronto dejara de visitar ese horrible consultorio lleno de omegas preñados mejor.—Adam, ya te habías tardado en venir a visitarme. —Dijo la Doctora con una sonrisa, Adam se la devolvió, Agatha era amiga suya desde la secundaria, no le confiaría su cuerpo a nadie más.—He estado ocupado.—Eso he leído, iré por tu expediente y nos pondremos a trabajar. Espera aquí.Adam asintió y espero mirando aburrido a su alrededor. Casi todos los ignoraban, con excepción del único Alfa en la habitación que lo miraba con deseo mal disimulado a pesar de la maliciosa mirada que su pequeño Omega le lanzaba. La sonrisa de Adam se ensanchó al estirar suavemente el cuello, presentando su glándula sin marcar y el hombre se agitó al punto en que su Omega dejó de mirarlo y comenzó a fulminar a Adam.No podía evitarlo, de un tiempo acá Adam lucía mejor que nunca, cabello radiante, piel sedosa y sonrosada, era cómo volver a la preparatoria. O eso trataba de recordar mientras ignoraba los puñales metafóricos enviados en su dirección.Para entonces Agatha había regresado.—Bien, bien. Aún es pronto para tu revisión de rutina pero podemos empezar a hacerla. ¿Por qué llamaste?—Creo que estoy enfermo.—Ya veo. ¿Cuándo fue tu último celo?—El 15 de Marzo.—Adam, eso fue hace más de 3 meses… —Dijo Agatha, súbitamente preocupada. — ¿Por qué no viniste antes?—He estado ocupado, sólo quiero saber si me voy a morir o…—Hay muchas cosas que pueden detener el celo. La principal es el embarazo.—No estoy embarazado. —Respondió de inmediato, Agatha lo miro muy seria.—No voy a juzgarte por tener un hijo sin tener un Alfa, a veces pasa, pero si estas esperando…—No estoy esperando Agatha.—Déjame hacerte un ultrasonido, sólo para confirmar.—Bien, pero no pienso pagarte un centavo por él.La mujer asintió encendió una máquina que Adam no sabía que guardaba en un armario cercano, se quitó la camisa mirando su cuerpo fijamente. Estaba un poco más… gordo. Sólo un poco y no lo sorprendía. No había tenido esos síntomas que los Omega tienen, no tenía nauseas, no tenía antojos, no estaba mareado. Sin contar su ausencia de celo Adam estaba como si nada.Además, el único Alfa con el que había tenido sexo cerca de su celo había sido Jean y había usado condón los tres días, Adam lo recordaba bien.—Recuéstate, bien. Está un poco frío. —Adam asintió y miró a la pantalla cuándo ella lo hizo, sólo veía un mar de motas grises extrañas. Pero luego la pantalla encendió bien y lo vio. Eso era un jodido bebé no podía ser otra cosa. Tenía cabeza y una línea rara que debía ser su pierna. Eso tenía que ser viejo, eso no podía estar dentro de Adam, debía ser de otro paciente. Escuchó un latido también, mientras Agatha media y anotaba, mirándolo de reojo con expresión crítica. El corazoncito acelerado lo estaba llevando al colapso.—Adam, ahora deberíamos pensar en tus opciones.—Sácalo.—¿Adam?—Dame pastillas, aborto químico. ¡Agatha!—No puedo.— ¿Cómo coño no vas a poder?—No puedo Adam, sólo puedo realizar un aborto químico hasta las 9 semanas…—Bueno… bueno agéndame y succióname está cosa. —Dijo con un nuevo nivel de pánico, su voz había subido una octava. No, no, no necesitaba al hijo de un desconocido, menos ahora.—No puedo Adam, tienes 13 semanas de embarazo, más o menos. Nadie con licencia te hará un aborto luego de la semana 12. Es peligroso.—Agatha no puedo tener esta cosa. Tienes que sacármelo.—Si no querías hijos, debiste usar anticonceptivos. —Expresó seria. — Esto pasa con la vida que tie…—No te atrevas a juzgar mi vida, Agatha. No me hagas recordarte tus propios errores. —Gruño y la mujer callo de inmediato. — ¿Está sano?—Mide unos 6 centímetros y sus latidos son fuertes. Este bebé no va a ir a ningún lado.—Mierda… No es posible, faltaban 3 días para mi celo y…—Adam, muchas cosas pueden pasar. Los Alfa pura sangre pueden inducir un celo próximo si el omega realmente les gusta, he visto esto antes.Entonces no era su culpa, era culpa de Jean.—¿Qué tengo que hacer para deshacerme de él?—Para empezar, ¿quién es el padre?—Eso no importa. —Dijo cortante.— ¡Adam!Adam la miró exasperado.—Sin permiso escrito del Alfa que engendró a este niño, no puedes darlo en adopción.— ¿Por qué no?—Es la ley, sólo los Omega pueden dar a luz crías Omega, por lo que potencialmente cualquier hijo tuyo puede presentarse como tal. Los Omega crecen mejor en ambientes familiares rodeados de sus símiles, además los Alfa son muy posesivos, pueden volverse violentos. Si tu Alfa misterioso no está en la cárcel o muerto, lo siento pero tendrás que quedarte con tu hijo.Eso no iba a suceder. Matar a Jean siempre era una opción.—Te enviaré unos suplementos, vitaminas… Lo siento Adam.—¿Puedes darme una foto o algo?—Lo imprimiré para ti. —Dijo sorprendida. Bueno, si Adam quería decirle a Jean iba a necesitar evidencia.-----000-----Sabía que Jean había considerado sus días juntos como un momento de revelación en que sus almas se habían unido y sus destinos estaban destinados a cruzarse. Pero cuándo se dio cuenta de que lo estaba evitando lo que se le vino a la mente fue que aquél conocimiento no era acertado.Jean no estaba nunca en el bar, ni en su departamento, o eso pretendía, a veces veía su auto o a su guardaespaldas Basil, pero este desaparecía en cuando sus miradas se cruzaban o le decía que Jean estaba muy ocupado como para atenderlo. Adam no era de esos Omega que aceptan un “no” como respuesta.Cuñando cumplió dos semanas buscándolo quedó oficialmente harto. Se acercó a Basil no le permitió huir. Plantándose frente a él firmemente. Su embarazo ya era evidente, así que había comenzado a usar ropa más holgada y a ocultar su aroma con bufandas y lociones. Un Omega preñado sin marcar era algo extremadamente tentador para cualquier Alfa.—No te atrevas a huir de nuevo. ¿Dónde está tu jefe?—Ya le he dicho, Sr. Towers, el jefe está ocupado en…—Negocios importantes, sí. Mira, dale un mensaje. Voy a ir a su departamento hoy a las 7 de la noche y va a dejarme recibirme.— ¿Y por qué haría eso? —Cuestionó burlonamente.—Porque si no me recibe a las 8 voy a publicar en Internet que tu jefe, uno de los más influyentes hombres del mundo de la banca privada, abusó sexualmente de mí y se negó a responsabilizarse cuando descubrí mi embarazo. —Adam había puesto una carita de mártir muy convincente hasta que terminó de hablar y lo miró con una ceja en alto.—…No puede. —Adam sacó un sobre blanco, un análisis de sangre que confirmaba su embarazo y se lo arrojó al pecho.—A las 7.No se quedó a ver la mirada de pánico con la que Basil llamaba al celular directo de Jean para contarle las novedades. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Cuándo Adam llegó a las 7 en punto al departamento de Jean toda la confianza que normalmente sentía comenzaba a mermar. En recepción lo recibieron amablemente, incluso pidieron el ascensor para él. Se miró en el espejo tratando de encontrar ahí el valor que lentamente s convertía en nervios. ¿Por qué estaba nervioso para empezar?Bueno, estaban en territorio del Alfa y para bien o para mal Adam tenía su cachorro dentro. Le preocupaba el control que Jean pudiera ejercer biológicamente sobre él. Respiró profundo, arreglándose los largos rizos y respirando profundamente, sin embargo el timbrazo de la campana de elevador anunciando la llegaba al piso lo tomó desprevenido. Ridículo.Jean abrió la puerta, a pesar de que lo primero que hizo fue inhalar profundamente casi de inmediato su rostro cambió a una expresión de frustración al encontrar sólo el aroma de la colonia anti feromónica de Adam.—Te tomo bastante dejarme subir.—La gente con la que no sales no tiene nada que hacer en tu departamento. —Respondió Le Chiffre con indiferencia, caminando a la sala de estar y tomando de la mesa una copa de vino. — ¿Sed?—No puedo beber y lo sabes.Ahora Jean lo miraba directamente, sus manos temblaban con la misma ira que Adam veía en sus ojos, ardiente, peligrosa, parecían resplandecer. No tenía que ser mago para adivinar su pensamiento, Jean creía que estaba mintiendo.— ¡No es una mentira! Te di los malditos análisis.—Un documento fácilmente falsificable.—¿Tú crees que yo quería esto? —Murmuró levantando su camiseta para revelar el pequeño bulto que era su bebé de casi 4 meses. — Quedarme atrapado con esta cosa dentro hasta que pueda deshacerme de ella cuándo salga…—¡NO VAS A DESHACERTE MI HIJO! —Adam retrocedió un par de pasos, un poso sobresaltado. Jea estaba aún más furioso, su pecho dejaba salir un leve gruñido, y sus ojos que habían brillado ilusionados al ver el vientre de Adam redondeado con su cría ahora estaban fríos ante la idea de perderla. —Yo me ocuparé de proveer para ti. Vas a mudarte aquí hasta que termine tu embarazo y luego dejarás a la criatura aquí. Te ofrezco incluso una cuota de compensación por la molestia… Luego podrás irte y no tendremos que volver a vernos nunca más.— ¿Cuánto?— ¿Cuánto quieres?—Un millón de dólares. —Respondió, pero sólo para no quedarse callado. Nunca le había pasado por la cabeza que Jean si quisiera a la criatura. Bueno, mientras no tuviera que lidiar con ella luego del parto le daba lo mismo si lo dejaba con Jean o lo regalaba a algún desconocido. Acarició suavemente su vientre y asintió satisfecho.—Considéralo hecho. Pero si vivirás bajo mi techo seguirás mis reglas…—Lo que tú digas, Alfa. Oh, te traje esto. —Dijo ofreciéndole un pedazo de papel. Una ecografía, la primera foto que veía de su hijo. Jean mantuvo la mirada fija en el papel y no en Adam que salía de ahí a toda prisa.-----000------—Dije que te mudarías conmigo.—¿Qué quieres? Necesito cosas. —Murmuró Adam hastiado. Su departamento estaba de cabeza mientras llenaba un par de maltas y cajas con lo más vital de su vida, en 5 meses el niño estaría fuera y podría volver, así que no tenía caso hacer mucho más. Jean parecía pensar que podía reemplazar cosas como ropa o su laptop sin que Adam pudiera opinar al respecto, estaba muy equivocado.—Si me hubieras dicho habría enviado a Basil o a Kratt para ayudarte, no deberías cargar…—No, Jean. —Interrumpió el Omega, Jean hizo un esfuerzo sobrehumano para no estirar la mano y tocar la curva de su vientre que ahora estaba muy visible sin las múltiples capas de ropa bajo las que Adam la escondía. —Serás el padre de este niño, pero no eres nada mío. No puedes decidir qué puedo hacer o que no.—Mi casa, mis reglas, Señor Towers.—Mientras tengas un pie aquí, está es mi casa. —Bufó dándole una caja. — Y volverá a serlo cuándo te quedes con la criatura.—Si eres tan autosuficiente, creo que podrás mudarte tú sólo. —Respondió Jean, su boca fruncida como siempre que algo le molestaba. Adam recibió la caja de vuelta y jadeo un poco bajo su peso. Jean quiso quitársela de las manos, arrepentido, pero Adam retrocedió.—Bien, tomaré un taxi y te veré cuándo termine. Ya sabes dónde está la puerta.No volteo para verlo irse, pero si escuchó la puerta al azotarse violentamente.------00000-----—No, sólo tienes que venir y sacudir de vez en cuando—. Adam estaba casi listo para irse, al final Jean había accedido a enviar un auto por él, sin importar si Adam quería ese auto o no. Así que mientras esperaba Adam buscaba quien pudiera ocuparse de su departamento. Ya tenía mil cosas encima, pensar en mudase con la máscara de indiferencia mientras engordaba con un niño ya lo tenían bastante estresado, no necesitaba el nulo interés que la mitad de sus amigos mostraban por él. Alguien toco a su puerta mientras echaba una sábana sobre su fotografía favorita, una mujer atada por complejos nudos, completamente desnuda, la fotografía le recordó que estaba bastante caliente, la llamada sólo logro hacer de eso algo irritable. — No , no estoy enfermo… No es rehabilitación. ¿Sabes qué? Olvídalo… ¡Ya voy!Abrió la puerta sólo para ser recibido por un par de brazos fuertes, sintió el vello que los cubría la espalda ancha que lo rodeaba, también sintió el aroma puro de un Alfa caliente.—¿James?—Sé que se supone que llame primero, pero para ser honesto no podía esperar un minuto más por ti, no tienes idea como he esperado para pasar otra noche conmigo. ¿Te mataría llamarme más seguido?—Este no es el mejor momento…—Susurró mientras sentía sus besos bajando por su cuello, ese era el tipo de Alfa que a Adam le gustaba más. Grande, alto, fuerte, hombros anchos y piernas gruesas, el tipo de Alfa con barba tupida y tatuajes que podría agarrarse a golpes con otros 3 sujetos para luego follarte contra la pared sin descanso, usando toda su fuerza para hacerte sentir como que realmente podrías volar.Rara vez venían acompañados de algo menos que asombroso entre las piernas y si bien cada célula en su cabeza parece haber firmado un consenso sobre la polla de Jean como número uno, había muchas otras que valían mucho la pena, que dejaban detrás un ardor que Adam ansiaba como un niño malcriado. Si no puedes sentirlo al día siguiente no valió la pena, ese era su lema. Claro que ahora había algo más dentro de quién debía ocuparse.—James, oh…espera.—Mierda, hueles increíble…—Sintió besos en las mejillas y luego bajando de nuevo por su cuello, jalando de la sudadera holgada que llevaba para desnudar sus hombros. Adam suspiró, aquello se sentía tan inusualmente bien. Son las hormonas, pensó, un Omega soltero quiere que un Alfa lo cuide, lo ame…Pensó en la forma en que sus amigos y compañeros de cama huían al siquiera asumir que había algo mal con él y decidió seguirle la corriente, tenía muy claro que no podría tener sexo con cualquiera viviendo con LeChiffre. Sintió a James acercarse lo suficiente para presionar su masivo miembro contra su pierna y llevo su mano a él de inmediato, buscando abrir su pantalón y empezar el juego. A lo lejos escuchó su celular vibrando. Bueno seguro podían darle unos minutos.—Joder, no sé qué es, pero podría olerte por siempre… —Adam rio tontamente mientras su sudadera ahora subía hasta su cuello, los mismos besos húmedos ahora acariciando sus pezones y su pecho. Cuándo los besos se detuvieron Adam maldijo. —Estás preñado.—¿Eso va a ser un problema?—Debiste decírmelo antes. —Susurró con una sonrisa canina, alzándolo por la cintura y subiéndolo a la barra de la cocina, más besos bajando por su vientre hasta inhalar suavemente entre sus piernas. — Habría venido a verte de inmediato.—Ah, eres un pervertido…—Otra risita, James no respondió, pegando su frente a la suya mientras trataba torpemente de desvestirlos a ambos. Escuchó un nuevo toque en la puerta y lo ignoró. Haría menos ruido en caso de que fuera un vecino, o al menos lo intentaría, porque cuándo esa enorme polla cabezona pareció frente a él casi pudo sentirse salivando. Algo le decía que eso estaba mal, pero no tenía razones para no disfrutar de ese momento, era un omega soltero.Estaba aferrado a aquella fuerte espalda, jadeando ante la temperatura que subía y a los dedos que recorrían sus muslos cuando de pronto sólo sintió calor. Miró tontamente el lugar dónde estaba James unos segundos antes, ahora había ahí dos Alfa. James, que se había vestido rápidamente y Jean, que estaba ligeramente encorvado y gruñía por lo bajo, los labios apretados en una línea tensa.—Oye, viejo, no sé cuál es tu problema, pero esto es propiedad privada.—Lárgate.—¿Qué haces aquí? ¿Cómo entraste? —Preguntó Adam, confundido, parándose entre ellos.—Dije que vendría por ti, llamé y no contestaste, pensé que te habrías largado con mi cría, así que subí por ti. Me tomé la libertad de hacer copias de tus llaves.— ¿Tu cría?... Viejo… —James no iba a pelear por Adam, mucho menos con el claramente violento padre del cachorro dentro suyo.—Vaya voto de confianza… —Murmuro. — Bueno, estoy bien. ¿Te importaría largarte? Estaba en medio de algo.—Olvídalo, Adam…—Dijo James, tomando su chaqueta y caminando en dirección a la puerta con los brazos en alto. — Llámame cuándo estés solo.—Genial, mira lo que hiciste. —Bufó irritado, cubriendo su vientre y echándose para atrás los rizos que se habían salido de lugar durante su breve encuentro. Ahora estaba caliente y frustrado. Y peor aún, hambriento.—Sube al auto. Nos iremos ahora.—Mis cosas…—Dijo señalando a su alrededor.—Veré que se haga. Sube al auto. —Repitió.—¿Qué mierda te sucede? No olvides que no soy nada tuyo…—Tienes prohibido llevar gente a mi casa, ahora mismo te lo digo.—Tranquilo, no pensaba follarme a nadie en tu cama.—No vas a follarte a nadie. Eso te lo aseguro. Sube al maldito auto. —Adam le sostuvo la mirada un par de segundos más antes de obedecer, Jean se acomodó, recuperando su postura y arreglándose el saco y sacando su inhalador del bolsillo interior. Inhalo suavemente y la sensación de la medicina en sus pulmones lo regreso a la realidad. Sólo… Sólo 5 meses y tendría a su hijo. Adam podría irse a hacer…eso. Ignoró por completo la voz en su cabeza que demandaba la sangre de aquél Alfa que osaba profanar a su omega, pero Adam no era suyo. Bien podría serlo, con su aroma emanando de él y su cría abriéndose paso a la vida en sus entrañas.Incluso con ese invitado el aroma de la excitación de Adam lo había puesto duro en segundos. Sus ridículos impulsos de Alfa eran una extraña mezcla entre matar, morder, marcar y sólo abrazar. Debió buscarse un matrimonio arreglado como quería sus padres.Adam salió a regañadientes de su departamento, con un morral al hombro y la piel aún sonrojada por la intimidad. Jean sintió ira de nuevo y no dijo nada hasta que fue obligatorio explicarle a Adam cuál sería su dormitorio a partir de ahora. El omega le dio un seco “gracias” y se metió, cerrando con seguro la puerta tras de sí.Sólo 5 meses más con ese… Omega mimado, egoísta y licencioso. Y tendría algo de valor incalculable. Pensó en las mil formas en que podría hacer que Adam aceptara su mordida, su nombre, pero las rechazó todas. No era así como quería que alguien le perteneciera y mucho menos alguien a quien detestaba más cada segundo. ¿Ese niño sería suyo? Ignoró esa duda mientras Adam abría un poco la puerta y murmuraba desde la oscuridad.— ¿Sólo subiste a ver que no hubiera huido de ti?—Pensé que era una posibilidad.—No puedo hacer nada sobre este niño sin ti. No puedo irme y lo sabes… —Jean lo miró con la misma frialdad de siempre, Adam no lo miró.—Creí que podrías estar herido, o en problemas… Simple preocupación por mi cría.—Sí, claro… Eres ridículo. —Añadió con una risa seca, bueno obviamente no se preocupaba por él, sólo por el bebé. Adam no valía nada para un hombre así, debió saberlo. ¿Quería que estuviera celoso? No, eso era ridículo. Cerró la puerta de nuevo y no se movió hasta escuchar los pasos de Jean alejándose. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Mudarse fue una pésima idea. Pésima. En primer lugar porqué Jean era un hombre peligroso. Ahora lo sabía, debió saberlo siempre. Conocía gente en círculos de gran importancia, a menudo iban a su casa a jugar póker y a perder miles de dólares contra el Alfa, que mantenía su estoica expresión. No era la cara de póker perfecta, Adam se dio cuenta de que Jean se frotaba las cienes cuándo su mano no era tan buena como creía, pero nunca o vio perder.Sus invitados a veces parecían criminales, o mafiosos. Pero Adam no era tan estúpido como para preguntar nada. Con casi 6 meses de embarazo apenas se estaba acostumbrando a vivir en aquel lujoso piso de dónde nunca podía salir solo. Había desarrollado un profundo interés por lecturas clásicas buscando distraerse del hombre con él que vivía que era, sin duda, la mejor historia que hubiera tenido en frente y que nunca podría contar.En segundo lugar, todo el maldito lugar apestaba a Jean. Era un aroma en el que se sumía más y más con el paso de los días, un aroma fuerte, masculino, terroso. Una mezcla extraña entre feromonas, medicina, sangre y cuero. Era jodidamente adictivo. ¿Cómo mierda iba a vivir sin él?Maldita naturaleza Omega. Para su cuerpo, que cada día estaba más pesado con el peso de su cachorro, esa era la esencia de su Alfa, no tenía su mordida en el cuello, pero era suyo. Adam tenía que recordarse constantemente que ese no era el caso, eso no era cierto.En Su segunda semana de vivir con Jean descubrió que su cachorro era niño. No lo expresaría, pero eso lo emocionaba. Pensamientos del tipo: “Mi Alfa será muy feliz de tener un niño” lo asaltaron. Pero eso era irracional y estúpido. No te aferres, no te apegues.Y no quería apegarse, ni a Jean con sus hábitos extraños y su cálida naturaleza. Ni a la casa que se volvía su hogar cada día. Mucho menos al bebé que sentía moverse en su interior, recordándole que estaba vivo, sano y creciendo como parte suya, como una extensión de sí mismo. Y ahí volvía al problema del aroma.Vivir con un Alfa pura sangre como Jean lo tenía aún más perturbado de lo normal, su embarazo era menos molesto de lo usual, pero los omega son criaturas que demandan cuidados y contacto. Tan simple como eso, es su naturaleza. Adam que no tenía Alfa oficial y vivía con uno que lo evitaba en lo posible se sentía tan depravado de afecto que parecía sudar ansiedad. Todo sobre Jean lo incitaba, la forma en que se movía lo tenía follándose con los dedo insulsamente, ni cerca de satisfacerse cada vez que Jean salía de casa. Por ejemplo ahora.Se había colado en su habitación, abrazándose a la almohada del Alfa, presionándola contra su rostro, inhalando su intoxicarte aroma mientras se tocaba, quejidos de frustración escapando de sus labios.Al final ese orgasmo que lentamente construía sería muy poco satisfactorio, siempre lo era. Así que no tenía prisa, ignorando el bulto de bebé que lo hacía sentir tan poco atractivo. Nadie lo querría ya, lo sabía, salir a buscar compañía, incluso si lograba que Jean no se enterara, sería peligroso.Para él y para el bebé.Cerró los ojos con fuerza, imaginando a Jean tomándose el tiempo de abrirlo bien antes de anudarlo. No lo habían anudado en meses, no desde aquella primera vez y estaba al borde de las lágrimas sólo con pensar en ello.Sentí que pronto se liberaría, pero queriendo prolongar su placer ignoró todo sonido a su alrededor. Probablemente así fue que no escuchó los golpes en la puerta, sin darse cuenta había olvidado ponerle el seguro, esa ignorancia fue la razón por la que abrió los ojos sorprendido cuando escuchó un suave gruñido.Adam se congeló, con casi 4 dedos dentro y la almohada frene a su nariz. Jean tenía las pupilas dilatadas, sus fosas nasales absorbiendo su vergüenza.—Esperaba llegar antes de que terminaras. —Dijo como un ronroneo, Adam podía oler su deseo y movió su mano temblorosa.—No…No puedo. —Admitió sacando sus dedos, Jean se acercó más, acariciando gentilmente su vientre, como había deseado tocarlo. Sentir su semilla creciendo en su cuerpo. — Por favor…Jean sonrió, quitándole la almohada del rostro mientras comenzaba a desabrochar sus pantalones.—Sólo tenías que venir a mí. —Dijo desabotonando su camisa. — No había necesidad de frotarte contra mi aroma como una perra en celo. Adam frunció los labios.—No quiero nada de ti además de tu polla. — Todo muy amenazante hasta que gimió al primer contacto contra su entrada. Jean presionó un dedo dentro, saboreando la excitación en el aire.—Y mi dinero.Adam suspiró, el sonido de su lubricación contra su piel haciéndole sentir desesperado por liberarse.—Sí… —Gimió. — Quiero todo eso…Jean retiró su mano y Adam soltó un quejido, mirándolo desprenderse de la ropa. Recordaba la primera vez que se vieron, entre todas las personas presentes, lo mucho que lo había deseado a pesar de no olerlo de cerca hasta mucho después.Si no se hubiera enterado meses después de que los Alfa de sangre pura podían alterar tus ciclos, bueno tal vez no hubiera sabido que nadie, nunca, olería así de bien.Cómo ahora, el placer que se acumulaba y que venía del Alfa hacía a Adam sentirse mareado a cada momento, pero se mordió el labio antes de rogarle que se diera prisa. Jean hizo una pausa antes de quitarse la ropa interior, alzando una ceja y sonriendo con suficiencia.—Estás prácticamente inundando la cama. —Le reprendió quitándose la última prenda. — Ten cuidado o voy a obligarte a reemplazar el colchón.—Cómo si no quisieras enterrar tu cara en ello. —Dijo Adam, incorporándose, dedos enredándose en las sabanas. —Puedo olerte desde aquí.Jean se aferró con fuerza a su cuello y Adam gruñó, su toque como fuego luego de tanto tiempo sin contacto alguno.—Deja de quejarte y muéstrame.Adam tembló cuándo lo soltó, dándose la vuelta y presentándose sobre sus rodillas, en su estado la postura era terrible para sus articulaciones, pero sollozó cuando recibió el primer toque, retrocediendo hacia los dedos del Alfa cuándo comenzaron a abrirle.—Estás tan húmedo para mí. —Susurró Jean. — Entraría tan perfectamente.—Alfa…—Sollozó Adam, bajando la cabeza.Jean se alineó con su entrada y lo sostuvo firmemente de la cadera justo antes de que el bebé diera una patada especialmente fuerte que arrancó un quejido de su padre. Jean no pareció darse cuenta porque se enterró por completo segundos después, jalando a Adam consigo y haciéndolos gemir a ambos.—¿Qué sucede? — Adam respiró agitado en busca de aire, la cabeza hacia atrás mientras se reía.—Creo que tu hijo no quiere que me jodas…— Jean acarició su cuello con los dientes, dándole un ligero sonido como respuesta mientras lo levantaba suavemente y golpeaba su próstata a la perfección.—Tendrá que tolerar mi invasión.Adam sintió un escalofrío, masturbándose al ritmo firme al que era penetrado. Cuándo se vino fue con un suspiro, presionándose contra los dientes de Jean que jugueteaban siempre al borde de morderlo.— ¿Mejor?Adam se estremeció, montando aquél miembro duro ,mientras era abrazado por la espalda contra el nudo maravillosamente firme que lo obligo a ronronear como un colegial.—Mierda, sí.Jean embistió una, dos veces más antes de derramarse dentro de Adam, el bebé una vez más pateando ante su abuso que se detuvo haciendo a Adam sonreír.—A esta cosita no le gusta que lo aplasten. —Dijo con una risita, permitiéndole a Jean maniobrar para recostarlos de costado uno junto al otro. Jean olfateó suavemente la piel de su cuello.—A él. —Besos en su cuello. — El doctor estaba seguro del sexo ¿Recuerdas?—¿Cómo podría olvidarlo? —Jean usó un pañuelo para limpiar un poco a Adam.—Descansa. —Susurro acomodándose cerca de él una vez más. — La próxima vez que te sientas privado de afecto no te permitas llegar a este estado.—Claro. —Bufó Adam. — Sólo te rogaré por abrazos y buenos polvos. —Jean embistió suavemente, el nudo dentro hizo a Adam chocar lo dientes.—Sí…—Lo abrazó y se acomodó acurrucado contra el Omega. —Haré lo que sea para tenerte cómodo por mi hijo.Adam se tensó, cerrando los ojos con fuerza como para evadir la realidad.Claro. No podía olvidarse de eso.----000---Estaba aburrido. Muy aburrido. A veces salía, pero siempre con escolta, con alguno de esos guardaespaldas huraños de Jean. A veces su charla los hacía sonreír, pero sólo si estaban a solas. Tampoco le permitían ir a muchos lugares. Había ido a un par de galerías de arte por el trabajo, siempre con ropa holgada y abrigos, siempre fingiendo que no le dolía que sus amigos lo ignoraran.No podía visitar al resto de sus amigos y decirles que estaba esperando un bebé del que pensaba deshacerse a cambio de dinero. Pondrían el grito en el cielo. No. Así que iba a comprar ropa, cortesía de Jean, libros, comida. Lo que fuera para escapar por un rato, pero siempre volvía a la habitación agradable en ese departamento que tanto le empezaba a gustar.Un día por puro impulso compró un montón de fieltro y telas con patrones y empezó a cocer un pequeño grupo de animales de tela. Elefantes, jirafas. Bonitos y rechonchos en tonos pastel. Incluso se tomó la molestia de bordarles los ojos y sus pequeñas bocas. Fue cuando terminó que se dio cuenta de lo que estaba haciendo y tiró, muñecos y todo, a la basura del cuarto que sería de Jack.Jack, su pequeño Jack. Bueno, suyo no. Jean no sabía del nombre, era para Adam y nadie más, era privado, era un regalo, era una tortura a la que se sometía sin poder resistirse. Era estúpido encariñarse de ese modo. Lo sabía, lo sabía perfectamente, pero no podía evitarlo. No quería evitarlo, no lo intentaba.Acariciaba su vientre suavemente siempre que estaba o se creía a solas. Charlando con Jack, contándole historias que no eran apropiadas para un bebé. Hablándole de la casa donde creció, de su padre, de su madre, de sus años de universidad. De sus amigos, de sus mascotas. De su hámster que solía poner en el bolsillo de su camisa mientras hacía la tarea. Su bebé que crecía más cada día, que hacía notar su presencia en su vida como una tormenta, igual que el idiota de su padre.En la noche, cuando por diversas razones no podía dormir (Su creciente vientre, su resistencia a rogarle a Jean por otra ronda o simplemente nerviosismo) se pasaba el rato hablando con Jack. Con su pequeño Jack. El Jack que sentía pateando dentro, estirando su piel, recordándole que nunca estaba sólo. Y que pronto lo estaría como nunca.Sabía que era estúpido lastimarse de ese modo. Pensar en el futuro y en que le dirían a Jean sobre su ausencia. Pero no necesitaba un hijo, las cosas eran perfectas para Adam tal y como eran antes, era la vida que quería, la vida que había construido para él.Jean, que veía al que considera su omega pesado con su cachorro y susurrándole amorosamente, tenía un conflicto muy similar. No quería a Adam ahí, no quería verse liado con un terco, licencioso, prepotente e independiente omega que está dispuesto a dejar a su hijo por dinero. Pero ese es su hijo tanto como de Jean, y sabe que lo ama, lo escucha en su voz mientras lo llama, Jack, Jack, una y otra vez entre historias secretas y palabras de cariño.¿Porque no podía hacerle entender que ese era su lugar? ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Adam sabía que era patético. Pero no podía hacer nada. Había pasado tanto tiempo sintiéndose solo, privandose de afecto y sumiéndose en la soledad que ahora era imposible resistirse a un poco de afecto incluso si era solamente físico. Para sus instintos omega eso era más que suficiente, acurrucarse con Jean de vez en vez, acompañarlo cuando trabajaba o cuando leía. Y claro, tener sexo con él. Mucho, en realidad, todo el que fuera posible. Incluso si a su bebé no parecía gustarle. Adam tenía que recordarse con frecuencia que tenía dignidad y que no debía rogarle a Jean por compañía en su cama. No. Él era un adulto, un omega independiente. Sí. Pero sumirse en esa cómoda cotidianidad había sido demasiado fácil. Sentir por una vez que el lugar en que vivía era un hogar y no sólo un departamento lleno de adornos provocativos y pretenciosos sin otro propósito que llamar la atención sobre sí mismo. Mostrar que era mejor, que tenía dinero, que si quería un alfa en su cama era porque lo deseaba y no porque fuera un omega frágil que buscara ayuda o soporte. Mantener esas apariencias era agotador, pero mantener las que tenía con Jean lo era en igual medida. Así que no era inusual que se rindiera, como ahora. Dejándose querer y hacer, tanto para su placer como para el ajeno. Era la mejor distracción, podía dormir mejor después. Sentía manos en su vientre y los besos de Jean en el cuello, su miembro deslizándose en su interior sin resistencia alguna. Pero entonces sintió dolor, un dolor agudo y desgarrador en la parte baja del vientre. Lanzó un quejido entrecortado, había perdido el aire. Escuchó a Jean reír detrás de él. —¿Tantas ganas tienes de venirte?—Susurró en su oído al oler la desesperación en el aire. Adam dejó escapar otro gemido, Jean mordió suavemente su hombro dejando detrás un moretón. —N… No, no es...—No pudo terminar, el dolor volvió y ahora sabía que algo estaba mal. Su fuente se rompió llenando la habitación con su aroma y el pánico que destilaba el omega por los poros. Jean salió rápidamente de su cuerpo, sosteniéndolo con firmeza. —¿Adam?— —Joder.... No puedo ni ser una maldita incubadora bien...—Susurró con amargura, el dolor lo obligó a doblarse sobre sí mismo y le arrancó un grito de angustia que resonó en el pecho del alfa. —Es pronto, es muy pronto...— La siguiente hora fue un borrón confuso. Jean salió disparado a vestirse, la primera ropa que encontró. Luego hizo lo mismo con Adam, pasándole como pudo algunas prendas encima y gritando a sus guardias para que lo ayudaran a llevarlo al auto. Uno de ellos, Adam no sabía cual, había conducido mientras Jean se quedaba en el asiento trasero con él. Temeroso por su bebé más que por sí mismo Adam se aferró a Jean con todas sus fuerzas, negándose a dejarlo ir incluso cuando estuvieron en el hospital y las enfermeras trataban de dejarlo listo. Debió desmayarse en algún momento porque solo pudo recordar su voz temblorosa rogándole a Jean que no se fuera sin dejarle ver a Jack. El frío y estéril cuarto en el que despertó no olía a nada, ni siquiera a Jean y eso lo envió de inmediato al pánico. ¿Y si Jack no había sobrevivido? Imagino el dolor en la cara de Jean, la decepción y el enojo porque Adam no pudiera cumplir el único punto de algún valor en su arreglo. No sería una sorpresa que dejará el hospital sólo para que alguien le diera un disparo entre los ojos. Fue hasta que las enfermeras llenaron su cuarto que se dió cuenta de que estaba gritando. —Está bien, todo está bien. ¡Tiene que calmarse!— —Alfa, mi Alfa… Necesito a mi...— En el segundo que Jean entró por la puerta Adam casi se tiró de la cama, desesperado por tenerle cerca. Jean lo envolvió en sus brazos, olfateando suavemente su cuello. Adam estaba muy mal para entender las palabras que Jean susurraba en su cuello pero sabía que necesitaba oírlas. —Está bien, pueden dejarnos. — Susurró y las mujeres se fueron tan rápido como habían llegado. Adam aún tenía el rostro hundido en su cuello cuando intentó hablar entre los sollozos que no podía reprimir. —Lo siento tanto.— —¿Por qué? — —No pude ni dar a luz al bebé. Yo…— —Está descansando en Cuidados Intensivos, perfectamente saludable, si bien algo bajo de peso, pero eso es normal considerando que es algo prematuro.— —Oh, gracias a dios...— Susurró Adam con un suspiró de alivio, lágrimas llenando sus ojos. Jean acarició amablemente su espalda y se dedicó a tararear hasta que Adam estuvo calmado de nuevo. —El doctor considera que debido a que está bajo de peso se beneficiaría mucho de tu leche sobre cualquier cosa que pudiéramos darle.— —¿Por cuánto tiempo? — Susurró Adam, de pronto tenso, cerrando los ojos. —Unas semanas, no más.— Adam se alejó lo suficiente de Jean para verle a la cara, su expresión desapegada y apática lo hizo sentir enfermo. —Puedo bombearla y enviartela cada semana.— —Supongo que esa sería la forma inteligente de hacer las cosas...—Jean sintió un estremecimiento desagradable pero asintió, alejándose de él. Adam suspiró de nuevo y desvió finalmente la mirada. —Sobre lo que dije...— —Estabas en un mal momento, no te sentías dueño de tí mismo, jamás te recriminaría eso.— —No, claro que no.— Respondió con una risa forzada. Jean se puso de pie, acomodando su ropa sin hacer el menor intento por mirarle a los ojos. — Haré que te hagan llegar una bomba lo antes posible. —Su...— Jean estaba a punto de irse cuando Adam lo detuvo.— ¿Qué nombre…?— —Jonathan.— Dijo Jean, mirándole con una expresión extraña. Adam asintió y el otro se fue. Tomó la almohada entre sus labios, mordiendo con fuerza para calmar cualquier sonido de desesperación que pudiera emitir mientras lloraba. Se quedó dormido con el rostro enterrado en los pliegues de la sabana, justo dónde el aroma de Jean aún estaba presente. Cuándo despertó fue por el gentil sacudir de una enfermera. —Su Alfa nos pidió que...— —Él no es mi Alfa.— Su camiseta estaba húmeda en el frente y sin pensarlo Adam se la quitó. Bombear la leche fue casi demasiado satisfactorio, sentirse ligero y fresco… El suave sonrojo de la enfermera mientras lo hacía fue por demás molesto. No necesitaba ninguna razón más para odiar el proceso, aquella horrible máquina robándole su última conexión con Jack. John, no Jack. Su ira ardió ante la idea de que Jean no había ni preguntado si quería participar en aquello pero sabía que no debería sentirse así. —Gracias...—Dijo a la enfermera. —Si es mucha molestia siempre podemos buscar una nodriza que...— —¡No! — Murmuró con un gruñido. La mujer retrocedió de inmediato, asintió y le dejó a solas. Adam pasó la noche en el hospital, sin dormir, simplemente mirando la puerta cerrada. Un mensaje de texto le informó de un gran depósito realizado a su cuenta de banco esa mañana. Tomó un taxi a casa y a pesar de no desearlo lloró todo el camino. Apenas llegar corrió al baño, su estómago incapaz de contener por más tiempo la comida del hospital. Esto pasaría. Tenía que pasar. Durmió casi dos días, estaba agotado y peor aún le dolía todo el cuerpo. Tenía mensajes de todos sus amigos cuando despertó. Todos esos amigos que le habían ignorado cuando supieron de su estado, los que no habían dado señal de vida cuando desapareció durante casi 6 meses. Los mismos amigos que de alguna manera ahora sabían que se había “librado de eso” y querían volver a formar una parte activa de su vida. Lo que más lo intrigaba era saber cómo habían averiguado lo sucedido, pero no respondió ninguno de los mensajes, menudos amigos. No se sorprendió cuando llegó del supermercado para encontrar un paquete en su puerta, una bomba mucho más fina que la del hospital. La dejó en la habitación y metió las botellas al refrigerador. Las compras habían sido un desastre, apenas podía pensar en que necesitaba mucho menos decidirse a tomar nada cuando recorría los pasillos en un tenso silencio. Se había obligado a comprar comida que no se molestaba en comer. Era una rutina desquiciante de despertar, sacar la leche que inflamaba sus pechos cada día y luego enviarla a Jean, guardar un poco más en la nevera e irse de vuelta a la cama. Salió a tomar aire fresco, pero aquello no ayudó en nada. Estaba destrozado y no había nada que pudiera hacer para corregirlo. Algo en su pecho estaba mal y lo sabía. También sabía que era una tontería. Tenía que aprender a superarlo, después de todo no era ni el primer ni el último omega en no quedarse con su hijo, muchos otros tomaban esa decisión y casi ninguno tenía a su lado un Alfa para apoyarlos. Comer era un suplicio, su estómago parecía incapaz de recibir alimento. Lo único que lograba al obligarse a hacerlo era un dolor agudo que subía hasta su garganta. No podría hacerlo sólo. Usó su tableta para buscar ayuda, algo que pudiera enseñarle a lidiar con el dolor que sentía cada momento que pasaba despierto. Luego de mucho buscar encontró un foro para personas que, como él, buscaban superar la separación con un niño que en su caso jamás llegó a ver. Habló con casi 12 personas, todas con circunstancias diferentes, algunas eran muy jóvenes, otras muy viejas, otras querían algo más de su vida, otras habían prestado su vientre a familiares o amigos. Pero todas, sin falta decían la misma frase. —Gracias a dios pude decirle adiós.— Adam había estallado en carcajadas que rápidamente dejaron lugar a lágrimas gruesas y desesperadas. Los labios partidos por tanto que los había mordido y abusado en los últimos días. El no pudo hacerlo. Nunca pudo decir adiós. Así que hizo lo que sabía hacer mejor, algo que podría hacer sin duda en ese momento: Evadir. Trató de volver al trabajo, volvió a salir con sus amigos. Evitó el alcohol, pues Jack… Jon aún necesitaba su leche y debía ser responsable. Trato de acostarse con Alfas de nuevo, pero la sóla idea de hacerlo con alguien que no fuera Jean, ese aroma al que se había acostumbrado a lo largo de los meses… le provocaba repulsión. Llegaba a casa a comer un bocado antes de tirar el resto, ya no se molestaba en comprar nada más que comida para llevar o bocadillos preparados, apenas recuperando el peso que perdió en el embarazo. Delgado y pálido, demacrado por las horas de sueño que no conseguía. Estaba muriendo en vida y era su propia culpa. Jean estaba perfectamente sin él. La evidencia era que pasó un mes antes de que supiera algo de él. La leche debía llegarle sin problemas, por eso Adam la hacía llegar al hospital cada dos días y no habían tenido ningún contratiempo, ninguna razón para verse… Ninguna razón para recibir noticias de su bebé. ¿Habría salido del hospital? ¿Quién iba a cuidarlo? ¿De qué color eran sus ojos? Adam no tenía el derecho de saber, había renunciado a ese derecho por unos cuantos millones de dólares. Imbécil. Por primera vez en su vida no tenía ganas de tener sexo. Su cuerpo aún estaba algo inflamado luego de dar a luz y sabía que eso no pasaría pronto. No suficiente con sentirse poco atractivo la realidad es que no se sentía caliente. Lo intentó, sólo para probarse a sí mismo que podía y que Jean no era su dueño de ninguna forma, claro, para convencerse de que podía volver a ser el mismo, sin mayor esfuerzo, sin responsabilidades, pero no pudo hacerlo. Podía obligar a su cuerpo a reaccionar, podía usar lubricante, juguetes, podían meterle el miembro de alfa más grande que pudiera conseguir pero no obtenía satisfacción alguna, sólo se sentía sucio. Más cosas que le privaban del sueño. Honestamente era lo último que necesitaba. Paso un par de días aseando su departamento, tirando ropa que ya no quería ponerse, otra que no le quedaba debido al peso que había ganado. Guardó un par de botellas de leche más, su pecho irritado. Seguramente la boca de un bebé no irrita de ese modo. Escuchó el timbre de su celular, sin duda un mensaje y pensó seriamente en ignorarlo por completo, no quería tener nada que ver con otros seres vivos. Estaba comenzando a hacerse muy aficionado a tirarse en cama durante horas hasta que algo detonaba su llanto y podía dormir. Pero estaba muy cerca del telefóno y finalmente lo desbloqueó para ver las notificaciones. Tenía un mensaje de Jean. El mensaje leía: “Nos vamos a casa.” Había una foto anexa al mensaje, una fotografía de Jean en un grueso abrigo con un bultito envuelto en mantas entre sus brazos. Adam sintió su pecho arder mientras miraba por primera vez el rostro dormido de John. Tecleo su respuesta antes de salir corriendo de la cama, buscando ropa mientras trastabillaba por la habitación y en qué meter las botellas de leche de la nevera. Su simple respuesta fue: “Puedo llevar las botellas ahora mismo.” ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- No había acordado una hora para verse con Jean, su mensaje había sido bastante vago, pero eso no le impidió sentir que llegaba muy tarde. Y es que no encontraba el valor para subir. No encontraba el valor ni para entrar al edificio. Sabía perfectamente a dónde iba, pero mientras presionaba las botellas contra su pecho se sintió como un niño de nuevo. Aquello era ridículo. Completamente ridículo. Era un hombre adulto, independiente, que llevaba años de vivir por su cuenta y atender los asuntos pertinentes a su vida sin ayuda de nadie. Seguro podía subir a dejar unas cuantas botellas de leche para su hijo… Pero John no era su hijo, era de Jean. Como el padre ejemplar que siempre supo que sería había vendido a su hijo por dinero que ahora no tenía el espinazo para gastar, no se atrevía ni a mirar su estado de cuenta. ¿Pero cuál era la alternativa? ¿Ser el dulce y sumiso esposo Omega de un hombre que, sin saber hasta dónde, estaba claramente involucrado en el crimen organizado? La moral de Adam era flexible por decir lo menos, no iba a negarlo. Había hecho muchas cosas ilegales a lo largo de su vida y de su carrera. Había mentido, falsificado documentos de identificación, se había acostado con algunas personas sólo para obtener de ellas algún beneficio o para robar algo de sus casas mientras dormían. Pero aquello, estaba convencido, no era nada comparado a lo que Jean era capaz de hacer, sin ir más lejos, por ser alfa. Y John. ¿Podía ver a su hijo una vez y luego irse para siempre? ¿Podía mirarlo y simplemente elegir no mirarlo nunca más? No lo sabía. Se precipitó en averiguarlo. ¿Por qué no envió la leche con un servicio de mensajería como hacía siempre? ¿Qué impulso estúpido lo había llevado a hacerlo el mismo? Era su propia culpa que ahora estuviera ahí, caminando en círculos alrededor de una banca con una hielera en las manos y una expresión de puro terror. Cuando su celular vibró casi le saca un grito. Lo sacó de su bolsillo con manos temblorosas y tuvo que poner su código dos veces antes de poder desbloquearlo. Maldita sea Adam, contrólate . Era un mensaje de Jean, breve y seco: “¿Está todo bien?” “Sí.” Fue la única respuesta que logró teclear antes de volver su vista al edificio. Era ahora o nunca, mejor terminar con esto lo antes posible. El hombre de la recepción ya tenía su nombre registrado así que el proceso de ingreso fue tan fluido que le puso aún más nervioso. Mientras esperaba el elevador y luego mientras subía lentamente pensó un poco más. Había evitado su contacto casi un mes completo, pero ahora sentía los nervios de una colegiala sólo ante la idea de ver a Jean. Era ridículo ese cuerpo Omega suyo. Ese instinto, esa necesidad primaria y biológica que no parecía poder controlar. Era una sombra de sí mismo y si hubiera tenido un poco menos de agotamiento emocional quizás le habría importado. Los dos guardaespaldas de Jean hicieron una reverencia cuando llegó a pararse nerviosamente frente a la puerta, uno de ellos incluso le sonrió y Adam trató de devolver la sonrisa. Después de todo había pasado varios meses viviendo ahí. Quizás ellos le extrañaban más que Jean. No tuvo el tiempo para mutilarse con aquella idea, pues cuando se abrieron las puertas el aroma que llegó a su nariz fue casi lo bastante fuerte para ponerlo de rodillas allí mismo. Su Alfa y su bebé, en cada espacio, en cada superficie. Su Alfa y su bebé juntos. El Omega dentro quiso saltar, revolcarse en las superficies, impregnarse de esa esencia. Pero no lo hizo, tenía que ser fuerte, tenía que mantenerse firme. Era como si dos partes de sí mismo jugaran a tirar de una cuerda hecha de la misma fibra de su ser. Ninguna parecía tener la fuerza para derrotar a la otra y lo único que Adam esperaba era que aquella violencia no le partiera en dos en cualquier momento. Aquella había sido una pésima idea. —No creí que de verdad vendrías—. La voz de Jean era suave y aterciopelada. Adam sintió su corazón acelerarse, la necesidad de ofrecerle su cuello y reclamar una marca lo obligó a enfocarse en otra cosa. —Pensé que así podría ahorrarme los gastos de mensajería—. Dijo con la voz más firme que pudo. Con un movimiento algo torpe le ofreció la bolsa y Jean la tomó como si no estuviera ahí, sin mirarle ni un momento. El Alfa llevó la leche a la cocina y comenzó a meterla en la nevera. Adam tenía toda la intención de seguirle pero el aroma de su hijo, que el mismo Jean parecía emanar le distrajo horriblemente. Lo necesitaba, necesitaba un cierre, mejor tarde que nunca. Podía irse, podía dejarlos en paz de una vez, podía despedirse como las madres del foro de ayuda y su vida volvería lentamente a lo normal. Jack sería feliz ahí (no Jack, John) y nunca le faltaría nada. Tendría dinero, oportunidades, a su padre que desde el primer día había velado por su nacimiento y su bienestar. No necesitaba a Adam y la idea casi lo hizo llorar ahí mismo. Tenía que cerrar ese ciclo. —¿Él está bien? Sé que apenas salió del hospital pero… —Ya tienes tu dinero, Adam, cada centavo tal y como lo prometí. Ahora resulta que te importa… —No tienes ningún derecho a…— Replicó Adam con las mejillas encendidas y un tono irritado en la voz. —¿Te importa? — Insistió Jean, el tono hizo a Adam retroceder un paso, pero era un Omega necio y no se dejó amedrentar. —!Me importa! ¡Claro que me importa! —Gimió ofendido. — Es mi hi… —¡Jack es MI hijo! —Le interrumpió. El Alfa lo empujó contra el muro más cercano, las manos en su cuello, presionando con fuerza. Estaba realmente furioso. Adam lo miró confundido entre casa intento por recuperar el aire que escapaba de su pecho. —¿Jack? —Ya no te necesito, Señor Towers—. Murmuró mientras lo dejaba ir. Adam llevó sus propias manos a su cuello, frotando los puntos donde los dedos ajenos le habían hecho más daño y jadeando suavemente. — He buscado mucho, encontré una fórmula que puede reemplazar la leche materna con muy bajo nivel de pérdida nutricional y he contratado una enfermera que… —¿JACK? —Preguntó de nuevo. Jack no era su nombre, era el nombre que Adam le había dado. Le tomó del brazo cuando intentó alejarse, sus ojos azules intensos y clavados en su rostro. Jean se intentó soltar de su agarre suavemente. —Fue un error, lo he pronunciado mal. El inglés no es mi lengua materna. —Mentiroso….maldito mentiroso—. —NO...me reté, Señor Towers. — Gruñó Jean. Adam dejó escapar una risita demencial. —¿Retarte? ¿Yo? Por favor, Jean… —El límite de cuánta tolerancia siento por usted es peligrosamente pequeño. — Bufó Jean, irritado. — La única razón por la que aún está con vida es porque te necesitaba por el bien de mi hijo, pero ya no más. Adam estaba molesto de verdad ahora, estaba a punto de golpearlo en la cara, si bien dudaba que su puño llegara a la cara del otro incluso si de verdad lo intentaba. Pero fue justo en ese momento que un sonido completamente desconocido para él llegó a sus oídos. Llanto. No cualquier llanto, el llanto de su hijo. Su hijo que lo necesitaba, su pequeño bebé hambriento. Su cuerpo reaccionó antes que él, puro instinto omega activándose mientras sus pezones parecían listos para alimentarse aun cuando se había vaciado antes de salir. Perdió la fuerza en los dedos, mirando fijamente en dirección al sonido y dejando ir a Jean sin darse cuenta. —Adam. —Tengo que ir. Adam intentó correr rumbo a aquella puerta pero escuchó los pesados pasos de Jean detrás. Dejó escapar un suspiro de placer cuando el Alfa lo atrapó, rodeándole con los brazos y manteniéndole quieto y en el pasillo. El calor de su cuerpo le envió paz al cuerpo bastante alterado del Omega. —Tienes que verlo. —A Jack...—Jean se inclinó un poco, su nariz enterrada en el cuello ajeno para olfatear suavemente. Ese movimiento primitivo se sentía tan adecuado, tan correcto que Adam sintió como dejaba ir un par de sollozos. —Sí, a Jack… Jack, sabes, es un apodo común para Jonathan. —¿Un apodo Americano? El espectacularmente elegante y refinado hombre francés le ha puesto un apodo americano… — Jean suspiró y Adam casi pudo sentir la derrota en su voz cuando volvió a hablar. —Te descubrí rápidamente… Había noches en que era el único sonido en el silencio de la noche. Le hablabas, en tu vientre, cada día sin falta. Lo amabas entonces tanto como lo amas ahora… yo esperaba que ese amor fuera suficiente para que te quedaras con nosotros. —No...— Adam se dió la vuelta, incluso con él daño los ojos de Jean eran hermosos. — No he gastado el dinero. —Lo sé. —Claro que lo sabes...— Se burló Adam, girando los ojos con frustración pero sin dejar de sonreír. El bebé aún lloraba cuando Jean lo guió de la mano a la guardería. Era una linda habitación decorada en tonos de gris y azul, con acuarelas de animales en las paredes, con los animales de fieltro sobre la cuna como si Adam nunca hubiera tirado su manada completa a la basura. Cuando Jean se acercó a la cuna y cargó entre sus brazos a Jack, Adam estaba oficialmente abrumado. Esa era la primera vez que veía a su hijo… Tenía las mejillas enrojecidas por el llanto, igual que sus bonitos ojos azules. Del mismo azul de Adam. Parecían cambiar con la luz cuando su padre lo movía por la habitación. —Es precioso… Jean tocó la mejilla del bebé con dulzura. —Guarda un indiscutible parecido contigo… Verle cada día se ha vuelto un tormento, un recordatorio de que tú...— Adam se acercó y se acurrucó contra su costado, mirando al bebé. —Ni siquiera te agrado. Lo acabas de decir, tu límite para conmigo es pequeño. —Eres mi Omega. No tienes que agradarme para ser mío. Adam cerró los ojos, disfrutando del calor y el aroma de los cuerpos a su alrededor, de su familia. Jean presionó sus labios contra los suyos y la detonación fue instantánea. Adam no pudo más que aferrarse a él. buscando más de ese beso. Fue su hijo quién los interrumpió de nuevo, llorando para recordarles que tenía hambre. El castaño sonrió. —No… ¿me dejarías? Jean le ofreció a Jack y Adam lo sostuvo nerviosamente, aterrado de soltarle y hacerle cualquier tipo de daño. Era tan pequeño y tan suave. Tan frágil. —¿Me ayudas? —Por supuesto. El alfa los llevó hasta la mecedora que había junto a la ventana, tomó al bebé de entre sus brazos temblorosos, lo que fue difícil ya que Adam se negaba a dejarlo ir. Luego hizo un gesto hacia la silla con la cabeza. —Siéntate. Adam obedeció y comenzó a desabotonarse la camisa. Sus dedos parecían anguilas incontrolables y sus ojos estaban borrosos, llenos de lágrimas. Jean le devolvió a Jack y el aroma de ambos hizo al Omega sentir mareado al punto de que de haber estado de pie se habría venido abajo. —Te ha estado esperando muy pacientemente. —Claro… Sin duda te ha pedido sin descanso ver a alguien que jamás había conocido. —No veo cómo podrías saber de que he hablado, en privado, con mi hijo durante el último mes. Adam sonrió, Jack se enganchó a su pecho casi sin ayuda y aquella fue la sensación más abrumadora del día, si era eso posible. La paz que sintió lo obligó a llorar aún más fuerte, su cuerpo relajado al máximo sabiendo que su hijo estaba cerca, que cumplía con su obligación de cuidarlo. No había podido dejarlo ir. Nunca lo haría. Era admirable quién lo hacía, pero él no era admirable. Y no tenía que serlo. Jean lo rodeo con sus brazos, parado detrás de la silla. Finalmente le beso la mejilla, limpiando sus lágrimas con una expresión de paz y de satisfacción. —Bienvenido a casa.
10975833	Call Me By My Name	{ "Archive Warning": "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings", "Category": null, "Characters": "John Murphy (The 100), Emori (The 100), Clarke Griffin, Lexa (The 100)", "Fandom": "The 100 (TV)", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Mature", "author": "by sheerdelight", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-23T00:00:00", "words": "1,040", "Additional Tags": "Relationship Study, Names, Canon Compliant, Canonical Character Death", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": "Emori/John Murphy (The 100), Clarke Griffin/Lexa", "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": "F/F, F/M", "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	When Jaha calls him John, Murphy grits his teeth and rolls his eyes, hair on his arms and on the back of his neck bristling at how wrong it feels. Actually, Jaha calling him anything feels wrong; Jaha calling him Murphy would feel wrong, too, because Jaha speaking to him feels wrong. When Jaha speaks to Murphy, his voice is sanctimonious, patronizing, “I-know-better-than-you-because-I'm-a-grownup;” Murphy would never call Jaha “Thelonius.” Well, okay, maybe he would, but he'd get his ass kicked for it, and Murphy is sort of a fan of avoiding ass-kickings whenever possible. When Abby calls him John, Murphy bristles and has to breathe deeply several times to get his jaw to loosen up, so that he doesn't come swinging at Abby (with his words or with his fists). Unlike Jaha, Abby means well, Abby knows the delinquents have the wisdom and the value of adults. Plus, he (and everyone else) calls her Abby, so it's a more equal exchange when she uses his first name; he can always use hers right back. But it still feels a little like she pities him, and Murphy only tolerates pity when he's looking for it. His name hits him like a punch to the gut when Abby says it, and he has to give it everything he's got to keep himself from punching back. When Emori calls him John, though, he feels so full he can hardly bear it. He doesn't know why she does it – because the first person she met who knew Murphy was Jaha, who did it, too, or maybe because Grounders don't have surnames – point is, it does something to him, fills him with the kind of love he thought died with his father when Murphy was a kid. When Emori lays a hand on his shoulder and says “John,” when Emori laughs and shakes her head at him and says “John,” when Emori stands on tiptoe to whisper in his ear, her breath warm on his neck (“John, I think your people are gonna screw us over; let's run away together and leave them at the mercy of the death wave”), when Emori breathes out “John” at increasingly higher pitches until she's screaming it, his head still between her legs, well, he's never felt more like he's at home than then, and never felt like another name could ever suit him better. When Abby calls him from the floor below – “John, Raven's seizing again!” – he's up on his feet, buttoning his pants and throwing on a shirt, and he's Murphy, no matter what Abby calls him, and the world feels heavier and grayer and more solid than it did just moments earlier, but he's okay. He can do Murphy, can handle Abby's “John,” and maybe even Jaha's (no promises, though), if he's just got Emori saying his name, sweet and intimate, locked like an anchor to humanity in his heart.*** Clarke has heard her name said a million ways before, and by a million different people. If she wanted to, she could list every instance, in any order – favorite to least favorite, with best intent to worst, from person closest to her heart to person farthest from it. In no particular order, though: Clarke's mother, Abby says Clarke's name like a warning, stern and worried, her hand on Clarke's shoulder to keep Clarke from bolting, from doing whatever stupid, hastily-thought-through thing it is Abby thinks she shouldn't be doing. Abby says it in relief, too, when Clarke returns from doing that thing – “Clarke!” like a release of held breath and tension as she wraps her arms around Clarke's shoulders like Clarke is still her little girl. Bellamy is similar – he says her name in anger, looking at her from under a heavy brow, arms crossed over his chest, and he says it with love, nearly crushing Clarke in his arms with a hug. Wells said Clarke's name like a plea, at least for that brief time when they were alive together on the ground; it was only on the ground, with people looking to her, that Clarke began to notice how her name was said. Wells made “Clarke” sound like “please,” which was her fault, because she hated him, but she tries not to dwell on that too frequently. Raven says Clarke's name in hope, or sometimes bitterness. Monty is the same – he by turn looks to her for guidance and berates her for some choice she's made with which he does not agree. Murphy used to say Clarke's name like a curse but now he says it gentler, like he knows she's hurting. Jasper treats Clarke's name like it's a swear word now. Finn used to say Clarke's name like a prayer, breathless and needy when Clarke was getting him off or when she was riding him. Afterwards, he'd say it again, the way one praises a god when that god has done whatever it is one has prayed for. And then there's Lexa. No one has ever said Clarke's name quite like Lexa does – like Lexa did. Clarke doesn't know how to describe it, except to say that it was quiet, almost reverent, but without the need of anything from her that used to make Clarke feel powerful when she was on top of Finn, and later made her grit her teeth and feel irrationally angry with him for needing her. Lexa said Clarke's name with respect, Lexa said it like she understood, Lexa said it like she didn't need anything at all, only wanted however much Clarke was willing and able to give. Clarke loves – loved – loves her for it, god, loves her for not asking things of Clarke that are beyond Clarke's ability to provide, the way Clarke's people do. Lexa said Clarke's name like there was some sort of hidden music to it that Clarke has never heard, and she said it with such conviction that Clarke couldn't help but believe there was. Lexa said Clarke's name in a way that didn't make her feel like there was a weight on her shoulders, and Clarke will forever be grateful for that; she has a duty to her people, always, but it's nice not to feel quite so heavy with it sometimes.
10974093	What You Dont Deserve	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "F/M", "Characters": "Jesse McCree, Mei-Ling Zhou", "Fandom": "Overwatch (Video Game)", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Teen And Up Audiences", "author": "by sonyashnyky", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-22T00:00:00", "words": "704", "Additional Tags": "Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Soulmates", "Relationship": "Jesse McCree/Mei-Ling Zhou", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": "MeiCree Week 2017", "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	"Good girl. Foreign," Jesse took a drag of his cigarette, fighting the urge to gag and cough, "better off wherever the hell she is."He couldn't remember when exactly he first heard her voice, sweetly melodic, in his mind. Maybe 5? 6? He remembers being scared and thinking he was going to be like one of those people in far off places. The ones who saw the Virgin Mary and become saints or something. Even at that age, Jesse knew that wasn't a life for him.But she was good.Probably the type of girl who stayed in school. Ate her vegetables. Would turn her nose up at everything that scruffy punk had to do to survive. She didn't understand.He took another drag, placing his palms on his opened knees. The other Deadlock boys didn't need to know the rest. Didn't need to know how his little Chinese voice of reason didn't deserve him. How she wouldn't accept settling down with some kid with blood on his hands. Jesse was certain he'd never settle down anyway.Deadlock came and went and when Reyes offered him a chance with Overwatch, he could hear his little sweetheart cheer. Maybe an opportunity to be the guy he knew he could be-- and she deserved.Hardly.He wasn't good enough for those flashy blue uniforms, he soon found out, and they shrouded him in black instead. Did the dirty work the real organization couldn't be seen doing. In reality, it wasn't much better than the gang he betrayed back in New Mexico.Jesse's giggly soulmate got shoved to the side.Desperately he wanted her to stop. Go away. Someone out there made a mistake pairing the two of them together and he was certain of that. Giving her hope of a happily ever after.It wasn't until Overwatch was no more and he was some gun for hire that he got his wish.He was certain it was the third whiskey that was softening his conscious, drifting his sweetheart further and further away and leaving her a whisper in his mind. It was what he thought he wanted until her absence was replaced with nothing.That's when he realized.Your soulmate was the little voice in your head. The voice that supported and accepted you. It was common knowledge that criminal gangs and big, international organizations could agree on. The theme of love songs and stories the world over. But if one was to die before the two met, their voice would be lost to the other's memory. A thoughtful gesture, in retrospect, had the gunslinger not taken her for granted. Wished her out of his existence.Jesse was good at silencing her with alcohol anyway. He got better when he used it to counter that emptiness. It was ten years later, some job that led him to a small town in Mexico and an even smaller bar that nobody in their right mind would step foot in. He liked those places.The television off to the side was showing the news as Jesse nursed at whatever hard liquor they had available. Some breaking event that cut through a soccer game he was only idly watching. He took another sip at the watered down bourbon as he stared up at the screen, an old warmth returning to his chest.Mei-Ling Zhou, former Overwatch climatologist, rescued after ten years in Antarctica. The only one of her team to survive. He took another sip, noting just how pale the poor girl looked slumped over a man's shoulder as the channel described her story. All her accolades and achievements. Things a momma would be proud of.Jesse was tempted to ask the bartender what exactly he put in his glass, what made him feel so soothed when he heard her voice after a decade. Quiet. Weak. A whisper that assured him that maybe mercenary work wasn't right for him, no matter how just his cause.Plunking down a few coins and bills, he scooted his stool back and tipped his hat to the omnic, mumbling a bit of broken Spanish before waltzing out the door."So that's where ya been, sweetheart," he laughed, adjusting his serape in the midday sun.
10916763	Grace Glory	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "F/M", "Characters": "Kaydel Ko Connix, Poe Dameron, Leia Organa", "Fandom": null, "Language": "English", "Rating": "Teen And Up Audiences", "author": "by DizzyDrea", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-15T00:00:00", "words": "3,356", "Additional Tags": "Romance, Presumed Dead, Trope Bingo Round 8", "Relationship": "Kaydel Ko Connix/Poe Dameron", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": "Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars - All Media Types", "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	It starts with the pigtail pulling, but she doesn't have it in her to mind.In the mess hall, just before he sits down with her to eat his lunch. Passing in the corridors, a sly smile tipping his lips as he reaches out, lightning-fast for a quick tug, never losing his stride. Whenever he sees her in Ops, he'll sidle up behind her and give a tug, ready with a wink and a smile as he ducks away to talk to whoever asked him to stop by.She'd be upset, because it's so cliché it's maddening, but he is the best damned pilot in the Fleet, and it's not every girl on base that has Poe Dameron's attention.~o~"Hey, what'd you do to your hair?"Lieutenant Kaydel Ko Connix reflexively reaches up and pats at the quick buns she'd tied her pigtails into just before her shift. She can feel a hot blush steel over her cheeks, but she can't do anything about it. She only wishes it were because Poe is smiling that thousand-watt smile at her.Instead, she tugs him closer to her station, glancing around to see if that guy is still there. Seeing no one, she refocuses on him. And damn. It's not fair, but he's still stupidly handsome.She reaches up and tucks some invisible hairs into her bun. "That new Admiral, what's-his-name. He saw you yesterday, when you came to check in with Burny. Said it was unprofessional, what you did. I figured he can't complain if there's no hair to tug."Poe smiles. "The buns are cute. Not gonna stop me from tugging, though."And he suits deeds to words and tugs gently at the bun over her ear, dropping a wink as he makes his way across the room towards the General's office.~o~And it would have been fine if it had stopped there. She'd have been disappointed, sure, that he'd stopped pulling her pigtails, but she'd have gotten over it.Only that's not what happens at all.~o~The next time Kaydel sees Poe in Ops, he makes a beeline for her, eyes as bright as his smile. She smiles warily back, not sure what to expect. It's only been a couple of days since she told him about the Admiral, days when he'd been on patrol, so he hadn't even been on base to pull her pigtails.Not that she missed him.Yeah, right. Who is she kidding? She missed him, far more than she probably should, but she's not going to apologize for it either.His smile, if it's even possible, gets wider as he stops, mere inches from her. Probably too close for it to look anything like professional. "Still with the buns, I see," Poe says as he leans around her dramatically, checking out her hair. He's got his hands tucked behind his back, not even a hint that he's going to reach for her hair. She should be relieved, but really, she's disappointed.She smooths the hair reflexively, pursing her lips. "It's easier this way, when I'm on duty.""Maybe one day you'll let me see it down around your shoulders," he says, winking at her.And then he does the very last thing she ever expected: he leans in, pressing a sweet kiss to her cheek.Her eyes flutter closed, the traitors, and she breathes a quiet sigh. When she opens them again, he's already across the room, talking to the guys monitoring the Benthami mission. Poe's squadron is on standby, in case things go sideways, which is the only reason he's in Ops. Well, and apparently to kiss her.She blushes as her fingers skate over the skin of her cheek. She can still feel the slight rasp of his beard as his lips pressed to her skin. She glances over to find him watching her. He tips her a wink, further deepening her blush, as he heads out of Ops.Is it possible to fall in love after just one kiss?~o~So now, apparently, the kissing is a thing. When he sits down with her at lunch, he presses a quick kiss to her cheek. When he gets up to go, it’s a quick peck on the forehead. Passing in the halls, he doesn't even have to make contact with her to make her blush. All he has to do is wink and she's turning redder than the sky above Yavin at starset.And then one day, he appears in Ops just as her shift is ending. She raises an eyebrow, but all he does is smile.When she's finally closed out her station, she turns to find him leaning against the large projection console in the middle of the room."Something I can help you with?" she asks, hands on hips.Poe shrugs in that way he has. "I was going to take a walk before dinner. I thought you might want to come along."Her heart nearly beats out of her chest, but years of long practice in high-stress situations keeps her from losing it altogether."I'd like that," she says, which wasn't what she was going to say, but her brain-to-mouth filter must have shorted out. No matter, if it gets her that winning smile he's aiming at her, she'll go with it."My lady," he says, offering her his arm.They leave through the hanger doors and wander down the flight line. Because of course he'd take her to his X-Wing. He's a pilot; all they ever think about are their ships and—She hopes the twilight is deep enough to cover her blush. No need for him to know just how into him she is.When they reach his X-Wing, he releases her hand and walks underneath it, skimming his fingers over the skin of her underbelly. She watches him as she stands under the wing. His face is shining with such joy, eyes dancing over every weld and rivet. He's humming something under his breath, but she can't quite make out the tune. "You really do love flying, don't you?" she asks, voice hushed so as not to disturb the night."Mmmm," he says. He glances at her over his shoulder. "It's peaceful, up there. Nobody but me and BB-8. I'm in control, I can go wherever I want, take as long as I want to get there. It's freeing, in a way."She's never heard anyone talk about flying that way, but she supposes it's true. Apart from battle, flying an X-Wing has to be a solitary experience. Not for the faint of heart, to be sure, but also not for those who thrive on interaction and socialization."My mom always said I'd be a great pilot," he says, turning back to her."Maybe that's why you are: her faith in you, and your faith in her," she says.She knows his family is gone. Like so many of them, orphaned by a war that just won't end. But she's glad he has this connection to the people that made him. He moves quick as lightning, standing before her and taking her hand. "Thank you for that," he says quietly. He leans in, slowly, giving her plenty of time to back away if she doesn't want this, but she's not going to move. When his lips touch hers, it's electric. He presses in close, molding her body to his as though he's not just kissing with his lips but with his whole being. She holds on tight, her fingers wrapped around his biceps as his tongue invades her mouth, leaving devastation and ruin behind. She'll never want another man's touch after this, and she's not ashamed to admit it.When he pulls away, he rubs her chin with his thumb, smiling a soft smile, one she's never seen before. Instead of saying any number of totally ridiculous things that might break the mood, he just laces his fingers with hers and tugs her along to the mess to get dinner.She can't remember what she ate, and she doesn't know what they talked about, but it's the best dinner she can ever remember having.~o~It becomes a pattern with them: whenever he's on base, if he's not in a briefing or meeting behind closed doors, he shows up near the end of her shift and waits for her to close down her station. He doesn't even ask anymore, just takes her hand and heads out.They don't always walk the flight line, and when they do they don't always visit his X-Wing. Sometimes he'll take her to see a new craft, one she hasn't seen before. It's fun for her, in a way, being able to see where the pilots sit, so she can imagine them sitting there when she's on comms during an operation. But just as often he'll bypass the flight line and take her out into the fields surrounding the base, where they'll watch the starset and talk quietly about everything and nothing. They don't talk about the war, or the First Order, or the latest casualty list, filled with too many friends and allies cut down in their prime. It's hard, this life they've chosen, and talking about it won't make it easier to cope with the losses, so they don't even try.Instead, he kisses her, breath-stealing kisses that make her forget everything but the feel of his arms around her and his lips on hers. She treasures those nights, bottles the memories up in her heart, because she knows it could all be ripped away at a moment's notice, and she never wants to forget what it feels like to be the center of someone's universe.~o~She's barely finished firing up her station when he jogs across Ops, stopping beside her with that look on his face. It's been a long time since she's seen him in the middle of a shift, so she's startled speechless for a moment."Come to pull my pigtails again?" she asks, her smile full of coy teasing.Poe shakes his head, and now she remembers that look, what it's for. It's predatory, the look of a warrior getting ready to join the fight."I'll be leaving soon," he says. It feels like he's stabbing her in the heart. "I just wanted to stop and say—well, I just wanted to see you before I go."She reaches up and brushes his cheek with her fingers, pressing a gentle kiss to his cheek. They've talked about this, about what would happen when he has to go out on a mission. She's not afraid for him; he's good, the best in the fleet. And she knows he'll come back to her or die trying. Doesn't make it any easier to see him go.It's when he's pulling away, when she wonders if this will be the last time she sees him, that she says, "I love you."It's the first time either of them has said it, and for a moment, his grin is frozen on his face. But then it melts into a soft smile. "I know." He makes to step away, but at the last moment, he turns and sweeps her into his arms, kissing her for all he's worth. "I love you, too," he says, lips pressed to hers so she can feel the words and not just hear them."Be safe," she says as he pulls away. "May the Force be with you."She doesn't say what she's really thinking. Come back to me. But she thinks he hears the words anyway."Always," he says.And then he's gone.She watches him go, not even a little bothered by the fact that she's ignoring her duty station. She can't take her eyes off of him, afraid this will be the last time she sees him."He'll come back."Kaydel only notices the General standing beside her when she speaks. She gives a watery smile that the General returns. She reaches out and squeezes Kaydel's hand. "He'll come back," she says again. "The good ones always do."And then she's gone, and so is Poe, though she can hear him through the comms as he takes off in his X-Wing, headed for who knows where. She returns to her station, noticing the little red blip, steady as it moves out of orbit. At least she has this, the reassuring glow of the tracking dot that represents her only connection to Poe and his X-Wing. It isn't much, but it'll have to do.~o~She's at her station two days later when that little red blip winks out.It takes everything in her not to collapse on the floor of Ops, and even more strength from reserves she didn't know she had to report the destruction of the X-Wing to the General. But when she finally reaches her quarters that night, she can't hold it together anymore. She sinks to the floor beside her bed and quietly sobs. She knows that the destruction of the X-Wing is hardly proof that the pilot is dead, but it's the logical conclusion. They'll mark him missing in the database, and life will go on, but for Kaydel it feels as if this thing with Poe is ending before it's even begun. Just one more casualty of a war without end.But despite the pain in her heart and the pounding in her head, she gets up the next morning and goes back to her station. If anyone knows what she's lost, they don't mention it, and for that she's grateful.~o~Two days crawl past in a fog of work and sleep and very little food, despite the fact that her friends try to ply her with treats at all hours. She appreciates the thought, but she just can't swallow past the lump in her throat. There's been no word from Poe, no signal from BB-8, and as the hours pass, hope begins to dwindle. Kaydel knows that if he were still alive, he'd have found a way to contact them, but she's not quite ready to give up just yet. She knows at some point that the General will have to declare him presumed dead, but she's not even sure that'll really be the end of hoping he comes back.Everyone knows the stories, has grown up with them, so they know that the General and her brother and husband have faced longer odds and come back. It's all she can cling to now. ~o~The transport sets down on the flight line with very little fanfare. Kaydel's barely paying attention. She's been tracking First Order fleet movements by order of the General. There's something going on, but no one's sure what. Comms has been a hub of activity, with reports coming in on all frequencies. There's been a BB-8 sighting, which had made Kaydel's heart climb nearly up into her throat when she'd heard it. It doesn't mean Poe's alive, but it's further proof that if anyone could get out of a tight spot, it's him.There's a commotion on the flight line, but Kaydel's so focused on her task that she barely notices what's going on. It isn't until she feels a tug at her bun that her head pops up. She spins around, but can hardly believe she's seeing what she's seeing.Poe.Poe Dameron.Alive. Alive! She practically throws herself into his arms, not really noticing the dirty uniform or the sunburned face."I—I thought—Oh gods—" she blurts out, clinging to him, tucking her face into his neck and breathing him in.He rubs her back, murmurs soothing words in her ear. "It's okay, love. I'm here now. I'm sorry I scared you."She pulls back just enough to press a kiss to his lips. They're chapped and dry, but his eyes are sparkling and it's just so good to see that she can barely contain the joy. She knows she's crying, but she can't help it."You—how did you survive?" she asks with a puzzled frown. "Your X-Wing was destroyed. We all thought—""I wasn't in it when it blew," Poe says, shaking his head. "Storm troopers, and Snoke's lapdog. It got rough, but I made it out."He kisses her again, and she decides that she could stay like this forever, if it meant he'd be safe, but a politely-cleared throat behind him pulls them apart. They turn to see the General gracing them with an indulgent smile."If you two are done, I need to debrief Captain Dameron," the General says."Of course, ma'am," Poe says with a nod. He turns back to Kaydel and gives a rueful smile. "Gotta go, but I'll find you later. Okay?"She pushes up on her toes and kisses him one more time. "Get yourself cleaned up and go see medical. They'll probably track you down if you don't. We'll get dinner after.""Yes, mother," he says with an eye roll.When he turns around, the General is still standing there, one eyebrow raised. "If she hadn't said it, I would have.""I have no doubt, ma'am," Poe says, grinning. "You're both a force to be reckoned with. I'd never dream of disobeying you.""See that you don't," Kaydel says at the same moment the General says the same thing. Poe chuckles ruefully. "I see how it is. Ladies, your wish is my command."The General smirks, then turns and heads for her office. Poe turns and winks at Kaydel before following the General.When they're finally out of sight, Kaydel practically sags into her terminal. Her shift is barely half over, but she knows she's not going to be able to focus the rest of the day. She's gonna worry, the entire time he's gone, that she just imagined him, imagined his arms around her and his lips on hers.But she didn't, and she's going to see him again in just a few hours. That thought alone calms her franticly-beating heart. She takes a couple of deep breaths and wipes the evidence of tears off her face. She's still got a job to do, and so does Poe. But for right now, having him back on the same base is enough.~o~They sleep intertwined that night. Kaydel is reluctant to let him out of her sight, as if he'll disappear the moment she's not touching him anymore. It's not rational, but up until a few hours ago, they'd all thought him dead, so she thinks she's due for a little irrationality.Poe had been exhausted by the time he'd run the gauntlet of debrief, medical and a shower. He'd scarfed down dinner, and then practically faceplanted in bed once they'd returned to his quarters. She didn't mind; just having him beside her is enough. She's woken by the comm in his quarters activating. The voice on the other end of the commline is ordering him to Ops for debriefing on a new mission, and Kaydel knows that means she'll be ordered to Ops in short order. They dress quietly in the pre-dawn dark, neither of them willing to start the conversation. She knows she can't ask him not to go. You don't turn down General Organa when she requests you for a mission, but just this once Kaydel wishes Poe could turn her down.He must see some of her thoughts on her face, because he pauses with boots on but pants still unbuckled to take her face in his hands."I will always come back to you," he says.She knows he can't make that promise, but she doesn't care. Those are the words her heart needs to hear. "See that you do, mister. I'm not done with you yet."Poe's smile is as bright as the sun. "Yes, ma'am."They finish dressing and he kisses her one more time before he rushes through the door towards the flight line and his next mission. "May the force be with you," she says quietly before she exits his quarters and heads to her own duty station.~Finis
10913814	ABCs of KnB	{ "Archive Warning": "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings", "Category": "M/M", "Characters": null, "Fandom": "Kuroko no Basuke \| Kuroko's Basketball", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Mature", "author": "by grandebatbae", "chapters": "3/26", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-15T00:00:00", "words": "3,282", "Additional Tags": "Fluff, Dates, Aquariums, Prompt Fic, Cute, Angst, Break Up, Heartbreak, Heartache, Cheating, Blow Jobs, Locker Room", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": "Kagami Taiga/Kuroko Tetsuya, Hanamiya Makoto/Kiyoshi Teppei, Aomine Daiki/Sakurai Ryou", "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	Okinawa was not the ideal destination for their first trip away. Kagami received the call from his father during practice. Riko let him answer it, annoyed that the power forward had it on him in the first place.Kuroko knew it was because his boyfriend had been expecting a call. His father would finally be in Japan. On their way home Kagami revealed the senior Kagami was in fact in the country, but nowhere near them. He could not be farther away; in Okinawa.That is how Kuroko ended up on the prefecture with his Bakagami.The first place the redhead insisted on taking him was the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium. It was unlike anything Kuroko had ever laid his eyes upon. The tank seemed to stretch tall and wide beyond the limits of the roof. Two ginormous whale sharks and an abundance of fish move around the tank slowly, not gestated despite their vast amount.Most were in the tank for captive breeding in order to further their species in the wild. Kuroko made sure of that on their way in. Something about the injustice of kept animals would eat away at him the duration of their date.The entire time the bluenette watches the creatures swim, almost swaying with them in their gentle movements, Kagami watches him. His normally indifferent and slightly shady boyfriend completely enraptured by the spotty giants of the see.A gentle blue glow emits from the thick glass. It makes Tetsuya's place and soft (Kagami knows) skin look ethereal in the brightest of ways. His hair and eyes were bluer. Despite what people may think it had been his favourite colour for a while, even if a certain aho threatened such favourability.Ethereal. Yes, that is absolutely the word for his shadow. At this moment he was the light. An aqua coloured one basking in the magic of the sea.Clearing his throat, Kagami steps forward with his knowledge at the ready. His chest brushes Kuroko's back and the smaller teen instinctively knocks his head back into his light's body. "That one is Jinta," Kagami says, pointing to the slightly larger whale shark on the far side of the tank appearing to follow the other, "He became sexually mature a few weeks ago."Kuroko's shoulders shift slightly before his head tilits back to Kagami, a slightly confused look on his face."Why would you tell me that, Kagami-kun?" He frowns, "You could have just told me his name."Kagami draws back with an odd choking sound from the piercing eyes of his lover, "I-..." Oh God, what's he thinking? Did I just make the date awkward? "Were you planning on something sexual before we leave here?" He adds bluntly with the same expression."N-No! I was just-" Trying to sound smart for you. The other few people scattered around the tank give them looks because of Bakagami's flailing arms.Kuroko continues to stare at Kagami, watching the redhead writhe in the ashes of his attempt to sound knowledgeable. When it appears he has had enough the bluenette smiles."I think making love in front of an aquarium tank would be rather romantic, Kagami-kun. We should try it," he states calmly, before turning around and tying his hands behind his back. Kagami continues to choke with the innuendo adage as Kuroko slowly walks along the length of the tank, still enthralled by the blue magic before him.When they leave that room for the outside tank containing a pod of dolphins, the ace of Seiren appears to have some confidence back with the thoughts of making love to his smaller companion. He links fingers with a silent Tetsuya, who keeps his eyes glued to the water, waiting for something.The blue glow and softness of the atmosphere is not the same out here, but Kagami continues to marvel at the detached creature who has captured his heart.Sky coloured eyes hold anything but detachment at the moment however, watching as the dolphin trainer tosses fish into the air before the majestic creatures leap out and catch them.Water splashes over the edge which makes them both recoil with soft laughs. Kuroko leans into him automatically and does not seem to want to pull away. It's fine by him.Kagami smiles when Kuroko smiles. An innocence radiates from him despite his earlier words, like a child seeing this for the first time.Maybe it is his first time seeing something like this."I miss Nigou all of a sudden," he admits out of the blue as he watches another fish toss.Kagami blinks blankly, holding back his comment of I'm glad he's not here. The team were happy to hold onto him so long as the two agreed to get some training in whilst they were away.The redhead just wanted time with him; away from basketball, the miracles, the city and yes, even the team despite them being a family."I'm glad I'm here with you though, Taiga."Rarely was it used, but when the bluenette says his name it sounds so right. Kagami blushes for the next ten minutes.Eventually they come to the end of the aquarium. They had seen everything on offer, though Kagami would loved to have seen what his boyfriend offered him earlier.As the car and chauffeur they had use of whilst in Okinawa pulled up, Kagami catches how some of the water which splashed up out of the dolphin tank drips down Tetsuya's pale neck.He'll ask his father for an early birthday gift when they arrive back at the penthouse; a private night visit to the aquarium for him and his own mystical blue creature. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- They were each other's firsts.Uncrowned King's was a shitty name. He always used to say that to him and Teppei would just laugh like the dork he was. In truth Hanamiya secretly liked it because it connected them. When he found out he was going to Kirisaki Daichi and Kiyoshi was going to Seiren, a little piece of him broke. Dating in secret whilst attending different middle schools was already as hard as anyone would consider it to be.Different high schools is a whole new ball game.They spent ages texting back and forth. He still called him Mako, Hanamiya still called him dumbass, bastard or fuckhead. It was the kind of relationship Hanamiya always expected to have.It was one he always expected to grow.It was the one that didn't.When Seiren and Kirisaki Daichi appeared to be facing off in the Inter-High, both teens were ecstatic. Texting every day but being to busy to see each other wouldn't cut it before then, so they met up.It was a mutual place. A quiet alley café in town. Makoto scowled at him when he walked in but softened almost immediately after the first word was spoken.He had missed him. Everything; his big stupid smile, his giant hands, his positive voice. He missed his Teppei.An unspoken thing happened between them that afternoon. Kiyoshi invited the pale teen back to his empty house. Makoto acted like it was a chore when they both knew it was a shared dream.They took their time. Hanamiya surprised himself. He thought he would have berated his gentle giant the entire way through it but his only words were harder, faster, yes, and most devastatingly, I love you. I love you. A whisper muffled into Kiyoshi's thick neck as he cleaved Makoto in half, girth proportioned right to the rest of his giant body. I love you. It was true. In fact it was the one thing Makoto was certain of. Perhaps that's why what he did the next time they met shocked him so much. The snap of his fingers, the rip of his lover's tendons, the cry of pain, the grin he had to bear, the sight he had to see.Why did he do it?That was the first thing Kiyoshi asked him that fateful day their world split apart. They met outside the café they had met in. It was by the dumpsters in the alleyway where Hanamiya Makoto found himself thankful for the cliché of rain.It hid his tears.He didn't have a reason. Kiyoshi was on crutches still with his fingers curled around the braces. Makoto stares at them until he can see them in his head, bruising his hips with every love-fuelled thrust."I don't know," he calls out with a lack of his usual bite.Those thick eyebrows were drawn together in hurt and confusion. Makoto immediately regrets everything; the snap, the rip, the cry, the grin, the sight."How can you not know? You ordered someone to break me, Hanamiya."That stings. Hanamiya, not Mako.Please, please, don't say this is it."It was for my team, dumbass," he gets out thickly over the rain, water making his hair stick to his forehead and cover his eyes."For your team?" Teppei repeats, "You really don't get it, do you? If I don't recover properly I'll never play again."Makoto scoffs, "You'll recov-""That's not the point!" He snaps. Hanamiya might even be frightened. "We- We had something that day and the next you hurt me on purpose. That's not-... I can't fathom-..."A million words tip the edge of Makoto's tongue. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I'll make it up to you. I'll take our team out. I'll do anything. Please. I love you. All things, nice things. Things like his sweet name that simply just don't suit him.So instead he blurts out the first vile thing to settle in his mind."You think I give a shit that we fucked once?" Stop. "Think I give a fuck about a lie I told about you being my first and about loving you. Are you that fucking stupid?" Please see through me. "You seriously think I give a shit about you?" Hold me. Darkness pours from his mouth like the pain in his lover's eyes.Kiyoshi spends a few more seconds staring at him.Hanamiya wishes for him to limp forward, wrap his arms around him and tell him it's okay. That's all he wants; for someone to see he doesn't mean to do what he does.He doesn't. Especially not to the person he loves most."Well," Kiyoshi's empty voice cuts through the rain's roar like the sharpest of blades, "I suppose that's that."His mind wants to speak for him because in that moment every other part of him seems to break. He can't see through me. Yet even his violent, shadowed mind has no words. He is forced into silence by his own mortification as his now ex-boyfriend lifts his gargantuan crutches, looks at him one last time with a pain flooded glance, and turns around.No other words are said in the alley. Devastated, Makoto watches as his heart leaves, limping by the injury he caused.He waits until he's sure the only ray of sunshine in his life is truly gone, so he can drop to the wet and grimy alleyway ground and let the darkness eat his heart in an agonised roar. I love you. But I'm a monster. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- There were soft suckling noises and the occasional grunt aside from the silence in the locker rooms.Everyone had long since gone; training finished at least half an hour ago. Aomine decided to show up then, after Satsuki and Wakamatsu had left.What cuts through the silence overall however is the incessant ring of Daiki's phone. It annoyed him enough the first time it rung, nestled in his bag on the bench near him, that he had kicked it.Now, however, he has no choice but to answer it. If he doesn't Satsuki may assume he has fallen asleep on the roof of the school again. She would come back and look for him.He couldn't have that.With a slightly quivering thumb, he presses answer, "Yo-"Aomine suddenly jolts, shoulders slamming back into the lockers. He coughs to cover it up and ease Satsuki's concerned sounds."Yo," he manages."Dai-chan, I went looking for you! We were supposed to figure out our date next week!" The prospect that one date requires an hour discussion is ridiculous. Whenever Daiki makes plans with, well, someone else, it takes less than three texts."What about it?""Where? When!?" "You wanted to go to Nakano Broadway.""Yes, but where in Nakano Broadway?" Daiki rolls his eyes. Half in annoyance at his girlfriend's pointless antics, half in pleasure. His head drops back into the lockers with a soft rattle."Are you okay?" "Fine," he manages to groan, fingers tangling in silky hair, "We'll just decide when we get there.""That's too unorganised Dai-chan! I need to be able to dress accordingly! What if I'm not wearing the right-" Suddenly, a hand reaches up and snatches the phone out of Daiki's hand. Sakurai brings it down to his face and contemplates telling Momoi to call back later because they're busy.Instead he hangs up and holds his thumb down on the power button until the screen turns black. He slides it across the floor to the other side of the locker room."Oi," Daiki snaps.Big, seemingly innocent doe eyes flick up to him. Sakurai slowly pulls off of the bluenette's cock. Aomine watches it slides from between rubbed-raw lips.Sakurai releases it with a pop, "She was getting annoying."The words are immediately foreign which leads Daiki to conclude that his secret lover is in his clutch time personality. It makes the larger teen smirk and rub a thumb along his swollen lower-lip.A cold chill drifts up from the floor tiles they're both sprawled on. Daiki sighs heavily and pushes his back into the lockers, sliding himself up."Come here," he says when he gets to his feet. Ryou, who is shirtless but still in his basketball shorts complies almost immediately.He always does. So obedient. It makes Aomine want him all the more desperately."You should see yourself, Ryou," he smirks, closing in on the brunette bleary-eyed brunette. The apples of his cheeks were bright red, his mouth was pink, wet and plump.Gorgeous. He slides his arms around Sakurai's bare waist, skin warm, soft and pale contrasting against Daiki's. He was usually forced to watch the shooting guard step out of the shower and immediately use moisturiser on almost his entire body. It seems the payoff of such effort is feather-soft to the touch. "Hurry up," Ryou complains with the slightest of pouts. Daiki just smirks at his urgency. It has been a while since they had time alone.Daiki missed him.The heat in the brunette's eyes is enticing. Is softens however when Daiki pauses to just smile and admire him for a moment. "You haven't texted in a while," Ryou murmurs softly, glancing away."Yeah..." Aomine trails off, tracing the other's hipbone with his thumb, "She's around too often."Sakurai bites his lip at the mention of her. His clutch personality is beginning to ultimately fade as his weaker, gentler self begins to slip through the cracks.It's okay though. That's the Ryou Daiki fell in love with.He places his hands on the ace's shoulders, closing his eyes to revel in the muscles he feels coiling beneath tanned skin, before giving a little jump. Daiki catches him with ease, hands hooked beneath his thighs. His smile shifts to a cocky grin as he gently presses Ryou back into the lockers, who flinches at the cold on his naked back."How am I supposed to take my clothes off when I'm holding you?" Aomine jokes."Don't take them off," Ryou answers simply. He turns his head to his outstretched arm, twisting the dial on his own locker. The door pops open and Daiki reaches in, already knowing where his boyfriend keeps the lube."That desperate, are we?" He jokes. Sakurai doesn't take it that way and remains silent. It doesn't matter; Daiki spreads the lube on his fingers as fast as he can.Ryou remains frighteningly still, like anticipation has him frozen. His legs locked tightly around the bluenette is the only thing keeping him up with Daiki preoccupied."Here," the ace says, throwing the bottle of lube behind him. One hand clutches Ryou's thigh, nails digging in and making the brunette squirm. The other reaches underneath him, "let me show you how much I missed you." ◊◊ When he and Satsuki get back to his house from Nakano Broadway, the first thing he does is call Sakurai under the guise that the movie he wanted to watch was something the shooting guard would enjoy.In truth, having Ryou here would stop Satsuki from attempting to initiate anything intimate.He couldn't do that to Sakurai. The fumbling brunette shows up around ten minutes later. Momoi pretends she's happy to see him. He brings food (Satsuki had as well, Daiki refused immediately) which the bluenette wolfs down within seconds of eyeing it.During the movie, Satsuki gets up from in-between them, claiming to need the bathroom. As soon as she's out of the room the atmosphere shifts. Ryou's eyes slip from the screen down into his lap where his fiddling hands are. Daiki wants to reach out and still them, hold them, to comfort him.Instead he gets up and walks over to the kitchen."I think I should leave Dai-...Aomine-san." The ace freezes on his way to the fridge."I shouldn't be here."There's some sort of shuffling noise behind him. He panics upon realising the brunette may actually be carrying that out. When he turns Sakurai is already halfway to the front door, leaving behind the bento boxes and his jumper.Not considering the danger, Daiki turns on his heels and sprints towards his boyfriend. Sakurai barely has time to react before he's being surrounded by thick, muscled arms, pulling him back into a warm chest."Stay."Shaggy brown hair curtains his face, "I shouldn't. I can't. I can't sit there and watch knowing-""We'll tell her," he blurts out without a second thought. At first the idea scares him. That's risking everything; his friendship with Satsuki, Sakurai's friendship with her, their reputations. It might even imbalance the team. Maybe he's sick of this though. He was with Sakurai before he was with Satsuki. If he was cheating on anyone, it was Ryou. When people noticed their subtle touches and alienation of anyone but themselves he began to fear others finding out. So he aimed for the nearest target; his best friend whose feelings he had ignored.He pushes Sakurai off his chest, spins the teen around and grabs his shoulders firmly, leaning down to look him directly into his eyes."We can tell her, Ryou," he says it with conviction this time. Sakurai stares back at him with a shocked expression, but Daiki knew he'd agree.They both want their freedom. From hiding and from lying."Tell me what, exactly?"The lovestruck boys spin around to see their pink-haired friend emerging from the hallway. She takes one look at their odd position and appears to make up her mind."What have you two done?" She asks suspiciously, brows knotting, arms folding, cocking her hip to the side.Daiki looks back at Ryou, drawing his eyes from the girl he grew up with, to the boy he wanted to grow old with.Sakurai looks terrified and all Daiki can do is give him a soft smile, because this is happening now. His hand slides down Ryou's arm and into his hand. They turn to face her, together.
10971978	Light As A Feather Stiff	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "Gen", "Characters": "Patton Sanders, Logan Sanders, Anxiety - Character, Logic - Character, Morality - Character", "Fandom": "Sanders Sides (Web Series)", "Language": "English", "Rating": "General Audiences", "author": "by loveistrueblue", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-22T00:00:00", "words": "815", "Additional Tags": "First Meetings", "Relationship": "Ambiguous or Implied Relationship(s)", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": "The Human!Sides College AU Verse", "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	“Listen, bro, I’m gonna need you to find someplace else to stay tonight.”Virgil blinked in surprise. “Excuse me?” he asked his roommate who stood with his arms crossed and a glare plastered on his face. “It’s a shared dorm-”“I’m inviting some friends over.”“I won’t get in your way-”The guy huffed and rolled his eyes. “God, could you please do one thing for me? I-”Virgil stuck a hand up. “Say no more. You won’t see me.”“Thanks, dude.”Virgil rolled his eyes and marched off, dragging his textbooks along with him. It was just for one night, he figured. Might as well not throw a fit over it. He and his roommate had never gotten along from day one. He was rude, loud, inconsiderate and acted like he ran the place. Virgil supposed he could ask about switching roommates with someone, but speaking to administration? No thanks; it was worth the crappy roommate over that kind of terror. Besides, they might not even do anything.With that wonderful interaction, Virgil found himself in the lobby, sitting on a sofa. There really wasn’t anywhere to go. He had about 25 minutes before a receptionist told him he needed to leave. Then he’d either have to spend the night in the bathrooms, the only 24/7 coffee shop near campus or the lovely option of sitting outside the dorm room all night, which his roommate probably wouldn’t appreciate.“Hey, kiddo! You look pretty gloomy.”Virgil jerked his head up, expecting to see a professor or even the receptionist- she wasn’t always bossy and strict. He did not expect to see a student wearing a blue shirt and a freaking cardigan around his shoulders.“Uhm...” Virgil shifted in his seat. “I’m fine. Just thinking.” The guy seemed to take that as a signal to sit down right beside him. Virgil scooted over an inch. “Uh- can I help you?”“You just look pretty upset.”Most students weren’t this annoyingly persistent. “I’m not upset.”“Hm. Okay then. I’m Patton!”“I’m Virgil,” he said with a sigh. “Is there like… anything you need?”“Nope! But I am looking for someone to study with.”“Er, yeah? I hope you find someone.” Patton blinked expectantly. “Oh- you, uh, want to study with me?” Virgil asked, pointing to himself for emphasis.“Yes, you, silly! Who else would I be talking to?”“Uh-” Virgil wasn’t quite sure how to deal with… whatever was happening. Socialization wasn’t his strong suit for sure. “I don’t think we’re in any classes togeth-”“That doesn’t matter. We can just help each other out with whatever we have!”“Uhm… okay.”“Follow me,” Patton said brightly and Virgil began to follow him towards the elevators.“So uh… what year are you in?” Virgil asked, trying to catch up with the other’s long strides.“Fifth!”Virgil nearly dropped all of his books. “I uhm, I really don’t think I’ll be able to help you study, man.”“Why’s that?” Patton asked, entering the elevator.“I’m a freshman!”“That’s okay. I can just help you!”“Uhm-”“Logan’s also got this debate thing he’s been struggling with. Maybe you can help!”“O-okay...” Patton dug around his pockets until he pulled out a key and unlocked the door. Another boy was sitting, back straight and stiff, against the wall, several books around him as well as three emptied coffee cups from the 24 hour cafe in the cafeteria. He wore a black dress shirt and a necktie. The boy looked up then shut his book, stand up just as perfectly straight as before.Patton shut the door behind him and Virgil tried to drive his mind away from the thoughts that perhaps he was about to die or get hurt or something something something.“Hello. I’m Logan,” the boy said and stuck out a hand. Virgil flinched back, eyeing it warily. He wasn’t fond of shaking hands or… physical contact in general. Logan frowned expectantly and didn’t show any signs of dropping his hand until Patton jumped in, acting as if there were no awkwardness in sight.“This is Virgil. He’s going to study with us!”“All right,” Logan said, finally lowering his hand. He looked just as awkward, uncomfortable, and nervous as Virgil felt. Somehow, that put him at ease. A look of recognition flashed across Logan’s face. “Would you like to debate with me, Virgil?” Logan asked. The words were spoken in a fluid way- almost as if the guy was used to speaking so formally.“Sure,” Virgil said.Logan sat down and opened up a book and scooted it over to Virgil, who crouched down. Patton sat down as well. “You may pick your stance. I will take the opposing position. Patton may moderate. Is that all right?”Virgil picked up the book, reading the heading Negative Thinking; how accurate is it? Virgil smirked. “Perfect.”He was ready.
10921128	Caught in the Undertow	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": null, "Characters": "Jon Walker, Dallon Weekes, Dan Keyes, Ryan Ross, Spencer Smith, Brendon Urie, Sarah Orzechowski, Linda Ignarro, Breezy Weekes, Z Berg, Alex Greenwald, Brent Wilson", "Fandom": null, "Language": "English", "Rating": "General Audiences", "author": "by orphan_account", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-16T00:00:00", "words": "3,055", "Additional Tags": "coffee shop AU, dank eyes has a coffee shop, and everyone either works there or nearby, AND THEYRE ALL GAY, every single one of them, also jonlon needs to be a ship i love it, bassist boys in love, ignore the ryan/brent brent is just a creep, i love this, its just fluff, also the wives r in a poly relationship and own a bar, and i support them in this", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": "Jon Walker/Dallon Weekes, Dan Keyes/Ryan Ross, Spencer Smith/Brendon Urie, Sarah Orzechowski/Linda Ignarro/Breezy Weekes, Ryan Ross/Brent Wilson past", "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": "Panic! at the Disco, The Brobecks, Ryan Ross - Fandom, Jon Walker - Fandom, The Young Veins", "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": "F/F, M/M, Multi", "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	It’s been raining for a literal week and business is terrible. Jon’s basically just coming in to lean against the counter and talk to Spencer about life. Or well, be talked to by Spencer. New relationship and all, they’ll get past the honeymoon stage eventually. It’s annoying, though, to have his only real work-friend’s attention taken up by someone else. Particularly someone he’s never met. Spencer laughs and Jon tunes back in to see someone stumbling through the door, dripping water everywhere. He groans internally at the thought of mopping but stands up straight and smiles. “Hi, welcome to ‘The Undertow’. What can I get you?”The wet guy is tall and unfamiliar - unusual given their clientele mostly consists of regulars and people who work there - so Jon figures he probably must have just chosen the nearest place to shelter.“I’m looking for Ryan Ross?” he asks uncertainly. So he’s one of Ryan’s then. It’s always the tall ones, though there’s no guarantee that’s actually the role this guy’s going to be filling. Hopefully not in Dan’s cafe anyway. Ryan himself comes running from the office, doing up his shirt as he goes. “Dallon, Dallon hi! Sorry, I - uh - I forgot-”“Lost track of time that’s all.” Dan emerges after him, ducking to avoid the doorway. Ryan grins up at him reaching up to smooth his hair down. “Your - nevermind, all fixed.” “Shall we go?” asks Dan, smiling easily at Dallon. Just a friend then.Ryan glances at Spencer, who grins hopefully at him. Jon does his best to mirror the look. He does not want to be stuck here on his own. Also, he wants a promotion. Hanging out with his boss is probably a good idea.“Hey Dan! Why don’t Spencer and -“ Ryan gestures at Jon “come too. It’s not like there’s anyone here.”Dan shrugs. “Sure, why not. Bren can come too?”Jon takes off his apron and hangs it up, as Spencer pulls out his phone and calls his boyfriend. He grabs his umbrella cause he is not getting wet, Dan and Spencer following suit. As the others troop out the door, he notices the new guy - Darren? - looking apprehensive and holds up his umbrella. “Want to share? I’m Jon.”He grins. “Dallon.”After a few metres Jon’s arm is beginning to get tired and the umbrella keeps hitting Dallon’s head. Dallon’s hand covers his and he lets go, letting the taller man hold it over both of them.“I’m trusting you with a big responsibility there, you know. Holding the umbrella.” Jon is the first to break the silence and Dallon grins.“I should just run away with it, leave you to get wet.” He jerks it as if he’s going to run away and Jon grabs it, laughing.“There. Compromise.”They lapse back into silence, though it feels more comfortable now, hands touching on the handle. The rain is hitting above his head and the paving stones are shining enough to reflect the pair as they splash through puddles. Ahead of them, Dan and Ryan are engaged in a conversation that doesn’t carry through the rain and somewhere behind Spencer’s footfalls can be heard accompanied by the occasional swear and splash. Shouldn’t buy expensive shoes then. Jon glances down at his own flip-flops - his feet are completely soaked but they’ll dry fine - and grins.“I don’t actually know where we’re going,” he says.“Basically three of our friends have a bar or they will have a bar and it’s their opening night so yeah. Group trip. Free alcohol.”They turn right and follow Ryan and Dan into a brightly lit - but mostly empty - bar. There’s a girl cleaning the bar itself and a band setting up on a slightly raised stage. Another girl comes up to them and hugs Dan and Ryan, who have leaned their umbrella against the wall. Jon follows suit. The girl has turned to Dallon, speaking quickly and the pair smile at each other. Jon tries to ignore the jealousy bubbling through him. He’d been flirting. Apparently Dallon hadn’t. Or, alternatively, Dallon was an asshole. The pair turned to him and Dallon grinned.“Breezy, this is Jon. He works at Dan’s cafe. Jon, Breezy.”He smiles and raises his hand, Breezy smiles back before turning to Dallon. “I’m so glad you’re here Dal, you have no idea. I’m honestly terrified. Like Sarah and Linda both seem so in control and calm and just yeah. I’m glad you could make it.”“I’m sorry we got held up. Ryan and Dan were putting Dan’s office to good use.”“I’m sure. Do you want a drink?”Dallon glances at him. “Sure, just a beer though. It’s still early. Jon?”“Same for me, please.”Breezy walks over to the bar, the girl who had been behind it having gone to greet Spencer and another stranger. The place has a neon aesthetic, strips along the wall that were faintly glowing even now and quasi futuristic speakers. Probably more of a club than a bar, given the wide open space. It’ll probably look awesome when dark, all lit up and with loud music. Now, it just looks slightly deserted. Too big for the eleven or so of them in there.“So how are you enjoying The Poetess?” asks Dallon.“The Poetess?” “It’s the name of the bar. They thought it’d be a nice tribute to Sappho, given they’re all gay.”“They’re… lesbians?” He’s shocked, to be honest. Dallon and Breezy hadn’t been? Maybe bi or something?“Is that a problem?” Dallon sounds offended and oops. That came out wrong.“No, no sorry I just - you and Breezy I just thought - ““That? No way, we’re just good friends. Nah, neither of us really lean that ways.” “Me either. We make quite the group huh?”Dallon laughs and he counts that as a win. At least he didn’t permanently scare the other man off.“Anyway. You see the other brunette?” He points at the girl who was behind the bar and Jon nods. “That’s Sarah, and the blonde over with Spence is Linda.”“And no one in here is straight.”“Maybe the band? Not sure though, Breezy said something about representing the local underground queer scene so I make no promises. You guys have a music night in the cafe don’t you? It might be worth working together on that?”“Maybe talk to Dan about that but yeah, a bigger space would be nice.”Dallon nods and sips his beer, Jon staring for a moment to appreciate the now mostly dry man. His shirt is just damp enough to cling to his chest and arms, his hair fluffing around his eyes. He’s certainly attractive. And tall, which would indicate a certain quality Jon likes. Gay, too. He’ll turn out to have a boyfriend or something, but hey they have sort of mutual friends. Dallon’s throat ripples as he drinks which, ok, Jon can handle that. Jon can totally handle that. He drinks his own beer and smiles at Spencer and boyfriend as they approach.“Hey, Jon. This is Brendon, my boyfriend. Brendon, Jon - he works at the cafe.”He shakes Brendon’s hand and Brendon pulls him in for a hug.“You’re wearing flip-flops,” says Brendon. “I like you.”Spencer and Dallon laugh. Ryan and Dan are over with the girls, helping the band finish putting together their stage.“OK, Linda and Sarah or Linda and Breezy?” asks Spencer suddenly. Dallon glances at him. “Why not Sarah and Breezy?” “Cause Linda mentioned a girlfriend last time they spoke, so its definitely here,” says Brendon unsubtly looking at the girls. Sarah glances up at him and he waves, grinning cheerfully. She gives a huge overdramatised eye roll back - head movement large enough to carry her meaning across to them and Brendon’s grin widens.“OK,” says Spencer. “Spill.”“Ask them.”Jon glances at Dallon. The entire conversation has just flown over his head.Dallon leans down to whisper in his ear. “Basically who’s dating out of the girls. Everyone but Spencer worked it out ages ago. And Ryan, I don’t know if Ryan knows.”“Who is dating?” He hadn’t actually thought of that, or wanted to ask.“All of them.” Dallon winks at him and stands back up.Around twenty minutes later Dan and the girls come over, Ryan tucked under Dan’s arm. “We’re probably ready to open” says Linda, the blonde one, glancing at he watch. “They’re all set up. Breezy, you’re on the bar tonight right? I’ll do door duty and Sarah can you help her?”“Me and Jon can be bouncers?” suggests Dallon and Jon tries not to blush too obviously. “If that’s OK with Jon, of course.”“No, no sure that’s that’s good with me.”Breezy grins at them. “Awesome, thanks you guys. I’ll update social media to let people know and we can get started.”As Jon turns to go he sees Breezy wink at Dallon out of the corner of his eye. He’s normally a third date kind of guy. Or, well, he tries to be. This, however, well. He’s game to make an exception if Dallon is too.Sadly, nothing happens that evening. They spend three hours checking IDs on the door before Spencer and Dan come to take over. They’re not the most intimidating of bouncers but they don’t do a bad job. When inside the pair cross over to the bar, Dallon ordering them both tequila shots.“If that’s - if you like tequila?” he asks, looking somewhat nervous.By now Jon knows that Dallon is single, wants kids and that they both play bass. The sudden moments of shyness, however, are kind of endearing. He has no idea what he’s told Dallon, he’s been consuming a steady stream of beers through the night and he’s now at least tipsy. He also doesn’t actually know how he’s going to get home but it’s too late now anyway. Breezy brings them the glasses, salt and lime.The salt is sharp against his tongue, quickly followed by the burn of the alcohol and tang of the lime. Next to him Dallon has done the same. Jon wonders if they’re going to kiss now. It’s plausible, he’s been flirting and he’s fairly sure Dallon has too. There’s a moment of tension, eye contact. Blue eyes. Blues eyes are good. Spencer has blue eyes. He’s thought of Spencer now and really, it’s kind of ruined the moment. Not saying Spencer isn’t cute, just he’s not - Dallon looks away.It’s been a few days since the bar and Dallon hasn’t come to the cafe since. He’d wound up staying there overnight, talking to Spencer and Ryan. Dallon had vanished after the moment whatever it was with the tequila and Jon still doesn’t know what he did wrong. It’s a shame but hey, at least he and Dan got to talk a bit. He’s broke and rent might be manageable but very little else is.The bell jingleis, Spencer nudging Jon till he stands up straight.“Welcome to The Undertow. What can we get you today?”Spencer’s got the friendly host thing down so Jon prepares to make the drink.“Cappuccino, please.” It’s Brent, one of their regulars. Jon silently hopes that Dan doesn’t come out - the whole awkward ex of his boyfriend thing. Also Dan punched Brent last time they met. Come to think of it, he’s fairly sure Brent is banned.“Is Ryan here?” asks Brent as Jon hands him his drink.“I haven’t seen him.” Spencer says it flatly with the smile still plastered on and Brent scurries out of the cafe into the light of the morning. At least the rain’s over. Ryan comes out the backroom and sighs.“He gone?” he asks.Spencer glances at him and Ryan relaxes, moving to sit on the counter. “You and Dal were getting on the other day, weren’t you?”Jon shrugs and tries to hide his slight smile. “Want his number?” Ryan’s looking at him with a smirk.“Uh- sure?” he says hesitantly and Ryan’s smirk turns into a crocodile grin.“Here, I’ll text you his contact. I stole your number from Dan, hope you don’t mind.”His phone bings and he turns it on, to see that an unknown number has texted him. He sighs as he adds both Ryan and Dallon to his contacts.“Fair warning,” says Spencer. “Ryan likes to randomly text people at two a.m. while high. If he calls you, hang up.”“I will randomly appear outside your house,” says Ryan, randomly.“He doesn’t do that, right?” Jon wouldn’t actually be that surprised.Spencer just shrugs. He texts Dallon during his break, just ‘hi it’s Jon from the other night got ur number from ryan how’s things?” It was more than he probably strictly needed to say but he came across as friendly - he hopes. Spencer calls him back out to help with customers and he sighs, putting his phone back in his pocket and headed back out.His phone died midway through the morning without ever going off, he realises during his lunch break. It’s sunny out and they’ve finally had a decent midmorning rush so he’s still in a good mood as he sits down at the sandwich place next door. They make good sandwiches too, and he gets a discount for knowing Alex who runs it. They’ve been neighbours for a few months now and friends for around the same amount of time.Z comes to take his order and they make plans to hang out as a group that weekend. And - Dallon. He’s sitting at a corner table with Breezy. They’re far enough a way that Jon can’t hear them speaking over the full restaurant but Dallon raises his head and their eyes meet. Dallon smiles, standing up. Breezy doesn’t follow him over to Jon but he can feel her eyes on the back of his head as he stands to greet Dallon.“Hey! I haven’t seen you,” he says mildly, grinning up at the taller man.Dallon shrugs. “Sorry, I just. I don’t know. Things felt kind of awkward and then-“Jon smiles at Z when she brings him his sandwich, still standing next to the table.“We should talk,” says Dallon, fidgeting slightly.“Here?” Jon looks around at the busy restaurant, the cutesy decor and small space.“We can go back to the cafe?”Jon nods his assent and waves down Z. “Can I pay you later? Sorry, just got -““No, sure, that’s fine. Have fun!” She smiles knowingly. “You’re not taking the plate though.”Jon sighs and wraps his sandwich in napkins, acutely aware of Dallon’s eyes trained on his back. He looks away as Jon stands and they walk out together, heading into the empty coffee shop.“Basically. Uh. I was flirting. I don’t know if you noticed, or like if you’re even gay or if you’re single and I’m sorry if I came on to you and made you uncomfortable and yeah-“ Dallon’s wringing his hands nervously, slightly out of place in the cafe’s cabin-like decor. It’s supposed to be soothing, though it doesn’t really seem to be having that affect on Dallon. Jon pulls out a stool and offers it to the man, grabbing one for himself. “First of all, I am definitely gay. Secondly, I was also flirting. I’m not very good at it but I was doing my best. I don’t really have a third point but yeah. You didn’t make me uncomfortable.”Dallon’s smile is still uncomfortable looking but it’s a smile. Neither of them say anything for a long second then Jon stands up and kisses Dallon. For the first time he’s got the height advantage which is awesome. So is Dallon’s kissing, not too aggressive but very definitely present, his hands winding through Jon’s hair to hold him in place. Eventually, though, Jon pulls back. It’s a really uncomfortable position to stay in long term, OK, with his back bent like that.“Now you know how I feel all the time,” says Dallon, still looking apprehensive.Jon thinks about it for another second before leaning back in, Dallon raising himself slightly from the chair. He’s got his hands roaming slowly towards Dallon’s butt cause he kind of really wants to touch and Dallon’s holding him close with one hand tangled in his long-ish hair and one hand on his shoulder. It’s really hot, he thinks. Making out with a hot guy - who he’s definitely starting to like - in a cafe where his boss could walk in at any moment and he breaks the kiss, breathing deeply. “Y’know, apparently the girls have a really good band playing tonight. I’ve never heard of them but Breezy says they’re good.”“Are you asking me on a date?” asks Jon, laughing slightly.Dallon shrugs. “I think so?”“Good, cause that means I don’t have to ask you out. Tonight is - tonight is good.”Then Dallon’s kissing him again, standing now so Jon’s back to being the short one and yeah, Dallon’s a really good kisser. Someone coughs from behind them and there’s the boss he was worrying about. Dan looks more amused than anything else which is probably a good sign but also means Ryan will hear about this. And he takes the threat of Ryan turning into a stalker seriously. Ryan’s kind of… intense.“So now both of my employees are seeing people, do we need to introduce a no boyfriends in the cafe rule?” Dan asks, laughing slightly.“We’re - ““I’m not even on the clock,” says Jon and pecks Dallon on the lips, stretching and heading for the counter. He hasn’t managed to eat his sandwich but really, it’s been a pretty awesome lunch break without it. He loves today. Also he kind of wants his sandwich so he eats it, sitting on one of the stools and grinning whenever Dallon looks his way. A really reall good day. Dallon spends the rest of the day lurking by the counter and winking at Jon. He thinks it might have creeped a few customers out but he’s making Jon smile wider than he’s smiled in a while here. And, really, Jon kind of likes that. The decision’s up to his cats in the end, but Jon’s fairly sure he wants to keep this one.
10935480	Alone	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": null, "Characters": "Ward Meachum, Danny Rand, Colleen Wing, Claire Temple, Joy Meachum, Jessica Jones", "Fandom": null, "Language": "English", "Rating": "General Audiences", "author": "by hellothere1234", "chapters": "1/?", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-18T00:00:00", "words": "889", "Additional Tags": "Minor Violence, Drug Use, Kidnapping, Drug Addiction", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": "Iron Fist (TV), The Defenders (Marvel TV)", "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	It had been months since Ward had heard from anyone. Danny and Colleen were off trying to find K'un-Lun, Claire was caught up with her super-powered friends, and Joy hadn’t been seen for months. After she found out he had been lying about Harold she has kept her distance, making no effort to contact him. Sometimes Ward feels like she’s still around, watching him, but he assumes that she just needs her time and space. It was all too much for Joy. For thirteen years, she believed that Harold had died. She got him back, only to lose him again. It was frustrating to say the least. Ward had tried to show her what Harold had become, but she refused to see it. Looking back, he doesn’t blame her. What else was she supposed to think? Harold was there, in the flesh. They talked about memories and their futures together, he seemed real. Ward only hopes that one day soon they can sit down and he can explain everything. How Harold had returned to him too and how at first, it was so unreal. He was so happy to have him back, alive and healthy that he refused to see how “off” he was. He would tell Joy that at first it was small things, little mistakes would lead to huge outbursts and how eventually the outbursts lead to violence. He just wanted to talk to her so that they could mourn their father together, get rid of all the lies, and be a family again. For now though, he has kept himself distracted.Still, it has been a lonely few months. Since his father's death he had been running Rand fairly efficiently. Without Harold manipulating everything behind the scenes and Danny constantly causing disruptions, things had been running smoothly. Ward has been able to restore the company to normalcy and has even made improvements, growing its wealth and its charity. Ward throws himself into work to distract from the emptiness but sometimes it’s not enough. His personal life has fallen quite a bit. He’s still hooked, not on heroin anymore but there are other vices. Ward sits at his desk and twists the top off of a bottle of muscle relaxers. He doesn’t need the medication anymore but when you’re rich, it's fairly easy to bribe nurses or hospital volunteers. Ward pops the small white pill and downs it with his second glass of bourbon that night. While he is enveloped by work on his computer, Meghan walks into the frame of the office door and knocks on the wood. Wards attention shoots up but he is calmed down when he sees who it is. After all that went down a few months ago, Ward still occasionally sees hallucinations like he used to. A figure in the shadows, a gust of movement in the corner of his eye. Not as bad as they used to be but still present.“Heading home, Sir. Need anything before I go?” she asks.“Uhh no, no. I’m okay, Meghan. Have a good night,” Ward stutters, recovering from his initial shock. “Be safe” he adds.Meghans expression reflects concern but she brushes it away and smiles sweetly. “Thank you, Sir. You too.” she pauses, “And try to get home at a reasonable hour tonight Mr. Meachum, you’ll work yourself to death. Goodnight!” she says playfully. Mehgan turns and walks out the door before Ward has a chance to reply. She sighs as she gets in the elevator. She knows what has been going on with Ward, most people on their floor know, but she isn’t exactly in the position to do anything about it. And Joy, the person who used to keep him on track is gone. Wards attention goes back to the computer screen. Now, the only light in the room is glowing softly onto his face, reflecting against his eyes. Outside, he hears a small, muffled noise. Ward looks up and sees nothing. The entire floor was empty. These days he is always the last to leave the office and never at acceptable hours. Ward scans for the source of the noise, but sees nothing. His mind is playing tricks again. His attention goes back to the computer. For the past few months he has been working hard to continue Rand's expansion into China. All of the events that went down slowed if not completely ceasing the work to expand the company. It's mostly just a distraction. In all honestly, Ward never really cared. Joy was always the one who wanted to run Rand, if not for her he would have left years ago. Ward wanted to travel, find other work but he figures that maybe if he stays here, maybe one day she’ll come back and take her proper place. Rand will be something for Joy to come back to.While reading over a document that had been sent to him that morning Ward hears another, much louder thump. This time it sounds like it is coming from inside of his own office. Ward freezes and looks around again. His heart is now pounding in his ears. That is not a coincidence. Ward picks up the phone to his right and is about to hit the button for security when he feels something prick his neck. The world goes fuzzy.
10911009	Moments	{ "Archive Warning": "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings", "Category": "F/M", "Characters": "Jayne Cobb, River Tam, Simon Tam, Kaylee Frye, Malcolm Reynolds, Inara Serra, Hoban \"Wash\" Washburne, Zoë Washburne, Shepherd Derrial Book", "Fandom": null, "Language": "English", "Rating": "Mature", "author": "by OpalCowan", "chapters": "6/?", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-15T00:00:00", "words": "1,256", "Additional Tags": "One Shot", "Relationship": "Jayne Cobb/River Tam", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": "Firefly, Serenity (2005)", "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	“Off to the Whorehouse?” Mal called.“Yeah” Jayne said walking down the ramp to the Cargo Hold. “Be back in the morning.” The sun was setting on the horizon. Jayne looked back at the retreating form of the Captain, he was about to turn back when a figure off to the side caught his attention. The resident crazy was there watching him go off. He looked back off towards the lights of the city then turned back up the ramp. “Thought you were going out?” Captain laughed. Jayne harrumphed and walked past. “Like a beacon drawing him back towards the ship”“What was that Albatross?”“Nothing Captain.” ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- They had kept their relationship a secret from the crew because of his fear of their reaction; he never imagined it would be her brother who told the captain what was going on. Simon waited for Mal to take a drink from his Engine wine before he spoke. “You know River and Jayne are sleeping together don’t you?” Mal spat out his Engine wine…“What?” He would have yelled had he not been trying to breathe.“Have been for a while. Should have guessed they spend so much time together.” “And your okay with this? When did you find out?” Mal demanded.“Yeah. They’re being careful and it’s healthy, plus Wash new before even I. So did Zoë and the girls.” Simon said taking a drink from his engine wine. Mal stormed out of the room to find Jayne. He found him in the Cargo Hold spotting Book while he Pressed weights. “Jayne, are you sleeping with our resident genius?” Mal deadpanned. Jayne had the mind to grab the weights before Book dropped them on himself.“Who told you that?” Jayne asked.“Simon, why did I have to wait for him to tell me?”“Simon told you?” Book queried.“Yeah, and I don’t like being told by someone after the fact. Why was I not informed?”“I didn’t think you’d understand. Some bullshit over she’s not in her faculties and she’s too young.”“Jayne did you just say faculties? Have you spoken to River about this?” Book asked shocked.“She yelled, I ignored. So she told Wash, or else it would a been the Cap’n.” “Weren’t you ever gonna tell me bout it?” Mal asked.“Eventually…” Jayne said uncertain. Mal stormed off.“Were you ever gonna tell the Cap’n you and River were in a relationship?” Book asked looking him in the eye.“Eventually. Just never imagined it be her brother who told the Cap’n what was going on.” ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- The crew was sitting around the table, making jokes about Jayne again, when Simon made a joke about Jayne's preferences. "Why d'ya say dat?" Jayne drawled."Because when we go to a bar your always with the same type of girl." 'The Doc has a point but I'll never admit why.' "First ones to come up to me""Liar" River said."Mei-mei, why did you call Jayne a liar?" Inara said smiling."Because he is one, He chooses them because he doesn't find them attractive.""Shut up, Girl, before I shut you up." Jayne growled."Why, because they'd find out why you stray away from those dark and pale girls you find more attractive?" River said."Jayne… What' she talking about?" Mal Asked."Nuffin'.""Something." River said while Jayne stalked over to her. He was about to grab her when she jumped on him…."Mei-mei!" Simon cried."But why?""HE chooses them because they look nothing like me. Not because those were his preferences." ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- He licked his dry lips, his mouth, hanging open while he watched her stretch her extremely flexible body in the cargo hold."Stupid Kaylee wanting River to teach her all that bendy shit, making me watch her teach the doc's misses all the bendy tricks she uses on me." Jayne's grumbled under his breath as he walked along the gangway above the cargo hold watching River get warmed up.I saw him lick his like while he watched her stretch. "You're such a pervert." I said as I watched behind him to get a view of the girls, how my mei mei got all the girls to agree to this is beyond me. "How'd she get Inara and Zoe to agree to this? Not that I don't mind seeing 'Nara all bendy but,… I've lost my thought." The guys continued to watch as River talk the girls through the moves. At some point I saw Wash trying to shield Zoe from their view. When the girls were cooling down he stopped trying and book called dinner. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- The heat of the summer was only part of what had pushed him to take off his shirt as he moved the cargo into the hold, the hitch in Rivers breathing at the sight of his bear, sweaty chest had been the other."Mals' such a boob for making Jayne do that by himself, especially with how hot it is!" Kaylee said annoyed and loud enough for Mal to hear down the hall. "Jayne deserved it though, it took Wash a week to get all the pollen out of the bridge." River had a point, but how was I suppose to know that Wash got hay fever. "Yeah, well. I'm gonna go help." Kaylee huffed. "It's ok Kaylee, only a few more to go." 'It's too hot'. I took my shirt off and threw it in the corner. I heard a hitch in River's breathing and looked up. River and Kaylee were staring. I finished putting the Cargo away and walked to the stairs to my bunk.The heat of the summer sun had only been part of what had pushed me to take my shirt off. The hitch in River's breathing had been the other. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- "River's birthday's tomorrow." I heard her brother tell Kaylee. "I know, I nara and I are taking her out when we land for a pamper day." Kaylee and Inara were gonna make her look all pretty. 'What should I get her.'"Docking in fifteen," Capt'n said when we landed the next morning. "Meet in the Hold in fifteen. After the meet the rest of the day is yours." I grinned. I could find something for River. I met Mal, Zoe and River in the Hold. "Thought 'Nara and Kaylee were taking you out?" I asked. "Wanted Zoe to come. Have to do the job first." River smiled. "What's the job, Capt'n?" Zoe asked. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you. 'Sides it's only the meet and greet today. C'mon."We took the mule to the centre of town. "Now we wait." Mal said. Zoe, River and I exchanged a look. "What?" Mal asked. "Nothing." We all said. "River, what's the chance of us getting shot today?" Mal glared at me. "Not today, tomorrow." I glared at Mal. "Gee thanks."River was right. I didn't get shot today. I walked along the markets sometime later, trying to find something River might want for her birthday. How did Simon do this for Kaylee was amazing. I'm not a romantic, I don't know how to court girls with romantic gifts. I continued to walk along the stalls, chocolate, teddy bears, knifes guns, 'ah' I thought "perfect…"I saw River walk up to the bridge, Wash said she got to fly it for her birthday. I watched as she walked up to the control panel. I saw her bend over and smile.I knew I'd done good when she saw the dozen red roses waiting for her.
10983795	Dogs Life	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "Gen", "Characters": "Napoleon Solo, Illya Kuryakin, Alexander Waverly", "Fandom": "The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (TV)", "Language": "English", "Rating": "General Audiences", "author": "by JantoJones", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-23T00:00:00", "words": "754", "Additional Tags": null, "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": "MFU - Modest Briefings (The 1st 100)", "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	Illya was listening to light jazz on the car radio while he waited for his partner to pick up the dead drop. He watched with mild disinterest as, what looked like a Welsh terrier, shot out from the alley and darted in front of the car. Luckily for the animal, the street was deserted. A few seconds later, Napoleon also exited the alley at speed.“Where did the dog go?” he yelled over to his partner, as he ran past.“That way,” Illya called back, while pointing.“Don’t just sit there. The damn thing has the package.”Illya immediately jump out of the vehicle and tore off after his partner, and the dog. He caught up with them at the end of another alley across street. Napoleon had the dog, which seemed to be choking. “What size is the package?” Illya asked as he squatted down to help. It obviously had to be smaller than usual in order to fit in a dog’s throat.“It’s a small ball-shaped capsule,” Solo replied. “I was just reaching for it when the animal came out of nowhere, saw what I was going for, and grabbed it. It obviously thought it was for playing with.”“We need to get the animal to a veterinarian,” Illya stated, after concluding they weren’t able to do anything themselves. “We passed one about a block away from here.”Napoleon didn’t bother to ask how Illya had noticed a veterinarian’s office. His partner always took note of his surroundings in case there was something in the vicinity which may be useful to him. Solo picked up the dog and the agents ran back to the vehicle. As soon as they were in, Illya roared away.It took less than two minutes to reach the veterinarian’s office. In the back seat of the car, Napoleon continued to try and extract the capsule. The animal was becoming extremely distressed and was thrashing about quite a bit. Upon arrival, the pair burst into the office and shouted for help.The next few minutes seemed to go by in blur. The receptionist called out for the vet, Dr Adams, who came out to see what the commotion was. As soon as he realised that the dog had something lodged, he grabbed the animal and carried it through to his surgery. Napoleon and Illya followed close on his heels. After sedating the dog, Dr Adams easily pulled the capsule free. He handed it to Napoleon.“This really isn’t a suitable toy,” he admonished them. “You should have something bigger.”“It isn’t a toy at all,” Napoleon explained. “And this dog doesn’t belong to either of us.”“Then whose is it?”“We do not know,” Illya told him. “It was loose on the street.”“He doesn’t have a collar, and I don’t know of any missing animals.” “What’ll happen to him?” Napoleon asked, concerned for the animals future.“He’ll go to the pound,” Dr Adams told him. “Hopefully someone will want to adopt him. If not . . .”“Please don’t finish that sentence,“ said Napoleon, hurriedly.Illya regarded his partner with interest. He had a strange look on his face which Illya knew was going to mean trouble from Mr Waverly.Sure enough a couple of hours later, the dog was climbing all over the sofa in the Old Man’s office.“Did you get the package translations?” Waverly asked, his eyes never leaving the dog.“Yes Sir,” Napoleon and Illya chorused in unison.“What is the explanation for your four legged companion?”“He’s a stray, Sir” Solo told him. “I was hoping someone here would like to take him on.”Waverly chewed on the end of his pipe and seemed to be weighing up the pros and cons of adopting it himself. Illya would have laid money on him blowing his top, but he hadn’t.“It is my wife’s birthday in three days,” Waverly said thoughtfully. “She has said many times she would like another dog, but doesn’t have the patience for a puppy.”“He’ll be perfect for her,” Napoleon agreed, knowing that his boss had already convinced himself.“I cannot believe you got away with that,” Illya commented later on. “How did you know he would take him.”“That’s easy,” Napoleon replied. “I was chatting to Mrs Waverly last week while I was reviewing their domestic security arrangements. She mentioned to me that she would like a dog.”Illya laughed. Napoleon’s scheming gave Waverly’s own a run for its money. The CEA was definitely the perfect choice as heir apparent.
10991967	Vsieghda i naviechno	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "M/M", "Characters": "Steve Rogers, James \"Bucky\" Barnes", "Fandom": "Captain America (Movies)", "Language": "Русский", "Rating": "General Audiences", "author": "by Wandersebs", "chapters": "1/?", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-24T00:00:00", "words": "926", "Additional Tags": "Alternate Universe - Soulmates", "Relationship": "James \"Bucky\" Barnes/Steve Rogers", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	Когда всё заканчивается, боль расставания пропорциональна красоте пережитой любви. Выдержать эту боль трудно, потому что человека сразу же начинают мучить воспоминания. — "Прости за любовь" Алесандро Белли Все началось еще тогда, в тридцать пятом. Теплым летним вечером Баки Барнс стоял перед зеркалом в своей комнате и примерял лучший свой костюм, заботливо купленный матушкой для воскресных походов в церковь. Поправил подтяжки, провел раскрытой ладонью по волосам, приводя их в еще больший беспорядок, и стряхнул несуществующую соринку с плеча. Надел пиджак, подмигнул своему отражению, вышел из квартиры. Сегодня был определенно его день. Но направляясь навстречу со своей возможной судьбой, он вдруг почувствовал резкую боль в области груди. С каждой секундой дышать было все сложнее, а боль становилась невыносимой. Он подошел к стене, оперся на нее и съехал вниз. В глазах потемнело, и он уже было решил, что умирает, но все закончилось так же быстро, как и началось. И только спустя несколько часов он понял, что это значило. Баки Барнс наконец почувствовал свою родственную душу. * Это было одновременно прекрасное и ужасное событие. Прекрасное потому, что все жившие до этого момента люди, каждый, кто существует сейчас, и любой, кто родится после, мечтают встретить свою родственную душу. Любить и быть любимым – идиллия, о которой не думают за редким исключением. С другой стороны, с тех пор, как ты начал чувствовать свою родственную душу, и до того момента, пока вы не будете вместе, твоя жизнь превращается в ад на земле. Каждый удар или царапина, полученный в случайной драке синяк или ожог от чая – твоя родственная душа почувствует, произойди это с тобой. Она будет терпеть всю твою боль, и еще немного больше. Ведь знание того, что человек, способный подарить тебе ту самую идиллию, страдает, добавляет к физической боли еще и душевную. Баки Барнс не желал такой жизни для своей половинки, и посему намеревался найти её как можно скорее. Но как же это сделать? Как распознать среди миллиона жителей Нью-Йорка того самого человека? Он не знал. Зато необычное стечение обстоятельств, именуемое гордо «судьба», уже продумало все до мелочей. * Спустя несколько дней длительных размышлений, Баки пришёл к выводу, что ему стоит развеяться, да и сходить за продуктами не помешало бы. Надев любимые брюки и рубашку взамен домашних, он вышел на улицу. Духоты не было, солнце не палило так сильно, как должно было в июле месяце, а теплый летний ветер ободряюще дул Баки в спину,будто бы подталкивая его навстречу неизвестному. Он любил такую погоду, наслаждался ею, и потому его настроение заметно улучшилось, даже несмотря на так и нерешенную проблему. Улыбка самопроизвольно появилась на его лице, стоило только Баки подумать о человеке, созданном специально для него, таком далеком и бесконечно близком. Незнакомые люди, проходя мимо, обязательно оборачивались, пытались впитать такие искренние эмоции, оставить воспоминание о счастье, пускай и чужом. А Баки был искренне рад делиться с миром. Неожиданный шум отвлек его от размышлений. В одном из переулков, которые обязательно заканчивались тупиком, были слышны голоса. Три неразборчивых, злых голоса и один спокойный, но вместе с тем не предвещающий ничего хорошего. Баки Барнса тянуло туда: здравомыслие твердило «не стоит, не лезь, не твое дело», а сердце отчаянно желало. И он подчинился последнему, потому что он — Баки Барнс, парень, который не мог оставить в беде ни единое существо. Веселость моментально улетучилась из его движений, и он неслышной походкой направился вглубь. Чем ближе он подходил к незнакомой компании, где почему-то виднелось только три человека, хотя он уверен, что слышал четвертого, тем сильнее билось его сердце. — Я спрашиваю, какое тебе дело до этой бабы? — один из троих, высокий, тучный мужчина (назвать его парнем было бы кощунством) немного склонился над кем-то, кого Баки не видел со своего положения. «Вероятно, там этот, четвертый» подумал он. Решив немного послушать, о чём идет речь, Баки прижался спиной к стене. — Я вам повторяю, не смейте называть девушку этим отвратительным словом. Неужели вы не понимаете такого простого слова, как «нет»? Она не хотела идти с вами, и на этом все. — А кто её спрашивал? — мужчины дружно загоготали. Кулаки Баки начали чесаться уже не из-за того, что ему хотелось помочь четвёртому, а потому что такого хамского поведения его сердце стерпеть не могло. Стоило ему только оттолкнуться от стены, как послышался глухой звук удара, от одного из мужчин послышался возглас удивления, смешанного с болью, а правый кулак неожиданно начал пульсировать. Но Баки конечно же не придал этому особого значения. Он бросился вперед, хватая уже замахивающегося мужчину за руку и выкручивая её. Двое других опешили от такого действия, так что Баки как раз хватило времени ударить вырывавшегося несколько раз. Он упал на землю, сраженный собственной невнимательностью. Баки встал между двумя мужчинами и щуплым пареньком («Господи, как у него хватает сил хотя бы разговаривать»), готовый драться до последнего. Но, неожиданно для Баки, мужчины развернулись и бросились наутек, оставив своего друга в бессознательном состоянии. Кулаки опустились, спина расслабилась, Баки чувствовал себя победителем. — Я дожал бы их сам, — послышалось со спины. — А я решил сделать это за тебя, — ответил Баки, оборачиваясь. Снизу вверх, из-под длинной челки на него глядел парень. Пшеничного цвета волосы, глаза цвета неба, кривой нос, как будто бы парень уже не в первый раз попадал в такие ситуации, полные искусанные губы и множество маленьких веснушек. Он смотрел на Баки, и в его глазах читалась решительность. — Мне не нужна помощь, — парень зло огрызнулся. — Так я и не для тебя геройствовал здесь, — Баки наконец смог отвести взгляд от этих золотистых крапинок. Они, словно звезды на небе, освещали необычное лицо парня. Их хотелось потрогать, разглядеть лучше, ощутить пальцами. — Просто не мог терпеть то, что они говорили о девушке. Уроды. Баки пнул неудачного обольстителя, и тот заворочался, издавая странные звуки. — Пойдем, он скоро очнётся, — парень схватил Баки за руку и пошел прочь. День подходил к концу.
10912305	Empath	{ "Archive Warning": "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings", "Category": "F/M", "Characters": "Mantis (Marvel), Egon", "Fandom": "Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies)", "Language": "English", "Rating": "General Audiences", "author": "by Pearlislove", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-15T00:00:00", "words": "339", "Additional Tags": "Beginnings, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Character Study", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	"Mama!" She's a little larva, crawling on her hands and knees through the rubble, salt tears in her eyes as she calls out for her mother. She doesn't know where she is, or what the feeling filling her entire tiny body is, but her antennas are glowing and she's so scared . "MAMA COME BACK!" She screams even more, her frail voice going hoarse as she struggles to move with every part of her tiny mass pounding and filled with unbearable pain, and she looks over her shoulder, big black goo covering the place where her mother had been standing moments ago. Moments ago she'd had a home and a family and a there'd been thin arms holding her, rocking her in their fragile hold, and making her antennas glow with joy, always joy and never fear and pain. But now her mama is not here anymore and she's crawling further away from the black goo that swallowed her world out of pure instinct, half-blind and so weak like the little larva she was, yet still not giving up. She only comes one more step, two more steps, before she stops again. Glances over her shoulder once more, and suddenly there's a man standing where her mother used to, a kind looking man smiling as he approach her. She try to flee, try to move away, but she is tired and before he's reached her her body has already given up under her. She's lying motionless on the rubble that used to be her world, scared and hurt and vulnerable, and the man kneels beside her, his hand on the side of her head to share his feelings with her and smiling into her terrified eyes. There's happiness and contentment in the stranger’s mind and she leans into the emotional warmth, letting him feed her all he has to offer and strengthen her as he slips his other arm around her body and lifts her up, whispering in her ear. "I'm going to find a place for you, little Empath."
10980708	its good to see your	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "F/F", "Characters": "Alex Danvers, Maggie Sawyer, Lucy Lane (DCU)", "Fandom": "Supergirl (TV 2015)", "Language": "English", "Rating": "General Audiences", "author": "by cold_century (orphan_account)", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-23T00:00:00", "words": "2,951", "Additional Tags": "Post-Finale, the start of the brot3 we deserve, brief mention of supercorp, Obligatory Hamilton reference", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": "Alex Danvers/Maggie Sawyer, Alex Danvers & Lucy Lane", "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	lucy lane has always known how to make an entrance.this time is no different. she strides through the balcony doors of the deo, in full military dress, hat tucked under her arm. and she’s yelling. more specifically, shouting “agent danvers!” at the top of her lungs from the balcony and the entire command centre stops and turns, half towards a furious director lane, half towards a stunned agent danvers.(not so stunned that she doesn't miss a very smug looking supergirl darting past lucy - at least that explains how she ended up on the balcony)“is that…” winn says in hushed awe, fingers poised above the tablet he had been tapping on.“yep,” alex says, equally quiet and gripping the edge of the desk. “that’s lucy.”lucy’s eyes lock with hers, and alex’s first instinct is to run and hide because facing down an entire daxamite invasion is no trouble. facing down an angry lucy lane? alex would rather be in trial by combat right now.but instead she stands tall, folds her arm, etches a familiar look of passiveness onto her face, regarding lucy with what she hopes is a steely, almost cold glare, until -“you’re engaged?!”and then all eyes are on alex and what she wouldn’t give for kara to break open the ground beneath her feet and let the earth swallow her whole. but then lucy is striding, striding, parting the sea of agents with her sheer presence before she’s face to face with alex.“well?” lucy demands. words don’t fail alex often, but her mind is still reeling from the shock of seeing lucy lane after nearly nine months apart without so much of a text, that she struggles to get anything out but,“yeah”(it comes out more as a question and she doesn’t miss the brief smirk that crosses lucy’s lips)“and you didn’t even think to call me?” lucy asks, imitating alex’s pose, although it’s a lot less intimidating when she’s three inches shorter even in heelsalex bristles; it’s not like lucy had bothered to call her. but coming out, dating a woman and then proposing to said woman? yeah, okay, maybe that was worthy of a phone call to her supposed friend“i didn’t know where you were” alex counters. “you could have been camping in the himalayas with cat grant for all we knew”“really? camping?” lucy says. “that’s what you're going with?”“apparently they had wi-fi”alex jumps back into the desk when lucy smacks her arm with the folder she had been carrying.“ow!”“don't change the subject,” lucy shouts, smacking her again and alex raises her hands in surrender, very aware of the rest of her team (including winn) staring, and probably reveling, in agent danvers being knocked down a peg by director lane“not here,” alex says, swiftly grabbing lucy’s wrist to stop another folder attack. “get back to work, everyone!” alex barks and agents hurry to their posts instantly(they’ll be talking about this for days. but they're forgetting that one steely glare from resident badass agent danvers will send them scurrying and silent)“nice to see you again!” winn calls after them and lucy gives him a friendly wave before they round the corner and make for alex’s labthe door barely has time to hiss shut before lucy starts her tirade again, and alex can hardly take a chance to just breathe in-between the “i can't believe you didn't tell me!” and “i know i left just as we were getting close but-” and “okay, you’re right, i should have called you too” and -“were you ever going to tell me you were getting married?”and there’s a slight vulnerability to her words that makes guilt seep through the cracks in the wall alex has built“yeah, of course i was -”“really? because i had to hear it from vasquez, alex,” lucy says, and she’s pacing - alex really is in trouble“i’m sorry -”“vasquez, who heard it from winn, who was told by james after being told by kara,” lucy says, all fire, ticking the names off on her fingers. “fifth in line, alex. although it’s probably seventh, unless somehow you also haven’t bothered to tell j’onn and your mother”alex doesn't even have the heart to tell lucy it’s eighth; kara had told lena before she had even told james(not that alex had minded; after all, lena was her sister's best friend and she’d been touched to receive a stunning bouquet of flowers at her apartment that afternoon, signed by the young ceo turned saviour of national city“of course lena is invited,” alex had said when her sister had asked. “unless you would rather have her as your plus one?”kara had spluttered and looked between alex and maggie, bright red, and that answered all alex needed to know)“seventh, alex,” lucy says quietly. “you could have called”“i’m sorry,” alex says, and she truly is. but she isn't just going to take this lying down. “but i’m not the only one with a phone.”“i know. i’m being a hypocrite, but this, alex, this is huge!”“and it has to take me getting engaged for you to see me?” alex says, but holds up a hand when lucy opens her mouth and surprisingly it silences the major. “look, let's not argue about this. we both messed up, we were never good at this…” she gestures between them “... being friends with your boss thing.”“apparently not,” lucy laughs, smoothing out her blazer, and after a pause,“alex?”she looks up from where she dropped her gaze to the floor to find lucy smiling softly at her“it’s good to see your face”and without warning, before alex can even lock down her emotions until she's home, home with maggie, a lump rises in her throat and she can barely croak out the next words“where the hell have you been, luce?”the nickname slips out as easy as it had done all those months ago over drinks and monopoly and apologies about cadmus(alex knows lucy too well to think lucy has completely forgiven herself and for alex, the betrayal had stung more than any wound from that nightbut then days had turned to weeks had turned to a month and alex had told lucy to stop apologising with a “i’ve let it go, lane”and a “i haven't.”then a quiet pause in the deo locker room as alex unwrapped her hands, sinking down onto a bench with“you made a mistake. we all do, we’re human. and for what it's worth, i like keeping you around, luce.”and lucy had stuck around. and then lucy had left for dc, left alex behind. and the world had continued to turn)lucy sinks into the chair by alex’s desk, laughing bitterly“afghanistan”“oh,” alex says, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable having berated lucy for her lack of contact“recon, eight months. one in dc,” lucy says. “i got back to the desert base as soon as i heard about the invasion,” she continues. “and then we had a planet to save and i thought, it's been nine months, what's another week?”in alex’s world, full of bright shiny firsts, a week is everything. for lucy, stuck in a desert for eight months, alone, she supposes that yes, a week was nothing.“i’m sorry,” alex says, but the words sound lame even to her own ears.“why?” lucy scoffs. “you didn't send me away.”“no, but… still.”“i knew what i signed up for, alex,” lucy says but her smile doesn't reach her eyes; there’s ghosts behind the green, a look alex has become all too acquainted with in the mirror. “i’ll never regret it.”alex doesn't expect her to. lucy was a soldier, before anything else.“still,” alex says again and lucy shrugs as though that says it all. “luce.”“hm?”“anything you need, okay?” alex says. “i’m here.”she knew that one day, it would all hit home. even stoic, impervious, lucy lane couldn't outrun her demons. and maggie had taught alex so much, had helped her to accept that sometimes you couldn't fight your ghosts all by yourself. the least she could do was pass that onto one of the closest friends she's ever had.“thanks,” lucy says, slightly awkwardly, but alex doesn’t push her. then she sits up, ghosts gone for now. “enough about me. go on, danvers. spill, i want all the details.”alex freezes.it's where to even begin explaining that in the nine months she's been gone, alex has not only got engaged to the love of her life, but that she is marrying a woman.but this is lucy. lucy isn't going to judge her, and alex is burning to tell her, she has never felt more complete in her life .and yet, she's frozen.until the doors to her lab hiss open again and alex’s heart soars just as her stomach drops. not that she is ever disappointed to see her girlfriend - no, fiancée - but this might have been easier just her and lucy.and yet as soon as she locks eyes with maggie, she's grounded and stable and the rush in her chest disappears. this is exactly how she wants to tell lucy.maggie’s eyes fall on lucy who has risen out of alex’s chair, an impassive, hostile expression written all over her face, one which matches maggie’s.alex’s heart is pounding so loudly in her chest that she’s unsurprised to see the flash of a red cape and then kara at the door, unseen by the other two women. alex gives her a nod of i’m okay, and a smile and kara raises her eyebrows when she sees what is happening and gives alex a thumbs up and leaves“who are you?” lucy says, all the warmth in the tone she had used with alex gone.“i might ask you the same question,” maggie says.“well, i asked first,” lucy says and alex has to fight back a laugh at the childish bickering.“detective maggie sawyer, ncpd,” maggie says, holding out a hand in almost a mockery of a truce.lucy’s gaze lingers on alex for a second before she takes a step towards maggie.“lucy lane,” she says, shaking maggie’s offered hand in a less than friendly grip, but maggie doesn't so much as flinch. “ director lucy lane.”“I should have known,” maggie says. “i've heard a lot about you from alex.”“i wish i could say the same,” lucy says, clearly confused by maggie’s appearance and comment. “since when did we let city cops run around a top secret government organisation, agent danvers?”maggie smirks, a look that screams “oh you're in trouble” and alex just rolls her eyes at her and draws herself to her full height.“since i started dating one,” alex says.(she used to not be able to get the words out without turning into a stuttering, love-struck mess, but lucy had always brought out her confidence, if only to one-up her boss)“i'm sorry?”lucy looks like she’s been struck with a stun-gun and alex allows herself to enjoy the win for a second before moving to stand next to maggie, wrapping an arm around her waist.“maggie’s my fiancée.”when she looks to her left, maggie’s eyes are warm, the same smile on her face as when alex had proposed.lucy, however, is silent. and instead of making alex feel smug, it starts a storm in her stomach because not even her mother had gone this long in silence after alex had come out.apparently, maggie is thinking the same thing, the way she links her fingers through alex’s, squeezing her hand reassuringly, confidently.“that's not going to be a problem is it, major?” maggie says, taking check of the marks on lucy’s uniform, her voice so low that alex thinks even kara might struggle to hear it.and then the tension shatters and settles like fine dust with a laugh from lucy and alex feels like she can breathe again“of course it's not a problem!” lucy says and if alex didn't know her any better, she would say she looked offended. “i just didn't think it was quite your style, alex.”when neither alex or maggie say anything, instead staring at lucy with varying degrees of confusion, she says,“oh, i don't mean dating women, i knew that,” lucy says with a wave of her hand. “i mean dating a cop.”and just like that, the world rights itself and the small, lucy lane shaped void in alex’s life is filled.“i surprised myself,” alex shrugs.“hey! i'm standing right here, you know,” maggie grumbles, nudging alex gently in the ribs and alex laughs.“i know.”“take it as a compliment,” lucy says, all the coolness from her voice gone and talking to maggie like she's known her for years. “you're the woman who's making alex danvers go all soft and mushy with feelings.”“i'm not soft,” alex says and maggie laughs. “i'm not!”lucy laughs, shaking her head. “oh there is so much warmth under that rugged, cold deo agent, alex.”“don't worry babe, i still think you're badass,” maggie says, leaning up and kissing alex on the cheek.“thanks,” alex mutters, knocking her shoulder into maggie’s. “anything else?”she's trying to stay annoyed at being ganged up on (and she's sure not for the last time) but when it's her best friend and her fiancée, it's nearly impossible. she could endure mockery if it meant this was staying.but it seems, finally, lucy has run out of words. instead she resorts to barrelling into alex and almost knocking her into a table of very expensive microscopes and hugging her with a strength to rival even kara’sit shocks alex so much that it takes a few seconds before her arms cooperate and wrap around lucy’s small form and holds her tight and lets herself breathe .“i’m proud of you, alex” lucy says as she steps back, regaining some composure. “i don't think i’ve ever seen you so happy.”alex clears her throat. “i finally get me,” she says. “thanks to maggie.”maggie laughs softly next to her. “i just gave you a little push. the rest is all you, alex.”alex goes red, feeling a bit under the spotlight. maggie notices, immediately changing the subject.“so, lunch?” she asks. “or i can come back later, i don't want to interrupt this reunion.”“no, no, it's okay,” alex says.“well, if lucy wants to, she can join,” maggie says, addressing lucy who still has a stunning smile on her face, looking between the two of them.“that would be nice,” lucy says.“sounds good to me,” alex says and although it's been ten minutes, it's as if they've been doing this for years.“as long as lucy isn't going to give me another shovel talk,” maggie jokes but then suddenly looks scared as lucy gives her a smile bordering on evil.“that depends if i need to,” lucy says.“no, you don't,” maggie says and alex swears her heart will explode.“good answer,” lucy says and the glint is gone from her eyes. “so, lunch? and on the way, i can tell maggie some stories.”the spark is back brighter than ever in maggie’s eyes, eyes that alex is lost in for all of a second before she realises what lucy has said“wait! lucy!”but lucy already has her arm linked through maggie’s and is dragging her away, leaving alex to catch up with them in two strides, blocking their path“relax, danvers. besides, i’m sure i can think of a few stories of my own to tell,” maggie says with a wink and alex’s entire face burns“this is exactly why i want you sticking around, sawyer,” lucy says“well i don’t plan on leaving anytime soon,” maggie says, looking at alex with eyes containing all stars of the universe and a smile that alex knows will never stop sending her stomach into a mad, fluttering mess.“yeah, i’m never letting you go,” alex says softly and links her arm through maggie’s other. “alien bar?”“alien bar?” lucy asks from the other side of maggie as they walk through the doors“oh you have so much to catch up on,” alex says. “come on, i’m buying”“you’re buying? you really are a changed woman, alex danvers”maggie laughs and nudges her shoulder into alex’s. “i like her.”“you two keep this up and lucy won't be the only one without an invite,” alex says as they make their way into the parking lot. she pulls her car keys out her pocket. “but i think i'd rather have both my girls at the wedding.”she turns back, laughter already bubbling in her chest even before she sees their reactions“excuse me, we’re not your girls ,” lucy says, arms folded. “only maggie is.”“yeah, we are,” maggie says, striding forward and opening the passenger side door, throwing a wink at alex.“you couldn't handle us,” lucy says.“i love you alex, but she’s right, you couldn’t,” maggie says and alex rolls her eyes, climbing into the driver's seat.“just get in the car,” she says as lucy and maggie laugh.alex knows she's set herself up for a lifetime of having to endure this two against one teasing and torment. but, as they sit in the bar, alex glaring at lucy as she starts another story than will inevitably have maggie in stitches laughing, she realises that really, she wouldn't ask for it to be any other way.
10967226	Invisible Child	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "M/M", "Characters": null, "Fandom": "SHINee", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Mature", "author": "by Jinkis_Sarang", "chapters": "5/?", "completed": "", "published": "2012-08-07T00:00:00", "words": "5,241", "Additional Tags": null, "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	Taemin wakes up early and heads down to the kitchen. He sees his Appa coming down the stairs with another suite case. “Another business trip Appa?” Taemin asked desperately wanting attention from his Appa.“I’m running late” Mr. Lee said and rushed out the door. It was only around noon, and Mrs. Lee stumbles down the stairs. Taemin rushes to his Umma and helps her stand and walks her to a kitchen chair and helps her sit. She pushes him away. “Who said I needed your fucking help you brat, don’t touch me” Mrs. Lee spat at him. She grabbed her huge bottle of alcohol and too a nice size drink before setting it hard on the table. “I’m sorry Umma, I was just trying to help” Taemin said sadly. Taemin made some eggs but burnt them a little. He set the ones that weren’t so bad in front of his Umma and then sat across from her. He slowly began to eat. She looked at the plate and then looked at him best she could, since she was wasted already. “What is this shit?” She asked nastily.“I thought maybe you would want to eat Umma” Taemin said caringly. Mrs. Lee grabbed the plate of food her son made for her and threw it at the wall behind him, going right over his head and shattering against the wall behind him. Tears fell down Taemin’s face. “You thought wrong. You’re fucking 16 years old and here you are crying like a child, grow the fuck up. Your going to be in high school this year might want to grow up and get tougher or they will eat you alive, but then that would be one less mouth for me to feed” Mrs. Lee said rudely as she got up alcohol bottle in hand and stumbled her way up to her bedroom, slamming her door shut. Taemin walked up to his room and shut the door. He lifted his mattress up and grabbed his razor blade and sat on the floor leaning his back against his bed. He rolled up his long sleeve shirt and placed the cold blade against his skin. He dragged it across his wrist and watched as the blood rose to the surface and ran down his arms, falling onto his pants. He placed the blade right above the mark he just made and made another and another and another. He had four new marks on his arm. His previous ones were healed and no faded scares, but these ones were fresh and bleeding. He grabbed his black towel and held it on the fresh cuts till they stopped bleeding and bandaged them and rolled down his sleeve, so they were hidden. “Do the fucking dishes” Mrs. Lee yelled f rom the kitchen as she was getting a new bottle of alcohol. She tired to set the empty one on the counter but was to drunk and it fell to the floor shattering, she left it and went to her room. Taemin walked into the kitchen and seen the broke bottle all over the floor. He swept it up and threw out the broken glass. He washed all the dishes and put them away. He did a load of laundry and folded them once they were done and put them up. He vacuumed the living room floor. “What the fuck is all this loud noise you are making you stupid idiot?” Mrs. Lee came down screaming.“I’m sorry, I was just cleaning Umma” Taemin stuttered.“You think by cleaning I will love you, it will get your Appa to stay home. Grow the fuck up” Mrs. Lee said harshly as she grabbed her purse and keys. Mrs. Lee walked to the front door and put her shoes on. She glared at Taemin as she opened the door. “I’m going out, don’t expect me home early” Mrs. Lee sad drunkly. Before Mrs. Lee could step one foot outside she passed out from being too drunk. Taemin helped his Umma to the couch and took her shoes off and covered her up. He placed a sweet kiss on her forehead. “I love you Umma even if you don’t love me right now. I’ll make you proud, you’ll see, I will be the top in my class. I will study hard and make you love me” Taemin said as he placed another kiss to her forehead and headed to his room. Taemin got changed for bed, and crawled in bed lying down. He set his alarm. He wanted to get as much sleep as he could since it was his first day of high school tomorrow. Taemin closed his eyes and thought about how he was gonna be the top of his class, he was gonna study hard and make his parents proud of him, then maybe his Appa wouldn’t go on so many business trips and ignore him, and then his Umma wouldn’t drink so much and say hurtful things. Taemin slowly fell into a peaceful sleep, dreaming of the happy family he longed to have. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Taemin alarm rang loudly in his ears. He quickly sat up and shut if off not wanting to wake his Umma up and get in trouble. He climbed out of bed and headed to the bathroom. He took a quick shower and got dressed. He headed to the kitchen and had a light breakfast. Taemin hurt a knock at the door and opened it.“Hi Umma Key” Taemin said pulling him into a hug.“Hi my baby mushroom” Key said hugging him back. Taemin got his backpack and swung it over his shoulder as they headed out. “You nervous baby?” Key asked“A little Umma” Taemin admitted. Key slipped his hand into Taemin’s and squeezed it. “Don’t be, if anyone messes with you Umma will cut a bitch” Key said smiling. Taemin giggled but new his Umma wasn’t kidding. Key was very protective of him. Key has even slapped his birth Umma across the face when he witness her saying mean things to Taemin. Key opened the front doors to the school and walked in still holding Taemin’s hand. No one messed with Key or made fun of him. Everyone was scared of him. He got made fun of once when he was a freshman by a senior. All that needs to be sad about that was the senior ran away crying and no one dared messed with him again. Key took Taemin to his first class which was English. After the class was over Key stood outside of his class room and waited or him and took him to his next class. The day passed by fast. It was already their last class and Key just dropped Taemin off at gym. Key ran to his class that was at the other end of the school so he wouldn’t be late. Taemin stood in line like all the other kids did when the gym teacher walked up. “Your in the wrong class, this is a boys gym class” The teacher said pointing at Taemin.“He is a boy” One of the other students said.The teacher looked at him closer and nodded. He made them work out then play a game of basketball. After class was over everyone left. Key was waiting for Taemin as usually. Key walked in and found Taemin still in the gym. “Why haven’t you showered yet baby?” Key asked.“I-I-I-I’m waiting for everyone to leave” Taemin said.“Baby I have to get home, will you be okay by yourself?” Key asked.“Deh Umma I’m okay after everyone leaves I will shower and head home and call you later” Taemin said. Key ruffled his hair and headed home. After everyone was out of the locker room, Taemin stripped his clothes off and took a shower. The gym teacher walked in and noticed Taemin in the showers naked. He couldn’t help but he turned on as Taemin looked so much like a girl. Taemin had his eyes closed as the waster hit his bare skin, he turned around with his eyes still closed and washed the shampoo out of his hair. They gym teacher noticed he was in fact a boy but wasn’t bothered by it. He walked slowly up to Taemin and grabbed his limp member. Taemin eyes opened fast and backed p against the wall, trying to get away from him. “Don’t be scared. I won’t hurt you. I will make you feel good, now be a good boy and if you tell anyone I will kill you” The teacher said. Taemin was scared, so he just nodded his head as tears ran down his face. The teacher began to pump his member bring into life. He was already fully erect himself. He slipped his clothes off and flipped Taemin around roughly. He slammed into Taemin in one go and didn’t wait for him to get used to it. Tears were pouring down Taemin’s face at the pain. “Oh God your so tight” The teacher moaned out. Taemin felt a warm liquid run down his leg. “This will be are routine for everyday and if you miss a day you will regret it” The teacher moaned out pounding into him faster. Taemin could barely stand up from the pain, tears were burning his eyes. The teacher let out one finally loud grunt and filled Taemin up with his hot seed. He pulled out and got dressed. Taemin fell to the floor. Blood washing down the drain as the water hit his body. The water now running cold, Taemin just laid their shivering. Taemin slowly stood up and shut the water off and got dressed. He slowly walked up. He winced from the pain with every step he took. When he made it home his mother stood at the front door with a bottle of alcohol in hand. “What the fuck took you so long?” She asked harshly as she slapped him across the face.“I’m sorry Umma” Taemin said and went to his room. Taemin laid on his bed carefully in pain. He pulled out his for and texted is Umma Key. To Umma Key:I am home and safe Umma. I am doing my home work then I am gonna go to bed. Love Taemin To my baby Mushroom:Okay baby. Umma loves you and if you need help I am just a phone call away. Love Umma Taemin put his phone up and grabbed his home work and finished it quickly. He put his books up and laid back down tears falling down his face. He grabbed his razor blade from under his mattress and rolled up his sleeve. He made fresh new marks. He watched as the blood fell to the floor, making him numb to what happen today, for what would happen everyday for his whole high school days. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Taemin walked around no light in his eyes, not that he was always happy, he was far from it, but when he was around his Umma Key he was always happy, not anymore. Key was getting worried bout his baby mushroom. Key picked Taemin up for school, and walked in silence. Key grabbed Taemin hand and made him stop. “Spill what is wrong?” Key asked concerned.“It’s nothing Umma” Taemin lied.“It’s not nothing, your acting off, and I’m worried bout you” Key told him.“I’m sorry I am making you worry Umma, it’s just I’m worried about school. I want to do good” Taemin lied once again. Key ruffled Taemin’s hair and smiled at him. “You’re a very smart boy, don’t worry you’ll do fine, and I can always help u if you need it” Key said hugging him. They began walking to school once again. They headed to their lockers and put their bags up and took out the books they needed for their class. Key dropped Taemin off to his class and left for his own. Taemin had trouble focusing on the lesson the teacher was teaching. He was panicking about gym class, for what was to come after it. He didn’t want to go threw that horrible pain again, but there was no way around it. He new he couldn’t tell anyone, he was scared of the gym teacher and believed the teacher meant what he he said, that he would kill him if he told anyone. Taemin was like that in all of his classes having trouble paying attention and getting scolded for it. It was now time for the class he dreaded the most. He wanted to run, run far away, but he was scared when the teacher did catch him next it would be a lot worse, so he took a deep breath and walked in, and took his spot in line. The gym teacher notice Taemin and gave him a smirk. He made the class stretch and work out some. He had them do a few games of soccer inside, and then gave the rest of the class free time to do as they like. Jonghyun walked in and talked to the gym teacher who was also the basket ball coach. “Hey coach” Jonghyun said walking up to the gym teacher smiling.“Well if it isn’t my star player” The gym teacher smiled patting Jonghyun back.“I was wondering if you cared if hung out in the gym after school and practiced some after my tutor in math?” Jonghyun asked.“Not at all” The gym teacher said and walked away scolding kids for rough housing. Jonghyun went to go walk out the door when he spotted a really handsome boy sitting all alone on the bleachers. Jonghyun walked up to him and sat down next to him.“Hello my names Jonghyun” Jonghyun said with a bright smile. Taemin didn’t say anything to him, or look at him, he just got up and slowly walked away with his head down. Another kid from the gym class walked up to Jonghyun and sat next to him.“Don’t take it personal he doesn’t talk to anyone but his Umma Key. Well it’s his best friend that he calls Umma” The boy informed Jonghyun.“Oh thank you” Jonghyun said and left the gym class. Jonghyun went to the library and met with his math tutor. He was having trouble focusing; he couldn’t get the beautiful boy out of his mind. “Yah Kim Jonghyun are you paying attention” His math tutor scolded him.“I’m sorry” was all Jonghyun said. Everyone took their showers and headed out of the gym to head home. Once again Taemin waited for everyone to leave before he took his shower. He quickly stripped and washed his body, and shampooed his hair. He kept looking around panicked waiting for the gym teacher to come in at any moment and rape him again. Once he was finished showering, he dried off quickly and got dressed. He felt relived maybe the teacher felt bad, and wasn’t going to rape him anymore, maybe he would get lucky. Taemin picked up his backpack and swung it over his shoulder and headed out of the locker room into the gym. The gym teacher walked into the gym and locked the door behind him. Taemin instantly froze. The teacher walked up to him and threw his bag on the floor and dragged him to the pull up bar. He ripped Taemin’s clothes off of him and grabbed the strongest jump rope and tied his hands up and swung it over the pull up bar causing Taemin to barely touch the ground. Taemin groaned in pain, as the rope was rubbing him raw. The teacher pulled his own pants and boxers down letting them fall to his ankles as he spun Taemin around and slapped his face one and spun him back around slapping his ass. He grouped his ass cheeks firmly before he thrusted his fully erect member into him. Taemin cried out in pain, as he was not used to this feeling, nor did he like it. Tears poured down his face. The teacher pulled Taemin hair roughly with one hand as his other hand dug into his hip as he pounded into him. “Fuck your so tight you dirty fucking whore” The teacher spat out. The only thing Taemin could do was cry. He new begging him to stop wouldn’t do anything but possibly get him punched, he couldn’t fight since he was tied up nor was he strong enough, so he could only take it. The teacher pounded into his tight hole faster letting go of his hair grabbing both of his hips as tight as he can, causing them to bruise as he pounded into him, with one final thrust the teacher released his hot seed deep inside of Taemin. He pulled out and punched Taemin in the gut once. “A lot worse will happen if you tell anyone bout this faggot” The teacher spat in his face. He untied Taemin from the pull up bar and made him lick him clean and pulled up his clothes and left. Taemin laid on the gym floor curled up on the floor sobbing. He finally found the courage to get up and put his clothes on and head home. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Jonghyun walked into the gym class and worked out as it was empty. As Jonghyun worked out for hours he noticed there was something on the floor by the mats. Jonghyun walked over to the mats and looked at what was on the floor. He wriggled up his nose when he realized it was semen. Jonghyun walked away knowing the janitor would clean it up. After Jonghyun finished his work out he left getting in his car driving towards his home. Jonghyun noticed the handsome boy from the gym class walking or more like limping home. Jonghyun rolled down his window and slowed down.“Hey would you like a lift home?” Jonghyun said sweetly.Taemin hugged himself hanging his head low and walking faster the best he could.“I won’t hurt you and you don’t even have to talk to me.” Jonghyun tried again.Taemin just kept walking ignoring Jonghyun.“Okay Im sorry if I am making you uncomfortable” Jonghyun said and slowly took off.Taemin finally limped threw his front door and ducked just in time as his Umma threw a empty soju bottle at him.“You stupid piece of shit get out of my sight you ugly asshole” His Umma spat out at him.Taemin ignored her hateful comments and limped up the stairs to his room shutting his door. Taemin got on his bed and began to do his homework as tears poured down his face. Once Taemin finished his homework he placed it back in his bag neatly sliding his bag to the floor. Taemin reached under his mattress and grabs his razor blade. Taemin slowly slide his long sleeve shirt up and placed the blade on his arm. Taemin could feel the coolness of the blade rest against his skin as he dragged it across his once flawless skin. The blood rose to the slit of the cut and spilled out on to his pants and blanket. Taemin not caring dragged the blade over his arms over and over again till it was covered in blood. Taemin went to the bathroom and washed his arm off and placed bandages over the freshly made cuts, and then washed his blade placing it back under his mattress. Taemin put on pajamas and put his clothes in the wash with his blanket. Once his clothes finished washing and drying he put his clothes away and his blanket back on his bed. Taemin flipped his phone open answer it as his Umma Key called him.“Hello Umma” Taemin said trying to sound happier so he wouldn’t be worried bout him.“Hey baby mushroom” Kibum giggled. “How are you doing” Kibum added sweetly.“I am okay. I just finished my homework and heading to bed as I have a headache” Taemin skipped the part of cutting his arm up.“Okay baby I was just checking in on you. Get some sleep and rest” Kibum said hanging up the phone.Taemin placed his phone down and laid in his bed unable to sleep. He feared going to gym class again but new it would be alot worse if he skipped it.“Maybe I should just end my life not like anyone would miss me. Well Umma Key would but he would get over it right? I am too much of a coward to take that way and I wouldn’t want to cause Umma Key any pain, he is so good to me” Taemin laid in bed thinking. Taemin finally fell asleep but didn’t get much sleep before he was heading to school. The day went by way to fast for Taemin’s liking as he slowly made his way to gym glass. When Taemin opened the gym door he noticed it was empty but for the gym teacher standing in the middle of the class.“Ahh nice of you to come to class Taemin. I canceled the class due to the gym needing work done on it so no one will be bothering us today” The couch smirked at Taemin, telling him to come to him with his index finger.Taemin slowly made his way to the gym teacher. The teacher roughly grabbed Taemin by his hair and slammed him to the ground hard on his stomach. The gym teacher pushed his face roughly into the floor causing Taemin to groan in pain. The gym teacher roughly turned Taemin over on his back and pinned his hands above his head and undid his pants and boxers taking them off then his own, never un-pinning Taemin’s hands. The gym teacher didn’t even bother to try and get Taemin hard this time, no instead he just roughly slammed into Taemin’s un-wanting hole, feeling his heat engulf him tightly.“Fuck I swear whore you get tighter each time” The gym teacher moaned out as he was all the way seated in Taemin.Tears ran down Taemin’s face as the gym teacher pounded into him fast and harsh. Taemin could feel a warm liquid run down his legs, knowing he wasn’t filled with semen yet as the teacher was still pounding him harshly. Taemin new his hole has been torn and bleeding some. Taemin heard the creak of the gym doors opening as the gym teacher pounded into him. The teacher was too focused on how good Taemin felt around his throbbing cock he didn’t hear the door open. A loud gasp was heard as the door was fully opened. More tears poured down Taemin’s face from the pain, and someone seeing him being raped like this, looking like a whore. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- “Fuck you fucking faggot whore” The gym teacher moaned out.Before the Teacher could see to his release he was thrown off of Taemin and landed on the hard gym floor with a thud.“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING YOU SICK BASTARD” Jonghyun screamed as he laid his coat covering Taemin up the best he could.“IT DOESN’T CONCERN YOU. NOW IF YOU WANT TO STAY THE CAPTAIN OF THE TEAMS YOU BETTER JUST BACK AWAY SLOWLY AND FORGET THIS” The gym teacher screamed standing up.“Listen here you fat fuck I could care less about being the captain of some fucking team over you raping an innocent person. You think you can raise your voice and threaten to kick me off the teams will make me back away and scared. I am stronger than your fat lazy ass so try me and see who ends up on the floor bloody and broken” Jonghyun spat at him.The coach stood their glaring at Jonghyun but deep down new he wouldn’t be able to take Jonghyun, so he quickly pulled his pants back up and rushed to his office locking the door. Jonghyun kneeled down to Taemin and quickly pulled his boxers and pants back up not looking out of respect.“Don’t worry I won’t hurt you and we will get him locked up for what he has done too you” Jonghyun said sweetly brushing Taemin’s hair out of his face.Taemin flinched away from Jonghyun.“Im sorry I wasn’t trying to scare you. I promise I will not harm you or let harm come to you ever again. Someone as beautiful as you doesn’t deserve that well no one does but you are very beautiful” Jonghyun rambled on.Taemin blushed and helped him up.Jonghyun grabbed his own phone out and texted his brother Minho.To froggers:Hey Brother, can you get Kim Kibum for me please. He needs to come to the gym fast its about his son -JonghyunTo Dino:Okay on it - MinhoMinho walks around the school till he finds Kibum. Minho blushes walking up to him.“K-K-Kibum my brother wants you to go to the gym” Minho stuttered out.Kibum turned around and looked at Minho .“No need to drool over me” Kibum giggled out blushes at how Handsome he finds Minho. “why does your brother want me to go to the gym?” Kibum asked.“Im not sure something about your son” Minho said. Kibum grabbed minho’s hand and sprinted so fast to the gym flinging the door opened. Kibum seen Jonghyun helping Taemin up from the floor as he ran over to them. “Oh my baby mushroom what happened” Kibum asked worried.Taemin just stared at the floor.“I came to workout in here after school like I always do, but I got here early as I didn’t have tutor lessions” Jonghyun began to explain.“I don’t need your life story what happened to my baby” Kibum said worriedly.“ I found the gym teacher rapping him” Jonghyun said sadly.“I will cut off his dick and force feed him it” Kibum spat out. “Baby has this happened before” Kibum asked Taemin softly. Taemin nodded. “Has this happened a lot?” Kibum asked only getting a nod in response. “How long?” Kibum asked.“s-s-since f-f-first day” Taemin cried out.Kibum pulled Taemin into his arms rocking him back and forth. Minho ran and got the head master of the school and informed him what was going on. The head master called the cops who came instantly and took Jonghyun and Taemin statements, and talked to the gym teacher who didn’t deny anything. The teacher was fired on the spot and hauled of to jail. “Thank you Jonghyun for helping my baby boy out.” Kibum said friendly.“I’d help anyone out in need. Im just glad I found him and could help this beautiful angel” Jonghyun said blushing and causing Taemin to blush.“Thank you for finding me Minho” Kibum said leaning over and pecking his lips.Minho blushed and nodded his head.“K-K-Kibum I like you a lot. w-w-would you give me a chance and be my boyfriend?” Minho stuttered out.“I would be honored too” Kibum said and pecked his lips again.Jonghyun picked Taemin up carefully as he walked to his car. Minho held Kibum’s hand as they followed. Once everyone got in Jonghyun drove Taemin to his house with Kibum giving him directions. Jonghyun helped Taemin out of the car as they all walked in to support Taemin as he told his Umma what has been happening. Jonghyun took a seat next to Taemin on the couch, followed by Minho and Kibum.“Mrs. Lee could you please come down and talk to us a moment” Kibum said sweetly.Mrs. Lee stunk of alcohol as she stumbled down and plopped in the chair across the couch.“I know this is going to be hard to hear. Taemin has been being raped by the Gym teacher. Jonghyun found it happening today. It has been happening since the first day of school. We informed the head master who called the cops. The teacher has been fired and put in jail” Kibum said sadly.Taemin sat with his head hung low and tears running down his face. Mrs.Lee began to laugh.“You really think my whore of a son was raped. He is nothing but a faggot whore. Worthless piece of shit who can’t keep his legs closed. “ Mrs. Lee spat out.Kibum raised his hand and a loud smack was heard as his hand came in contact with her cheek.“You ever talk bout my son that way again you vile woman you will regret it” Kibum threatened her threw gritted teeth. “Get out of my house and take that faggot with you. He is never to return” Mrs. Lee said harshly.Kibum ran to Taemin’s room dragging Minho with him gathering all his clothes and personally belongings.“Don’t worry you won’t ever see him again. He doesn’t deserve such a hateful bitch in his life” Kibum said as they all walked out .Kibum had Jonghyun drive to his own house. Minho helped Kibum care all of Taemin’s things to the guest room which is now his room. Kibum and Minho put Taemin’s things up as Jonghyun held Taemin on the couch as he cried.“Shhh it is okay. I promise you will never be hurt again. You will never have to hear those lies that woman tells you ever again. You are special and sweet and beautiful” Jonghyun said rubbing his back.“Y-Y-You promise” Taemin hiccuped out.“I swear it” Jonghyun placed a sweet quick kiss to his forehead. “You really are beautiful. The moment I seen you sitting on the bleachers in gym that day I though so” Jonghyun blushed out.Kibum walked out and slapped Jonghyun upside the head causing Minho to laugh.“YAH don’t try and be all pervy with my sweet baby mushroom” Kibum said sitting down next to Minho.“I’m not. I really like him. If it is okay with you Kibum I would like your blessing and asking this angel out” Jonghyun said smiling.“I will honor your wish if you promise no pervy things” Kibum said crossing his arms over his chest.“I swear it” Jonghyun said as he turned to Taemin. “I know we just met. I know you have been going threw so much horrible pain in your life. I would love to help make you realize there isn’t just pain in suffering in your life. Please give me a chance to make you happy” Jonghyun said. “yes but can we go slow” Taemin asked.“Of course” Jonghyun smiled brightlyJonghyun got a glimpse of Taemin arm as his long sleeve shirt rose up some. Jonghyun rolled it all the way up for Kibum and himself to gasp.“Oh baby boy what have you done” Kibum said.“Im sorry. It was the only way to numb my pain Umma. Im so sorry” Taemin cried.Jonghyun rubbed his back and hugged him.“Never say your sorry for your pain. Please never do it again. If your hurting or feeling the need to do so again please come to me or Kibum or even Minho. We are all here to help you and want to help you threw this” Jonghyun said. “I promise I will come to any of you if I ever feel the need again or if I feel threatened or harmed” Taemin said snuggling Jonghyun for once in his life feeling save and loved more than just by his Umma Key.
10984650	Title	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "Gen", "Characters": "Commander Meouch, Lord Phobos, Havve Hogan, Doctor Sung", "Fandom": "TWRP \| Tupper Ware Remix Party (Band)", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Teen And Up Audiences", "author": "by somethingsintheair", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-24T00:00:00", "words": "1,070", "Additional Tags": "meouch is Angry, sassy italics, gotzine", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	If one were to wonder just what Doctor Sung was a doctor of, all they would have to do is ask. If asked directly, he was likely to respond with an enthusiastic shout of “experimental high kicks!” followed promptly by a demonstration. That was his favorite way to respond, after all, especially with the added opportunity to show off his skills.When he had the chance, however, he liked to get creative with his claims.For example, if a woman were to question his credentials, he’d claim he’d spent years studying “female pleasure,” or something along those lines. Most of the time, he’d only get a laugh in reply before the woman walked away.One time, it actually worked, and Meouch was furious.The doctor would make offhand comments about his title all the time, and Meouch would always assume he was joking. The first time he had asked for real, Sung had replied with “friendship, of course!” and they’d moved on. Then, there was the time Sung had sent his keytar soaring across the stage. After the show, he’d left to assess the damage. Meouch had gone looking for him, and found the man carefully disassembling his instrument.When asked if everything was alright, Sung had replied with “Of course, she’ll be fine! I didn’t get my PhD in keytar repairs for nothing.” And that was the end of that.It had become like an excuse. A way to justify his skills, to reassure them that he knew what he was doing. It took a while for Meouch to realize that, and once he did, he went to the second smartest person he knew for answers.“I just don’t get it.” He sat down on the bed next to Phobos. “The guy couldn’t possibly have gotten all those credentials, that’s just fuckin’ stupid. Right?” He looked to Phobos, who strummed his agreement on his guitar. “And, like, I know the guy’s been around for... a long time, yeah, but no way in hell he found a school for sexual healing.”Phobos just shrugged.“It’s not even just that,” Meouch continued, “Nothing he comes up with makes any sense. A person can only spend so long studying the fundamentals of high kicking before they’ve learned it all. And I can tell you right now it’s not enough to warrant a PhD.”Phobos played a few notes in reply.“What do you mean it doesn't matter? The guy seems to know everything about us, don't you wanna know where it all comes from?”Another shrug. Phobos was looking at Meouch like he was the weird one in this situation.Third smartest it was, then.Havve didn't seem care about much of anything, but he did seem to know a lot about Sung. They'd known each other the longest out of the four of them, after all. Meouch still wasn't sure what had gone on between the time they'd met and the time he and Phobos had arrived, but they must've gotten to know each other somewhat, right? At least enough for the guy to know that one particular detail.Havve sat calmly on the couch as Meouch paced back and forth in front of him. “I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE ASKING, COMMANDER,” he said. “ELABORATE.” “Well... you always call him ‘doctor,’ right?” Meouch questioned. “You don’t ever wonder what he’s a doctor of?”Havve paused. “WHAT.““Sung. He’s a doctor.” Meouch put his head in his hands. He was getting real sick of all this shit. “What’s his doctorate in?”Havve gave him a blank stare. His stare was always blank, given, but this one somehow seemed even more emotionless than before.“He... is a doctor, right?”Havve cocked his head to the side. “THAT IS HIS NAME, YES.”Meouch blinked. “What?”“THAT IS HIS NAME. DOCTOR.”“What? That’s a title, dimwit, it’s not his...” Meouch shook his head. “No, you’re fucking with me, right?”“YOU KNOW THAT I DO NOT POSSESS THE CAPACITY TO TELL JOKES, COMMANDER.” Havve crossed his arms. “I BELIEVE YOU ARE THE ONE JOKING HERE. NEXT YOU’RE GOING TO TELL ME THAT YOUR FIRST NAME IS NOT ‘COMMANDER.’”Meouch froze. “It’s... it’s not.”“...OH.”“Yeah.”Havve glanced towards the door. “AND... LORD PHOBOS.”Meouch shook his head. “The guy was a noble on his home planet.”Havve’s eyes flickered. “OH.”Meouch breathed out an exasperated sigh. “I’m just... I’m gonna go talk to him myself,” he muttered before he stormed out of the room.Sung was working at his desk in his room, as usual. Meouch was usually hesitant to interrupt him, but this time, he didn’t hesitate. He knocked on the door as he pushed it open, and promptly slammed it shut behind him.Sung wasn’t even fazed. He had a smile on his face when he turned to face the Commander. “Yes?”“I’ve known you for years, yeah?” Meouch began, “You’ve spent all this time lookin’ after us— you made Phobos’s helmet, you work on Havve when he needs it, you fixed me up that time one of my strings snapped and almost took my eye out...”The man nodded. “All true, yes. You’re welcome.”“I wanna know what the fuck qualifies you to do that.”Sung frowned. “What do you mean, Commander?” he asked. His voice had such a genuine tone to it, Meouch almost felt bad for being so harsh.Almost.“I mean… you’re a doctor, right?” Meouch asked. “What are you a doctor of?”Sung just stared. “What?”“You’re a doctor, what the fuck is your doctorate in?” he asked. “You give a different answer every time someone asks, and I just wanna know what it really is. You never told me for real.”“I’m... not a doctor of anything, Commander,” Sung replied. “I thought you knew that.”“You... what?”“‘Doctor’ is just my first name.” Sung shrugged. “Why would I have human credentials? I’m not human.”Meouch just stared. If looks could kill, he would’ve at least burnt a hole in the man’s visor by now. “You’re not serious.”“Dead serious. Why, what’s your first name?”“It’s not Commander, I’ll tell you that much.”“Hm.” Sung put a hand to his chin. “Well, I’m sorry. I assumed you’d figured it out by now.”Meouch threw his hands up. “I can’t fucking believe this,” he said, already storming out of the room. “Who the fuck names their kid Doctor?”
10990056	Fan Yi Ten Thousand	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "M/M", "Characters": null, "Fandom": null, "Language": "中文-普通话國語", "Rating": "General Audiences", "author": "by liangdeyu", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-24T00:00:00", "words": "4,182", "Additional Tags": "翻译", "Relationship": "Alexander the Great/Hephaistion", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": "Alexander Trilogy - Mary Renault, The Sandman", "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	1. Potmos（命运）幼年的亚历山大在藏书室遇到一个人。他没想到除了自己和老菲尼克斯之外还有人会来这里，而且这人是个陌生人。这人穿着褐色斗篷，头上的兜帽将他的面容笼罩在阴影中，他怀里抱着一本典籍，比亚历山大此前所见的任何书本都要大。 “这本书里有你的名字，亚历山大，你将建立丰功伟业。”他有雅典口音，但他不是使团的一员。他的声音洪亮，缓慢而深沉，仿佛大地本身的声音。亚历山大骄傲地抬头挺胸，“我知道，”他回答，因为他甚至相信自己是众神的宠儿，“就像阿基里斯一样，我的名字将被铭记，万古长青。这是我的命运。” “是的。”这人说，然后融化进阴影中。直到后来亚历山大也不能确定他是真实的还是某位神明的信使，抑或只不过是自己童年的梦。他从未，从未忘记过他。2. Epithumia（欲望）亚历山大起身时赫菲斯提安正在安睡，唇边带着满足的微笑。地图还铺在桌子上，虽然灯火行将燃尽。刚才他们一直在讨论未来，讨论腓力在亚洲展开的计划已久的行动，当时赫菲斯提安看着地图说：“以后这些都会属于你。” “属于我们，”他纠正他，然后任由自己被柔和的话语和温暖的亲吻哄上床去，赫菲斯提安带茧的双手温柔急切地压上他的皮肤。“属于我们。”他们一同动作时他又说了一遍，赫菲斯提安在他的唇上微笑。而现在他第三次重复，压低了嗓音，手指描绘着地图上陆地墨线的边缘。回应他声音的是一声轻笑，他惊讶地抬眼看去。那个男人，如果那是个男人的话，精致到不可能是真实的，他的美貌几乎像个女人。亚历山大怀疑是不是自己的父母又送来了一个妓子，因为他的母亲从来都厌弃赫菲斯提安在他生命中的位置，他觉得她永远不会放下这份厌弃。 “你是谁？”他好奇地问，“你是神谕吗？还是先知？”他不害怕，虽然他大概应该害怕。他能保护好自己，无论危险来自刺客还是男妓的诡计。 “都有可能。你希望我是谁？”答语是温柔的喉音，好似亚历山大最隐秘的欲望在说话，像他品尝过的最醇的美酒般醉人。他感觉到自己的身体起了反应，他用坚定的意志抵御它。 “你在这儿干什么？有人派你来吗？” “总是这么警惕，我的亚历山大，你很聪明。”一只有力的骨节分明的手抚过他的肩膀，令他战栗，“你想要那么多，又是那么热烈地想要。”灵巧修长的手指像他才做过的那样描摹过地图，“所有的这些都会是你的。” “没错，”他同意道，发现自己的手回到了地图上，靠近了那些仍在描画着高山低谷的苍白纤细的手指。“但你到底——” “我是你想要的任何，亚历山大。” 他看向地图：“我想要一切。”这句话以前他只告诉过赫菲斯提安，在那缠绵缱绻之姿半梦半醒之时。“不只亚洲的希腊城邦，还有波斯，直到更远的地方。”亚历山大笑了，仿佛自己就是神谕，眼前是未来而不是地图和陌生人，“直到陆地尽头的周流洋。” “的确是你的心愿，”陌生人承认道，然后说，“也是我的，我即欲求。” 亚历山大转身返回床上，在赫菲斯提安昏暗灯火下的修长身躯和蜜色皮肤之侧蜷身后，他低语道：“属于我们。”3. Olethros（破坏）波斯波利斯的宫殿在燃烧，纯粹的火墙在晴朗的夜晚升起，舔舐天空，盖过星芒。圣洁的烈焰是传信给这个世界的烽火：旧国破灭，大帝君临。又或者只是一场酒后的狂欢，一个亚历山大起码在此刻不准自己后悔的错误。赫菲斯提安已经组织了一队人手去控制火情，以防大火散布整座城池。亚历山大不想让这里变成又一个底比斯，即便波斯波利斯试图抵抗他。他打算使她破败，为她的顽抗施加惩罚，让她长存宫殿的废墟作为对预谋碍事者的警告。 “这么说晚宴不等我就开场了。”亚历山大扭头看见发言者，高个子的红发色雷斯人从胡须中露出狂热的笑容。虽然所处之地兵荒马乱，有那么一会儿他们只是在友好的沉默中深思地凝望着火焰。“有毁灭才会有新生，”亚历山大困惑地看过去，毕竟色雷斯人并不以精通哲理著称，“你有这方面的天赋，亚历山大，世界将因你而不同。” 也许是因为酒，或者烟气，或者他再次被某位神明的手触碰，总之亚历山大在大笑，笑得狂野而自豪。 “好美。”他说，回头面向火焰，为高温和危险而沉醉。 “是的，”色雷斯人回答，仍然面带微笑，“很美。”4. Mania（疯狂）饮酒，发怒，躁狂。凶兆，恶语，还有鲜血，他的双手沾满了鲜血，他永远洗不去这污迹。他在抽泣，记起拉尼克真诚的吻，记起她的手轻抚他擦破的膝盖，记起她是如何将他孩童时对夜晚的恐惧驱散。他也记得长矛的矛尖是如何轻易地穿过了克雷塔斯的血肉，酒神助力下的狂怒压倒了一切情感。他拒绝让任何人进帐，包括赫菲斯提安。他不忍看见赫菲斯提安眼中尽力隐藏的责备。 “你让我想起我的兄弟。”一个女孩的声音响起来，轻快——惊人。他抬头看见一个年轻女子坐在床尾，红色乱发中夹杂着蓝色和黄色，长着一副神明眷顾的面容。 “你是谁？我说了谁都不准打扰我。” “你不喜欢犯错，尤其是在他人面前犯错。梦神也不喜欢，虽然他的举止一直像长不大的孩子。”她丢给他一个眼神（眼睛一绿一蓝），他不适地移开视线，想起了母亲冰冷失望的表情和拉尼克痛苦的长叹，这记忆掀起了新一波撕心裂肺的悔恨之情。 “我杀了他，她照料我关爱我，而我这样回报她的善意。”他爬上前，把头靠在她膝上，“我失控了，就像——”像腓力一样，醉酒且愚蠢，不能自制。 “没错。”她无情地说。 “我发过誓绝不会——我不像他，我不像。” “不像吗？”他又呜咽了一声，然后她终于发了慈悲轻轻抚摸他的头发，力道就像飞蛾扇动翅膀，他在颤抖。“破坏神非常喜欢你——他是我另一个兄弟，也许是我最爱的一个兄弟，这个可别告诉梦神。我也不是梦的最爱，不过他知道了会难过的，所以我不会告诉他，你也不会，好吗？言归正传，破坏对你的印象非常深刻，欲望也是，不过你不会想见他的，因为绝望总是紧随其后，他俩是双胞胎。”就像双子座狄俄斯库里兄弟一样，他献祭于那两人而非酒神狄厄尼索斯正是今晚灾祸的根源，“虽然我认为绝望也很好，可是有她在身边不怎么好玩。你知道，有些鼠辈很势利眼的。” 他坐起来审视她，用手擦掉脸上的泪痕，“我……明白了。” “其实你不明白，不过没关系，没有人真的明白。你可以跟我呆在一起，我喜欢这样，而且破坏不会介意的，虽然欲望大概介意。欲望想要你，不过话说回来，欲望什么都想要，欲望就是这样，不是吗？” 他点点头。一直以来他的人生被欲求和渴望支配，他一直试图在欲望和必要之间保持平衡，但他不总是成功。“这是一种疯狂。” “正是！”她高兴地笑了，“没错。”她轻拍他的头站起身，裴瑞塔斯对她的手指低吠，于是她也拍了拍它。他不记得自己睡着了，但当他醒来时，她已经不见了。赫菲斯提安在这儿，而且亚历山大知道，现在他可以面对他了。5. Oneiros（梦想）他确信如果越过下一座山峰，他就会看见它，周流洋，世界的尽头。然后他会成为它的主人，就像在以前所有的到达之处一样。但是每次他登顶都只看到更远的另一座高山，他与海洋的距离和如果当初选择留在佩拉①相比毫无寸进。他能到达，如果他们一心追随他，用他们的爱和坚定的意愿支持他的话。他会像伊卡鲁斯②一样乘着亚历山大军的翅膀扶摇直上。 [伊卡鲁斯陨落了。] 亚历山大把视线从地平线上收回，他身边站着一个人，高个子——高过赫菲斯提安，脸庞白如骨色，头发黑如暗夜。 “飞翔而后陨落，胜过匍匐终生。” [是啊，像是你会说的话。] “我认识你吗？” [算认识吧，只要你是梦想家。我乃梦神。] “墨菲斯。” [那样叫也可以。] “我冒犯过你吗？这是现在他们反对我的原因吗？”在多多那，在特尔斐，在锡瓦，亚历山大也许曾经与神或他们的代表对话，他自己也被呼为神，宙斯之子，阿蒙之子，赫拉克勒斯和阿基里斯的后裔，但诸神中他不怎么注意过墨菲斯，直到现在。 [冒犯？我？不，亚历山大，阻碍你梦想的不是我。] “哦。” [他们爱你，但他们已到极限。我们创造梦想，我们爱他们，但众人终究不同于梦想，亚历山大。他们只做自己想做的事，而我们只能有限地指示和制止他们。] 亚历山大点头。他理解这点，却尚未找到方法去接受和相信它。于是墨菲斯微笑，眼中的光彩亮如繁星。[你想的话也可以怪罪于我，我理解面子问题。] 然后他消失了，连同那些星光。亚历山大醒来后召见了祭司长阿瑞斯坦德，之后他明白一切都是不吉之兆。诸神否定了他的梦想，那么他将收手从命。6. Aponoia（绝望）无以言表的巨大哀伤如猛兽般从内里吞噬着他，威胁要用爪子撕开一条路破体而出。他想拼命叫喊到喉咙嘶哑，全力攻击从他手中夺走赫菲斯提安的敌人，但是这个敌人无法用矛和剑击退。他已经下令吊死了医者，但这并不能减轻他自己的内疚和悲伤，亦不能带赫菲斯提安回来。如果他当时在场，他本可以以全然的意志力逼退赫菲斯提安的死神，但他来得太迟了，太迟了。他们相处的时光如此短暂，他们在不重要的事情上浪费了那么多时间。他无法原谅自己。现在他知道阿基里斯看到他们用他的盾牌运回帕特洛克罗斯时感觉如何了，但他却没有赫克托耳可杀，没有可实现的复仇来减轻身负的悲痛。他无法呼吸，也不想再继续呼吸。他瞪着镜中的自己但是一无所见，除了空虚的日子在面前无尽地伸展，那是他离了赫菲斯提安的人生。他拿起匕首开始断发，因为阿基里斯为帕特洛克罗斯这么做了，而亚历山大依恋过往，依恋传奇。他无法面对孤单的未来。他终于集中精神时看见一个蹲姿的赤裸女人正盯着他，但是他不在乎了。也许她是死神，前来这里要把他带走，如同之前从他手中带走赫菲斯提安一样。那天他的确看到了一个黑发白肤的女人，比这位清秀些，但冥王当然会将最美丽的使者派给赫菲斯提安。 “我不是死神。”她的声音好像丝状的冷雾渗入他的骨骼，他感觉自己好像再也不会回暖，“除非算是希望的死神。” 他手握匕首对她刺去，意图杀之，但她好整以暇地躲开了，情况变成他跪倒在她脚下，毫不顾忌尊严地抽泣。 “你做了什么，妹妹？”说话的是一个不同的声音，狡猾而又曲折，如丝绸般滑过他的耳朵。 “我只在受召唤时降临。”第一个人说，她听起来被他的可怜样逗乐了，这让他浑身起鸡皮疙瘩。 “这个人是我的。” “这个人曾经是你的，也许将来还会是你的，如果你能把他赢回去的话。” 他们在为他争论，就好像他是个女人，而他们是两个为她争风吃醋的士兵。事到如今他仍然不怎么在乎。他听到一声轻蔑的嗤鼻，然后感觉到一只温暖的手覆上他的脸颊，即便是现在的情况下，仍感觉到欲望冲击着全身。他心中绞痛。 “来吧，亚历山大，不需要做这种庸俗的表演，”新来者说，他（她？）的声音听起来有些熟悉，亚历山大想他以前也许见过他（或她）。他勉强站起身面对他们，对他们一点也不好奇，也许悲痛终于把他逼疯了。“世界还在外面等着你去夺取，这是你一直以来的心愿。” 他们不知道——他也不会告诉他们——不与赫菲斯提安分享的世界，对他来说毫无意义。7. Teleute（死亡）他以前见过她——在竞技场上腓力断气的早晨，在他满怀杀意的战场上，他被马利安人的箭矢刺中胸膛那天她曾在他的身边徘徊——但是他没认出她来，直到那天在赫菲斯提安的卧室里，悲痛的他看到了她苍白的脸庞上微微勾起的红唇。现在，守护他的众人都看不见，她挥动着无形的翅膀落在他床边，向他提供永久的安宁。 “你的伤悲已经结束了，”她说，伸出一只洁白无瑕的手。 “还有很多事要做，我必须——” “放手吧，亚历山大，你能做的已经做完了。” “阿拉伯——” “你已经改变了世界。” “而且他们会铭记我，”他知道自己听起来像个任性的孩子，但是他不觉得自己在乎。 “是的，万古长青，整个世界会知晓你的名字和你的功绩。” 她可能只是在哄他，不过无论如何他都为她的话感到舒心。他所做的已比有史以来任何人做的都多，可是——“我没有足够的时间。” “你足足活了十辈子了，”她温柔而坚定地告诉他，“比大多数人都要多。” “我不是大多数人。” 她闻言微笑，他发现呼吸又成了容易的事，“对，你当然不是。不过是时候放手了。” 只有一件事他还心存希冀。 “我会见到赫菲斯提安吗？” “那要看你了，”她答道，“你想见他吗？” “毕生所愿。” “那么我想你会的。” 这就够了。他握住她的手，任由世界沦陷。 END 注： ①佩拉：马其顿首都。 ②伊卡鲁斯：使用蜡和羽毛做成的翅膀逃离克里特岛时飞得太接近太阳，高温将蜡融化，羽毛散落，他坠入海中丧生。
10960260	Unfinished Business	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "F/M", "Characters": "Scott Lancer, Original Female Character(s)", "Fandom": null, "Language": "English", "Rating": "General Audiences", "author": "by storywriter17", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-21T00:00:00", "words": "6,005", "Additional Tags": null, "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": "Eliot Series", "Collections": null, "Fandoms": "Lancer (TV), Original Work", "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	“Two, please.” Scott dug into his pocket and retrieved some coins as the gangly youth in the booth tore tickets from a reel.“That’ll be fifty cents, mister.” The youth slid the tickets through the opening in the glass, the dark blue sleeves of his jacket, at least an inch too short, riding up his arms. His eyes were focused on something on the far side of the entrance way. Scott glanced over his shoulder and smiled. An elegant young woman with a parasol was browsing the billboards. The ticket seller nodded towards her and smirked. “Nice.” Scott grinned back. “I agree.” He tapped the tickets on the counter and winked. “Wish me luck.” With the cream lace parasol resting on her shoulder, his companion turned and smiled as he approached. The red flowers on her muslin dress matched the cabochons hanging from her ears, and a scarlet ribbon held her hair clear of her face. Her skin was slightly tanned now from nearly two months in California. She looked…radiant. And what Scott wouldn’t give to run his fingers through that mass of chestnut curls tumbling down her back? He made a small bow and offered his arm. “Miss Eliot?”“Mr Lancer.” Katie slipped her arm through his, and Scott escorted her through the wrought iron gates, leaving the hustle and bustle of Mission Street behind. Scott had collected Katie precisely at eleven o’clock as arranged. He had rapped the black iron ring against Will and Anne McIntyre’s door, and it had been opened instantly by Katie’s cousin Olivia. As he crossed the threshold, he heard her younger sister Fanny shoo a servant girl back through the green baize door before she too came to greet him. “Mama’s just ordered morning tea.” Scott stood in the hallway, hat in hand, his path blocked in two directions by the McIntyre sisters. Olivia smiled. “Why don’t you have something to eat before you go?”“Oh yes, do stay.” Fanny stood near the parlour door, twisting a ringlet in her fingers. “You could tell us more about what you did at the ranch when Katie and Auntie Beth visited.”“Well, if Katie would like…”“No, I’m ready now.” With a bounce in her step, Katie descended the staircase and lifted her parasol out of the umbrella stand. She relieved her cousin Olivia of the purse she was holding, took Scott’s arm and propelled him towards the front door. “My aunt has invited you to supper so we can talk about the visit when we come back.”Pleased to escape the attention of her relatives, Scott offered his hand and helped Katie into the waiting carriage. Before they had time to get over the shyness of two weeks separation, the cab driver was opening the door to let them out again. Scott had escorted Katie into the shade of the arched entrance of Woodward Gardens, and she’d waited while he bought the tickets. He was looking forward to having her to himself for the rest of the day.He gazed around as they entered the grounds. For a week day there was a surprising number of people wandering about. “Is something wrong?”“Nothing that can’t be overcome.” Scott smiled and guided Katie towards the centre of the amusement park.His thoughts had been seesawing wildly ever since Katie had departed Morro Coyo; one day he was buoyant and hopeful, the next unsure and disheartened. But he had had two weeks to think about the unexpected manner of her farewell—and what it could mean—and he had decided he’d had enough of teetering back and forth. He knew what he wanted, and he knew what he was going to do. A gentle breeze caught Katie’s hair and strands danced in the sunlight as they strolled passed the massive tropical glass house and two-storey museum. “Impressive, but let’s stay outside for now. You’ve been here before. Which way shall we go?” The tree-lined avenue had brought them to a crossroads with narrower paths, a signpost pointed left to Aquatic Birds and straight ahead to Grazing Animals. If they went right they would reach an exhibition of Predatory Beasts.“You can choose, but first…” Taking Katie’s hand, Scott drew her sideways through a topiary arch into the comparative seclusion of a hedged garden. “I have some unfinished business.”“You do?” “I do.” Scott led her down the gravel path towards the middle of the garden. Finding refuge from the view of other visitors behind a boxwood elephant, he took Katie’s parasol from her and leaned it against the trunk. With a hand on each shoulder, he looked down into her curious but merry, brown eyes. “Before you left Morro Coyo, you kissed me.”“Oh.” Katie dropped her gaze. “Yes, I suppose I did.” Her cheeks went pink, but she sneaked a glance upwards. “It was rather indecorous of me. Did I offend you?”“Not at all.” Scott placed a forefinger beneath her chin and raised her eyes to his. “But you did leave me with unfinished business.” OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOThe sunny day had very little to do with the warmth Scott felt as they emerged laughing from the garden, Katie’s hand in his and her eyes shining. “Humph—disgraceful.” A crow-faced woman in black bombazine glared at them as she marched past with a tall rake of a man, several years her junior. He threw them an apologetic glance before leaning forward to attend to what the lady was saying. “Oh my, what did she think we were doing?” Katie reddened as the pair disappeared down the walkway towards the Predatory Beasts.“What we were doing, only more so, I should think.” Scott grinned and then thought better of it. “I’m sorry. I don’t want you to think I’m careless of your good name.”The corners of Katie’s mouth twitched. “I quite like being in San Francisco—so few people know my good name. I should be horribly concerned about my reputation right now.”“But you’re not?”She wrinkled her nose and considered for a moment. “Let’s just not give that lady another opportunity to remember our faces, in case she knows Uncle Will or Auntie Anne. I think we’ll go this way.” Skipping backwards, she pulled him towards the Aquatic Birds. Scott laughed. He swung her gently around and tucked a muslin-clad arm into his. They walked demurely on, every bit the respectable young couple out for a stroll.“Your kiss gave me hope. Are you happy here now you’ve had more time to get used to California?” Scott focused his gaze on the large pond ahead of them. Flamingos waded gracefully on the far side, and a small island to the right provided nesting for mallards, pelicans and other water fowl.“I’m enjoying San Francisco. I still have reservations about other places, but I’ve set them aside for the time being.” As they came to the railing, Katie retrieved a crust of bread from the small embroidered bag suspended from her chatelaine. She gave half of it to Scott and began breaking her share into tiny pieces, throwing them to a squabbling family of Paradise ducks. “I seem to be prone to hasty decisions when I’m with you. In Boston and when we first met in San Francisco, I left you with the wrong impression of my feelings.” Colour bloomed on her cheeks. She threw the last of her bread to a duckling, and brushed the crumbs off her hands. “My kiss was another hasty decision…but a more honest one.”A whoop of joy nearly escaped him, but Scott reined it in to what he hoped was a dignified smile. “I’m glad.”Katie looked out over the pond towards the island, the playfulness of minutes earlier replaced by seriousness. “When the verdict is important the trial should not be rushed.” It was as though she was repeating verbatim something she had heard from her lawyer uncle or grandfather. Then she turned and faced him. “The jury is still out about California, but I realise now I don’t actually need to worry about that at the moment.”“No?”“It was silly of me to be upset. It will take time to get to know each other properly, and I may never like you enough for it to matter. I might discover you have some dreadful habit like cutting your toenails in the dining room, and I’ll go off you in an instant.” The mischief had returned to her eyes. “But then again, perhaps I’ll never get the chance to find out. What should I understand from you kissing me? Is the ‘business’ between us now over?”“I rather hoped it was just beginning.”For a second or two Katie held Scott’s gaze. Then she slid her arm through his once again. “I’d like that.”Scott placed his hand over hers, and they walked on. He fixed his eyes firmly ahead and tried not to grin like a demented fool. The path meandered as it hugged a stream on one side and a grassy bank dotted with shrubbery and trees on the other. As they turned the bend, a family with young children approached them. The oldest boy was jogging along in front with a spinning hoop while a girl ran beside him. She was beginning to get ahead. The boy reached out and pulled her pigtail, causing her to stumble and cry. But his victory was short-lived: he pulled in his tongue and opened his mouth in horror when he lost control of the toy. The hoop careered towards Scott and Katie, and the boy raced after it.“Archie!” His father wrestled to free himself of other off-spring so he could give chase. Sidestepping, Scott steered Katie to safety, and just managed to catch the hoop and then the boy before they went headlong into the water. “Lemme go.” Archie wriggled to get free.“Thank you, sir, for saving me from falling in.” Scott held fast to the boy’s collar. Archie stopped squirming and scowled, but Scott narrowed his eyes and stared coldly back with a look he’d fine-tuned as a lieutenant. It seemed to work at least as well on Archie as it did on insubordinate privates. “You were saying?”Biting his lip and scuffing his shoes on the gravel path, the young soldier fell into line. “Thank you…sir. Can I have my hoop back, please?”“When you’ve apologised to the lady for giving her a fright.”Archie looked aghast at Katie as though he just realised she was there. He grabbed his cap from his head. “I’m sorry, Miss. It got away from me.”“I saw how it got away from you, but apology accepted. You might like to give your sister one as well.” Katie’s face was stern, but Scott saw her nose give a little twitch like a rabbit. She seemed to do that when she was amused.Releasing the boy’s collar, he handed over the hoop just as Archie’s parents reached them, scolding and thanking all at the same time. Scott could hardly follow what they were saying, or to whom, but he waved their apologies and gratitude away. “No harm done.” Retrieving Katie’s arm, he left the child to his fate, and went to explore his own. The excitement should have given him something to talk about, but he felt unusually tongue-tied. It was several minutes before he found the words he needed. “Katie, now we understand each other, may I court you openly?” She hugged his arm closer—and for one exquisite moment rested her head on his shoulder. “I think I could allow it, if you’re very good.”Her hair smelled of rosemary. His heart seemed to be pumping at a rate of knots, and again it was a while before he trusted himself to speak. “Maybe I should write to your father. I don’t want your parents thinking I had any devious motive for waiting until your mother went home to Boston before I said anything. It was just the way things worked out.”“I’m sure they wouldn’t think that, but it couldn’t hurt to write to Papa. He can be quite irrational when it comes to me and my sisters. He was absolutely awful to one of Julia’s beaux last year; a fellow called Edgar Armitage—do you know him?”“No. Is he one of the Armitages from New York?”“That’s right. I thought you might know him; he went to Harvard about the same time as you. He is connected with the Harraways, and visits Boston regularly on business. Julia met him at a music evening hosted by one of my aunts.” Katie stopped to buy some shelled peanuts from a vendor. She handed the bag to Scott, and tossed a few nuts towards a mixed group of monkeys that had appeared in front of them. “I’d have been sorry for Mr Armitage if he hadn’t been so arrogant. He was clearly only interested in Julia, because she was an Eliot. Why she couldn’t see it, I’ll never understand. Papa has no time for fortune hunters, wealthy or poor.”A spider monkey swung down from a nearby tree and pirouetted about on its hind legs, long arms above its head and chest puffed out. Scott laughed and threw more nuts in its direction. “I hope Dr Eliot won’t see me in that category.”“Mama would put him straight now if he did, but a little bit of old-fashioned courtesy might counteract any lingering doubts.”“Doubts?”“That you are trying to fulfil your grandfather’s aspirations.”“No offence, but I don’t think Grandfather’s aspirations extend to me courting the granddaughter of James McIntyre. I wondered why I didn’t know your mother was Jim’s aunt, but now I know your mother and his father are the children of the lawyer James McIntyre, it makes sense. Grandfather never had much time for ardent abolitionists or social reformers, and sadly, he never allowed morality to undermine or influence his business decisions. I never heard him openly speak against your grandfather, but I know he faced him across the court room too often for them to be friends.”“You don’t think the Eliot name would overcome the McIntyre-effect?”“I suspect he would prefer I kept company with one of your Eliot cousins. He tried to push me in the direction of Beatrice once, and I believe when I left Boston he was hatching a scheme to have me see more of Jane.”“Well, he’s too late on both counts now. Beatrice married last year and Jane’s engaged to Charles Winston.”“Ah, a much better catch than Scott Garrett Lancer. Her father will be pleased. When is the wedding?”“April—I’ll miss it thank goodness. Jane has been gushing ever since her engagement was formally announced last year. Everyone who is anyone will be at the wedding of course. It will be one of those nightmare extravaganzas that will make Jim and Alicia’s wedding look tight-fisted.”“Is that possible? Between Alfred Burke and your uncle, I think half of San Francisco was invited.”“I know you’ve no relatives in Boston of marriageable age, but didn’t any of your friends marry before you left? You’ve been robbed of an experience. I envy you.” Katie threw another handful of nuts onto the ground. “Do you truly not know how awful such weddings can be? I shall have to enlighten you.”“Please do.” Scott popped some peanuts into his own mouth.“Don’t laugh. It’s deadly serious for those of us in high society inflicted with a million relatives.” Katie twirled her parasol, and her nose gave another tiny twitch; Scott had an urge to kiss the tip, but resisted. It was perhaps a little too soon. And besides, where they stood was definitely too public for what he envisaged would naturally follow. “Now Jane has got her Brahmin hooked she feels it’s her duty to find husbands for her unwed cousins and sisters. By staying here in San Francisco, I avoid her matchmaking zeal, and I don’t have to wear the most frightful bridesmaid’s dress imaginable. Those still caught in her web will be paraded down the aisle before all the eligible bachelors in Boston like cows at a cattle sale, dressed in pink silk organza and French lace. I’d have looked like a gigantic blancmange.”“I’ve never seen a cow in a dress, but I’m quite partial to jellies.”“I shall forget I’m a lady and hit you in a moment. It’s no laughing matter. Apart from anything else, my absence is causing a family rift. Aunt Maud, Jane’s mother, declared that I owe my Eliot cousins more attention than my McIntyre ones. Well, you can imagine what Mama had to say about that.” A crack showed in the solemn face Katie was trying to maintain, and her eyes glinted with mirth. “Jane is furious with me. I’ve robbed her of the opportunity to help me off the shelf.”“Ah well, you can tell her you’ve found your own eligible bachelor to help you down. I’ll try not to disap….” Scott jumped as a monkey leaped onto his shoulder. “Hello little fella. I know what you are. Guiseppe, the organ grinder, used to bring a capuchin monkey to my birthday parties.”“And mine. I’d forgotten. This little chap isn’t quite so charming—no clown hat.” She cocked her head to one side, appraising the monkey on Scott’s shoulder. “Actually he looks rather like Edgar Armitage but with more intelligent eyes.” “Ouch.” Scott laughed. Katie’s eyes danced as she held out the last of the nuts to Edgar. He grabbed them and dashed away into the bushes. The other monkeys scampered to catch up with the nut vendor. Abandoned in favour of the next customers, Scott and Katie walked on to where the path forked. They could see the rotary boat in the distance. “Shall we?” Scott looked between the amusement ride and Katie, eyebrows raised.“Why not?”Soon he was handing her into the circular boat with its many billowing sails and canary yellow paintwork. They settled onto their seats, and Scott took up the oars. Katie trailed her hand in the water as the craft began to slowly turn like a floating merry-go-round. “How is Johnny?”“Much better. He can comfortably walk short distances now. He still needs help on the stairs, but he’s making good progress.”“Will Emily let him downstairs often or is he still largely confined to his room?”“To the house officially but not to his room.” “Officially?”“Ah well, what kind of brother would I be if I told tales?” Scott pulled on the oar and played his part in turning the floating wheel.“I see; Johnny is breaking the rules once again.”Anxiety balled up under Scott’s rib cage. What did she mean by that? He’d been trying to work out how Katie viewed his brother ever since their conversation at Cuddy’s Creek. “You disapprove of Johnny?”“What? Of course not. I like Johnny. Whatever gave you that idea? He’s kind and funny…and wise. I like him very much.”“But he was a gunfighter and that scares you.”“Well yes, I dislike that part of his past. To be honest, I find it hard to believe that the Johnny I know could ever have lived as a shootist, but even he says it’s true so I must believe it. I’m not scared of Johnny though. I’m a little scared for him. I suspect violence has a way of not letting go, even when you commit to a new life. If I cared for him the way Emily cares for him, I’m not sure I could cope. She has a strength that I don’t think I have.”“You don’t blame him, then, for me shooting Collier or getting into fights?”“You are your own man, Scott. Why should I blame your brother for the choices you make?”“I don’t know. I just got the idea that maybe you did. When you said Johnny had influenced me more than the other way round.”“As we discussed before, it’s the lifestyle of California that I’m struggling to come to terms with. I owe it to myself and my family, and you, not to go into anything blindly. Eventually I may need to sort out what is important from what is not, and decide if I can live with some aspects of your life that I’ll never be comfortable with. Johnny says Emily accepts him as he is, even though she hates the life he used to lead.”“You’ve talked to Johnny about this?” Scott stopped rowing.“Ah well, he got bored with me reading Emerson.” Scott pulled the oars out of the water, resting them in their locks. He turned away for a second, but he was too wound up to think straight. He met Katie’s eyes. “You read Emerson to Johnny?”“I had things on my mind.” She blushed and looked down at her hands, twisting her cameo ring. “Your brother is very intuitive—and not at all Bostonian in his manners. On the Sunday—the day after the fight in Spanish Wells—he just came out and asked what was wrong between us. He caught me off guard. Do you mind? He made me see what an idiot I was being, worrying myself sick over things that might never happen, and decisions I may never have an inclination to seriously consider. As he said, I’d best get to know you properly first, because you might bore the socks off me.”“He said that?”“Something to that effect.”“I’ll have to have a word with Johnny when I get back.” He could hardly be angry with him under the circumstances, but Johnny should have said something. They must have been talking about him when he’d popped into Johnny’s bedroom on the Sunday afternoon, when Katie was supposed to be reading the final chapters of Journey to the Centre of the Earth.“Don’t frown like that. After all, he did help.” Katie reached over and touched Scott’s knee. “Promise me, I won’t be the cause of brothers fighting.”Their little boat clunked against the pier, and the boatman held it steady with his pole. Scott nodded with a wry smile. He helped Katie out, gaining a glimpse of silk stocking as she stepped up onto the decking. “Are you hungry?” Taking direction from the boatman, they strolled towards the tearooms, passing grazing deer and gazelle on the way.“This truly is an amazing place. I’ve been to London zoo and the menagerie in New York, but they’re nothing like this. The animals are in cages there. Here they mostly wander free.”“I understand Robert Woodward, the owner, wants to educate as well as entertain. He believes the best way to do that is to have the animals live here as they would in the wild—where practical of course. The dangerous ones are caged or chained.”“I admire his vision. We will definitely have to bring my family here when they visit in September. Victoria will adore this place.”“The reptile house, in particular, no doubt. I’m told they have an extraordinarily large collection of snakes.” Scott winked, remembering the tale of the hognose and the cook.Katie laughed. “Really? Well, as I’m not as fond of snakes as my sister, I think we’ll leave that pleasure until she gets here.”“Will your family travel to San Francisco together?”“I think so, but it’s still uncertain who will come. My other uncles and their families will almost certainly not attend. But my parents and my brothers and sisters hope to be here; Jamie may be prevented by his studies.” Katie stooped to pick some long grass, and held it out to a young deer. It nibbled tentatively then skittered away. “I think Grandfather might brave the journey this time, even if Grandmother doesn’t. He has always wanted to visit California, and Olivia is a bit of a favourite.”Scott and Katie climbed the stone steps arm in arm, and Scott opened the glazed door into the tea rooms. A maid clad in grey and white gingham with a frilly white apron and cap bobbed a curtsey. She showed them to a table by the window, overlooking the gardens. They looked at the menu together, and then Scott ordered.“Jamie said in his last letter that he bumped into Julie Dennison at the Athenaeum. You didn’t mention she’d visited Lancer.” Katie poured coffee into blue and white china cups. “Milk and sugar?”“No, thank you. I’ve got used to drinking it as it comes.” Scott accepted his cup of coffee, glad of an excuse not to answer her first question immediately. The few seconds it took to decide on an egg and chive sandwich, gave him time to choose his words. “Julie came with my grandfather. She was part of his grand plan to tempt me back to Boston. But we’re just friends now.”“And yet she travelled so far. I suspect she thought there could still be more than friendship between you.”“She had her reasons. I was pleased to see her, but I can assure you by mutual agreement we’re no longer attached in any way.” Scott bit into his sandwich without tasting it. He supposed he and Julie had been engaged. It was only natural Katie would want to know their relationship had ended. Please God, let it not be a problem.“Miss Dennison’s loss is my gain then. You don’t mind me asking? Mama tells me I’m too direct sometimes, though from what I hear from Uncle Will, I pale in comparison to her in her youth.”“Murdoch says she was always a force to be reckoned with, and a loyal friend. I’ll never criticise you for being too much like your mother though. I owe her a lot.” Scott took another sandwich. Eating seemed to help smooth a path over rocky ground. Katie chose a cheese one, he noticed. “Since we’re being direct, I heard rumours about you and a certain gentleman in England before you returned to Boston.”Katie swallowed and looked almost gleeful. “Really, how fascinating; what did you hear?” That wasn’t quite the response Scott expected. “Only that you were walking out with a young lord and your family had expectations of an alliance.”“An alliance, indeed—how very Boston and very Eliot; I do love my father’s side of the family. I’ve never been quite certain how Papa and Aunt Dottie came to be part of them. Their information must have come from Aunt Dottie, but she would never have suggested romance.” Katie chose a cucumber sandwich and smiled at Scott as she chewed. When she finished, she assessed the selection of cakes, eventually transferring a butterfly cupcake onto her plate. “In the interest of full disclosure, there was a young man. His cousin was my dear friend, and he very kindly acted as our escort to a number of functions during the London season. I had a marvellous time. He was English gentry rather than a lord, but he had a title and was reasonably rich. He knew all the best playhouses and had such an interesting variety of friends. He would no doubt satisfy the Eliot criteria for a prospective husband exceedingly well, except for one major hurdle.” Katie popped a sponge butterfly wing half covered with whipped cream into her mouth.“Which was?” Scott reached over and stole the other wing. Katie narrowed her eyes at him; then smiled.“He wasn’t the least bit interested in me.”“I find that hard to believe. I suspect you left a broken heart behind you.”Katie’s eyes twinkled. “You may believe what you like, Scott Lancer, but I assure you, although I met several very agreeable young men during my time abroad, I was never seriously enamoured with any of them, least of all Bertie, though I shall always treasure him as a friend.”Scott had a feeling there was something he was missing, but at that moment the maid brought them more coffee, and the subject turned to which was better, arabica or robusta.From the tearooms they walked past the eagle aviary and camels. They avoided the cages containing large cats, wolves and bears. Katie didn’t wish to linger in that part of the gardens. “I’m sure they are magnificent animals, but I’m in no hurry to encounter anything more dangerous than a domestic cat again.”As neither of them was fond of stuffed animals, they neglected the taxidermy display in favour of the art gallery until it was feeding time at the seal pool. The animals dived and swam streamline through water to retrieve the fish thrown to them, and then with incredible agility jumped from the water onto the timber rafts chained to the bottom of the pool.“In my next life I’m coming back as a seal. Look at that one.” Scott pointed to a large bull dozing in the sun, surrounded by females. “You aspire to having a harem?”“No, perhaps not that, but I wouldn’t mind being fed every couple of hours with the delicacy of my choice and sleeping in as long as I liked.”“You had that kind of life in Boston. If I’m not mistaken, you got bored.”“So I did. Oh well, perhaps I’ll stick to rising at six o’clock and waiting until my stomach growls before I eat.”The day was drawing to a close. Scott hired a hack and escorted Katie back to her uncle’s house on Nob Hill in time for supper. Furtive glances, raised eyebrows and secret smiles from Katie’s cousins plagued him during the meal, but he and Katie had agreed not to announce they were courting until they had heard back from Katie’s parents. She was of age. She could do as she chose, but they both believed it was right and respectful to get permission first. “Will you excuse Scott and me from the game, Auntie Anne?” Katie sat down on the sofa again after delivering coffees to her uncle and cousin Billy. They were setting up the card table. Olivia and Fanny were too busy discussing dresses to assist their mother; the latest Peterson’s Magazine had arrived that afternoon. “I left the letter I wrote yesterday unsealed so I could include a description of Woodward Gardens, and now Scott says he’d like to add a note to my parents as well.”“Beth will be pleased to get the latest news of your family, Scott.” Anne McIntyre paused from her duties and smiled up at him. She was a sylph-like woman, petite with long bone china fingers and porcelain-white skin, despite over twenty years living in California. She had known his mother in Boston but only very slightly. “Katie, you’ve forgotten his milk and sugar.”“Scott, drinks his coffee black, Auntie. One of the corruptions of ranch life, I believe.” She glanced mischievously over at him, and he nodded in agreement. They escaped to the writing desk at the far end of the sitting room. Katie finished her letter quickly. She sang the praises of Woodward Gardens and her escort, and at the very end directed her father to a note from Scott of a private nature, also enclosed.“You exaggerate my powers as a disciplinarian.” Scott laughed as he read what she had written about the boy with the hoop.“Nonsense. You handled the little rascal very well, Lieutenant Lancer. I nearly stood to attention myself.” Katie got up from her seat at the desk and gave a very-passable salute. “Now it’s your turn.” With her standing by his side, Scott took a fresh sheet of white paper and wrote a courteous note to her father, explaining his intentions and asking permission to keep her company. There were no strong reasons he could think of for Robert or Beth Eliot to object to him. He dared hope Beth would be pleased that he and Katie wanted to be more than just friends. He was less confident about Dr Eliot however. The Eliot women were forthright, but the Boston grapevine acknowledged they were also dutiful. Scott had heard more than one story about Robert Eliot, and he didn’t know the man well enough to know how many of them were true. Katie’s brother Bob had always appeared on reasonable terms with his father, but that was no guarantee Dr Eliot would look favourably on Bob’s friend as a suitor for his daughter. If he’d given an Armitage—and others— short shrift, how would he feel about a Californian rancher?“I hope this will allay any concerns your father may have.” He folded the letter twice and sealed it with red wax. “You will let me know what he says as soon as you hear.”“Of course. As we’re not likely to see each other again until May though, it will make little difference.”“It will make a difference to me. And I won’t breathe a word to my family until I hear from you.” Scott rose and looked towards the McIntyres at the other end of the room. “I must say my good byes. I have ranch matters to deal with tomorrow morning before I catch the train. It will be an early start. I won’t be able to call again before I go.”Katie tucked his letter inside the envelope with hers and placed it in one of the pigeon holes to post in the morning. Then they joined her relatives. The laughter and taking of tricks subsided long enough for Scott to say his farewells. Will McIntyre stood up and shook Scott’s hand. “You’ll excuse me Scott if I leave Katie to show you out. We’re at a crucial point in the game, and I don’t trust this lot not to peek at my cards while I’m gone.”“Not at all. Thank you for a delicious meal and a very enjoyable evening. I’ll look forward to seeing you all next time I’m in town. Good night.”Scott collected his hat and jacket from the hallstand as Katie sent the maid away and opened the door herself. They stood on the front porch looking out into a soft darkness. Gas lamps surrounded by moths painted the tall wooden houses along the street with pale yellow light and mysterious shadows. Jasmine, sea salt and evening meals scented the air, and someone across the street was playing a piano; net curtains escaped an open window as delicate strains of Beethoven were caught by the breeze. Suddenly after all the intimacy of the day, Scott didn’t know how to say good night. Twisting the brim of his hat between his hands, he watched Katie finger the muslin on her skirt. It helped to know she was no more at ease than he was.“I had a wonderful day, Scott. Thank you.” He hung his hat on a post cap and placed his hands gently on her shoulders. One hand strayed upwards, his fingers lightly touching her neck. He looked down. “Katie, I think before I go I’ve some more unfinished business.” “No, I don’t think that’s quite right.” “You don’t?” Taken aback, Scott waited, more curious than worried. Katie took her time, but he was in no rush while her eyes kept smiling into his and the softness of The Moonlight sonata wrapped them snug in a world of their own. Eventually, she dropped her gaze and rested her hands gently side by side on his chest. She paused and studied her own long slim fingers, allowing time for their warmth to travel through him from top to toe. Scott stroked her hair, and his heart beat in time with the melody still filling the air. Katie raised her eyes again. Her lips were moist, and he could feel his body tremble. Lead us not into temptation…. And then the music stopped. And his heart seemed to stop too. She smiled.“I think…we’ve got unfinished business.”
10981281	Certain Dark Things	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "F/M", "Characters": "Uchiha Itachi, Haruno Sakura", "Fandom": "Naruto", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Explicit", "author": "by darth_healer", "chapters": "46/46", "completed": "2017-11-19", "published": "2017-05-23T00:00:00", "words": "202,014", "Additional Tags": "Romance", "Relationship": "Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Itachi", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": "my heart is here, The Best Naruto World Can Give, Top Shelf Fic", "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	“Shut the door please, Sakura,” Tsunade said with a clipped voice.Sakura did as she was told and stood at attention, awaiting Tsunade’s next order. She had just finished a particularly boring shift at the hospital and was just about to head home when an ANBU had popped his head into the nurse’s lounge and told her that the Hokage wanted to see her immediately.She knew what that meant - a mission.It had been almost a year since her last mission - Gaara’s rescue - and the nervous butterflies in her stomach left her feeling a bit sick. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to take a mission - she did. It was just that with the Akatsuki threat looming over the village, and the fact that Sasuke was still missing she didn’t feel comfortable taking a mission that would take her away from the village should anything happen. What if Sasuke’s whereabouts were confirmed and a rescue squad was sent out without her? What if she ran into an Akatsuki member? Sure, she had taken out Sasori, but that was only with the help of Chiyo-baa-sama. She wasn’t sure she could take on another one.“I have a mission for you,” Tsunade said, her hands steepled together in front of her, elbows perched on her desk. Her face was serious, but there was a mischievous glint in her eyes that Sakura decided she didn’t like. “It’s a solo mission. There is an epidemic in a small town near the border between River Country and Fire Country - Toyeiki.”Tsunade slid a white folder across her desk. “Here is all the information you’ll need—““You’re sending me away?” Sakura interrupted, “At a time like this?”Tsunade frowned. She wasn’t used to hearing that tone from her apprentice. Sakura hardly ever bit back - at least not at Tsunade. “Someone has to go,” Tsunade said, “You are the only person I trust to do this other than Shizune, and I can’t let her go for so long. I expect this will take at least a month.”“A month?” Sakura exclaimed. The butterflies had turned to full nausea now. She picked up the folder and flipped through the pages. The town was nearly right on the border, almost as south as it could be. It was certainly a long distance to have to travel in case an emergency came up. She flipped through several more pages and began reading about the disease. Dizziness, chills, blurred vision. It didn’t sound serious, Sakura noted with annoyance.“Yes, a month,” Tsunade said, “Maybe even longer.”“But what about Sasuke?”“What about him?” Tsunade demanded, “I’ve been as generous as I can be with that brat. I’m not wasting anymore of my resources on him. He’s made it clear he does not want to come back”Silence filled the room. Sakura kept her eyes low to the ground, avoiding looking at her mentor. Sakura’s feelings toward Sasuke were no secret. Whatever Tsunade’s opinion on the matter was, she was usually careful not to tread into that subject around her apprentice. It was a bit of a shock to hear her speak so frankly about him.“Sakura, this is an important mission,” Tsunade said when it was clear Sakura had no response, “An entire town is counting on you. You are the only person who can do this.”As proud as she was that the Hokage felt she was capable of handling an entire epidemic on her own, the guilt of leaving the village weighed down the high. Naruto would be upset left without both his teammates. She didn’t even want to think about having to explain to him that she would be gone for possibly over a month.“Do you even realize how big a deal this is?” Tsunade continued, “A disease is ravaging an entire town - eighty-one people have died so far, and hundreds more are infected. And you’re more concerned with sticking around here just in case the Uchiha brat shows up?”Sakura twisted her fingers together nervously, realizing that Tsunade was right. This was exactly the opportunity that she had been waiting for - a moment for her to shine and show off what she could really do.“You’re to leave first thing in the morning, Sakura,” Tsunade said, noticing the determination that dawned on her apprentice’s face. “When you get to the town, your contact’s name is Rokuda. She is the head medic there. She’ll fill you in on whatever information is missing from the file.”“Yes, Tsunade-sama,” Sakura said. She tucked the file under her arm and went straight home..Sakura had fourteen hours before she needed to leave. She debated whether or not she should say goodbye to her friends, or at least to Naruto. The more she thought about it, the more painful it felt. A month wasn’t really so long - they would all understand. Goodbyes would only make it harder to leave. She could just imagine Naruto’s whining - his insistence that she stay and help him track down Sasuke. No, she wouldn’t tell him goodbye. She wouldn’t be able to look into his eyes and not cave in. After all, if anyone wanted to get Sasuke back as much as Naruto did, it was her.Instead, Sakura spent her last hours in Konoha poring over the mission file. The quicker she was able to crack the case, the quicker she could come back home. She settled into her couch with a warm mug of tea and began scribbling notes into a medical journal - a brand new one she had started specifically for the mission.In spite of her unwillingness to go, Sakura was actually quite excited to have a medical mission for once. During her apprenticeship with Tsunade, she had developed an unrivaled skill for medical ninjutsu. Nothing made her feel as powerful, as smart, as accomplished as being one of the top medic-nin in the world. She didn’t seek attention or validation very much, but the admiration from her peers after having saved the Kazekage’s brother from a mysterious poison had left her with an immense satisfaction - one that had almost made her arrogant.Now, another perfect situation to display her skill had come up, and no one important would be able to witness it.Still, this notch in her belt would be a good thing, she decided. Missions like these would help her make her name known and advance her career. She could still remember the exact moment - in the Hokage tower - when she realized that medical ninjustu was her thing. The thing she could excel at. The Mystical Palm Technique - the one she had practiced on the fish - had been the first time she felt so exhilarated by using a jutsu. Her hands could heal. Her hands could save lives.Tsunade had been so proud of her, called her the best medic-nin she had ever seen (save for herself, of course).It was a high Sakura would have been chasing all this time had she not been so worried about Sasuke.Thinking about her dark-haired former teammate brought on a wave of sadness that she could feel all the way down to the tips of her toes. It was a burning, slicing feeling. She wondered what it must have felt like for him to lose his family in such a way - if just a friend leaving the village felt so awful, so consuming, what would it feel like if he had died? She couldn’t even fathom feeling worse. The betrayal, the fact that he had tried to kill her - it ate her up like a fire.She didn’t let herself think about Sasuke often - at least not in depth. Of course, she missed him everyday. She missed him all the time. He may not have felt the same way, but they had created a bond (as Naruto liked to call it) that couldn’t be severed. Sakura had long ago given up on the idea that Sasuke could ever be romantically interested in her. She would be hard-pressed to feel that way toward him after the way he had treated her. But Team Seven was different. Team Seven would be reunited again one day, she was sure of it.A knock at her door brought Sakura out of her thoughts, accompanied by a flare of familiar chakra.“Come in, Kakashi-sensei,” Sakura shouted, not bothering to get up from the couch.Kakashi entered and flashed a warm, eye-crinkling smile. “Good evening, Sakura,” he said, joining her on the couch, “I heard you have a solo mission. I figured you’d try to leave without saying goodbye.”She shot him an annoyed look, “So you came by to force me to?”He laughed, “Not at all, I’m just curious about your mission. Tsunade-sama indicated that you would be alone.”“Are you worried I can’t handle it?”“Well…” he scratched the back of his neck.She glared at him with a little more heat than was probably necessary. It wasn’t like he wasn’t well within his rights to worry about her. Time and time again she had had to be rescued by either him or Naruto. It was embarrassing, of course, but she wasn’t that girl anymore and she didn’t like that he worried so much about her.“It’s a medical mission,” she said, her tone dry, “No combat involved.”Kakashi’s shoulders dropped a little, obviously relieved to hear that she wouldn’t be fighting. “That’s good to know,” he said, “So what exactly is the mission?”“There’s an epidemic near the border of River Country,” she explained, “It’s infectious and deadly. Over eighty people have died already, and hundreds more are infected. I’m supposed to be finding a cure.”“That sounds like a lot of responsibility for one person,” he replied.She felt offended for a brief moment before realizing that he was probably right. She was a highly skilled medical ninja, but her strengths lied in battle inflicted wounds and poisons. Infectious diseases - or any kind of illness at all, really - were not something she was well-versed in.Still, she was confident that she would be able to figure it out. If there was anyone out there who could, it would be her.“I’ll have other medics helping me,” Sakura said.“Aren’t you worried you’ll catch the disease?”“It’s crossed my mind, but that’s something I’ll have to worry about when I get there. There isn’t much I can do about it now. I’ll just have to make sure that the facility I’m in is sterile and that all of my help complies with cleanliness guidelines. It hasn’t been a problem in the hospital in the past, but we’ll just have to see,” she explained.“It would be quite a shame if you caught the disease on arrival and died.”Her eyes narrowed, “Yes, it would be…”He stood up and brushed invisible dust from his pants, “I think I’ve annoyed you enough for one night,” he said with a smile, “I just wanted to check in on you before you left. I’m sure you can handle this, Sakura. Tsunade-sama would not have given this mission to you if she did not believe you could do it.”Sakura grunted in response and turned back to the notes in her lap, not bothering to walk him to the door. When she heard the door open and then shut, she let her head fall back against the couch..The first two days of the her trip to Toyeiki were as uneventful as Sakura expected and gave her plenty of time to stew over what Kakashi had said to her. She ran for nearly two days straight, unwilling to stop for too long, lest her thoughts creep back to Sasuke, or to the fact that she might not be able to cure this mysterious disease, or worse - she might catch it and die.On the third day of travel, she stopped at an inn for a much needed shower. She was looking forward to getting a good night’s sleep in an actual bed this time. The town could barely even be considered that, as it seemed to just consist of a general goods store, a post office, the inn, and what appeared to be five or six homes.Luckily for Sakura, the inn had a bar.She sat perched on her stool, sipping sake - a trait that she wish she had not inherited from her mentor. The inn was quiet - it seemed that Sakura was its only inhabitant at the moment.Until three women walked in the door. Two of them were holding the third one under her arms, supporting her whole weight as they dragged her into the inn. They spoke in hushed tones that Sakura couldn’t quite make out. One woman approached the counter and gave Sakura a passing glance - no doubt startled by her pink hair.“We need a room for one night,” said the woman to the innkeeper, “Just one bed.”The innkeeper, a friendly old man who had been nothing but kind to Sakura, grimaced. “Not for her. Take your business elsewhere.”“There is no elsewhere!”“Look,” the innkeeper began, “I can’t have people bringing their sick here. It’s bad for business-” Sakura resisted the urge to snort, as the inn was empty save for her “-and I can’t risk my family getting sick either.”The woman huffed and began to argue. Sakura’s eyes drifted over to the sickly woman who had been ushered into a booth in the far corner of the bar. Her skin was unnaturally pale and a sheen of sweat highlighted her brow. Her eyes were unfocused, almost milky, and a pained moan slipped from her lips.Sakura left her drink and approached the booth. “Do you mind if I take a look at her?” she asked the woman who was still trying to support the weight of the sick woman’s limp body.The woman hesitated and glanced toward the third woman who was still heatedly arguing with the innkeeper.“I’m a medic - it’s okay,” Sakura said, her tone as comforting as she could make it. “I just want to help.”The woman nodded wordlessly and shifted so that Sakura could easily access the sick woman without having to enter the booth. Sakura knelt down in front of her and let her hands - lit with green, healing chakra - flow into the woman’s system.This had to be a case of the mysterious disease, Sakura decided immediately. The poor woman’s cells were ravaged by infection, affecting her whole body. In response to the infection, the woman’s body had broken out in a fever - and probably other symptoms that Sakura could not yet see.“Is she lucid?” Sakura asked.“No,” the other woman said, “She hasn’t been lucid for almost a week. We’ve taken her to several different healers, but none of them were able to figure out what’s wrong. Please, you have to help her.”Sakura held up a finger to the woman to indicate she would be right back. She jogged up to her room and retrieved her medical kit. “I’m going to have to take some blood samples,” Sakura explained when she returned. “I’m not familiar with this infection and I need to know more about it before I can begin to help.”The woman nodded. Across the room, the innkeeper and other woman had stopped arguing.“Hey, pinky, if you get sick you’ll have to leave too,” the innkeeper called out to her, “You’d better get away from that woman.”Sakura ignored the man and turned back to the woman in the booth. “What were her symptoms prior to this?”“She complained about being dizzy a lot,” the woman replied, “and she had chills, she was constantly shivering.”Sakura extracted a syringe and some empty cartridges from her kit and began to draw blood from the woman. Things were already not looking good. The woman’s cells were badly damaged and not regenerating enough. Her body was fighting off the infection and in the process, killing her. She hated to admit it - the healer in her fought against it - but she knew that this woman was beyond help. Sakura could fight off the infection with the Mystical Palm, but in the end, the lack of white blood cells would weaken her immune system drastically. She would be immensely susceptible to future diseases, if she were to make it out of this one alive.“Her body is trying to fight the infection,” Sakura said to the now two women in the booth. The argumentative one had joined her friends in the booth, giving Sakura a suspicious glance. “But the infection - I believe it’s bacterial - is too aggressive and her white blood cell count is low.”Silence fell over them. The women both looked at her, eyes wide with high expectations, with hope. Sakura wanted to look away from them, to cast her eyes down to the floor, but they would know what that meant.“How long has she been sick?”“Nearly a month,” one of the women replied.Sakura tried not to grimace at the information. It was an unpleasant thought, but Sakura felt good about now knowing how long a person could have the infection and remain alive. She also was pleased to have a blood sample to study. Even though it was too late to save the woman in front of her, Sakura had learned valuable information from her.“You need to find somewhere for her to rest,” Sakura said, “I will put her to sleep to ease the pain, but there isn’t much else I can do for her.”One of the women choked back a sob and leaned forward into the table, clutching her arms tightly around herself.“She’s our sister,” the other one - the arguer, said. “Please, isn’t there anything you can do?”“I will work on trying to find a cure tonight,” Sakura said, though she knew the woman wouldn’t make it through the night, “There is nothing else I can do right now. I’m sorry.”Sakura left the booth and headed back to her room, clutching the blood sample tightly in her palm..Four days later, Sakura approached the perimeter of Toyeiki. For four nights, she had used chakra to analyze the blood sample and see what she could work out. She thought with a hint of bitterness that it would have been much easier to do from the hospital back in Konoha where she had the proper equipment for such tasks, but her chakra would have to be enough.It had been a much slower process than she wanted. It took her the entire four nights to come to the basic conclusion that the infection was indeed bacterial, and that it was highly contagious. For the remainder of her journey, Sakura wracked her brain for a way to stave off the infection, to prevent herself from catching it.She supposed that because she was familiar enough with her own body, she could use chakra to supplement her immune system and keep her own white blood cell count high. At the first signs of the bacteria in her body, she would be able to isolate it and burn it away with her chakra.This method, she theorized, would only really work on herself. It wasn’t a cure or a vaccine by any means, but it could potentially keep her healthy long enough for her to find a way completely eradicate the bacteria.Still, she would have to make sure that everything was sterilized properly and that she avoided contamination as much as possible.The town was indeed quite small, and it was obvious that the disease had taken quite a toll on the place. As Sakura ventured through the deserted streets she noticed that all of the shops were closed and the windows of every home she passed were boarded shut.She wrinkled her nose as the smell of sickness and death filled the stagnant air around her. Against her instincts, Sakura followed the smell to what she presumed used to be an inn.She realized upon entry that the civilians had used the inn as a sort of makeshift hospital. There were cots lined up against the walls, with hardly an inch between each one, all filled with bodies. Some of them were moving, groaning in pain, clutching at their stomachs. Others were completely still.Sakura took a moment to take in the chaos. There didn’t seem to be anyone in charge. A few young girls that she supposed were rudimentary healers were bustling around looking frightened and worried.“We don’t have any more room,” said a frazzled voice behind her, “We’re over capacity as it is. If you are sick, you will just have to find somewhere else to go.”Sakura spun around to face the woman who spoke - a dark haired, short woman who appeared to be middle aged. She was covered in all manner of fluids that Sakura prayed were not from the many sick bodies that filled the room. Her eyes were tired in a way that Sakura could see extended well beyond physical exhaustion.“I’m not sick,” Sakura replied, “My name is Sakura Haruno. I was sent here by the Hokage to help you.”Relief flooded the poor woman’s face and Sakura thought for a moment that she would reach out and hug her. Thankfully, she did not, curtailing the need for Sakura to step away from her.“Oh, Sakura!” she exclaimed, “I’m Rokuda. Tsunade-sama sent me a message saying that you would be here soon. I didn’t expect you to arrive so early.”“Right,” Sakura said, remembering the first two days she travelled without sleeping, “I came as fast as I could. Let’s get started, shall we?”Rokuda nodded and led Sakura through a door near the back of the room. The inn was not set up to contain nearly as many people as it currently contained, and Sakura had to weave her way around people curled up on the floor or braced against the walls. She held her breath as Rokuda took her down a long hallway that contained five doors on each side.“Each room has two beds in it,” Rokuda explained as she walked, “We’ve got ten cots set up in each one, so there are twelve people in each room.”At the end of the hallway they reached a stairwell. Rokuda led her up the stairs to another identical hallway. “This is the only other floor,” she explained, “Same number of rooms, same amount of people in each.”When they reached the end of the hallway, Rokuda held the door open for Sakura, who stepped inside with a bow.“This is the area we have designated for you and the nurses,” she said.Sakura glanced around the room. It was almost the same size as the lobby below them. The wall to her right was comprised entirely of built-in bookshelves filled with tomes and journals. Sakura wondered where those had come from if this building had previously been an inn. In front of her was a large window that took up a large portion of the wall and overlooked the street below. She would be able to see who came in and out. A massive wooden desk was in the far right corner, covered with what looked like surgical tools and bottles of medicines. A tall cabinet sat next to the desk, its doors opened to reveal rows and rows of syringes and colored vials.In the corner to her left was a single cot, pristinely made, and next to it a door that Sakura assumed led into a washroom.“We are short on rooms, obviously, but seeing as you are crucial to us now, we wanted to make sure you had a place to sleep away from the sick,” Rokuda explained. “The nurses will still have to come and go from this room, as it is the center of operations, but they will not enter if you close the door. That is the rule.”Sakura turned back to the woman and gave her a tense smile. “Thank you, Rokuda-san,” she said, “I’m going to get to work immediately, if you don’t mind.”“Of course,” she woman responded. She bowed low and left Sakura alone in her room.Sakura set to work, unpacking her belongings and unfurling all the notes she had taken so far onto the desk. For a moment, she stared blankly at the scribbles in front of her. She had known going into to this mission what would be required of her, but now that she was here in a building full of sick people, she had no idea what to do. What was her first step?The moans in the hallway distracted her as she tried to come up with a feasible plan. She closed her eyes and listened to the sound, horrified and enraptured all at once. She was used to being around the sick - she worked in a hospital! But the awful symphony of the cries of nearly four hundred people left her chest feeling tight and empty all at once.With a minutely renewed vigor, Sakura headed out into the hallway and ducked into the closest room. She immediately wished she had chosen another room as this one was filled with twelve children. They were mostly silent save for an occasional quiet groan or rustle of movement.Sakura stifled a choke of sadness that lumped in her throat as she placed her hand on the forehead of the nearest child - a girl, probably no more than ten. Her eyes were closed, but the slow rise and fall of her chest indicated that she was still alive - if only hanging on by a thread. Sakura let her chakra reach into the girl’s body and noted with dismay that she was in the same condition as the woman from four days ago.For an hour, Sakura went from bed to bed on the second floor of the inn, doing what little she could to ease their pain. Sakura hoped that the second floor had been reserved for those who had been sick for much longer, because if everyone in the inn was in the same condition as the first hundred or so bodies she inspected, the odds didn’t look good that any of them would survive.“Rokuda-san,” Sakura called, walking back into the lobby. “I need to know more about the initial onset of the infection. Are there any people here that have been infected recently? Within the last week?”Rokuda shook her head emphatically, “No,” she said, “We’ve been turning away any newcomers for lack of space. Most of them seem to have been sick for a while now anyway. No one wants to come here except as a last resort.”Sakura took in a deep breath and resisted the urge to release it in an annoyed sigh.“What about the nurses?” Sakura asked, “Have any of them taken ill?”“There are only two, not including me,” she replied, “And the three of us have miraculously remained in good health.”This new piece of information struck a chord in Sakura. She tilted her head in confusion. From her understanding of the first woman’s blood sample, the infection was highly contagious. The nurses should not have been immune to it, especially after having been exposed to it for so long.“Alright,” Sakura said, “I need some time to think. I will be back in the office if you need me, but if someone comes in who has been infected within the last week, please let me know.”No one else came that night, which was probably for the best. After a few more hours of research, Sakura crawled into her cot and mashed her pillow into her ear, trying fruitlessly to drown out the garbled cries coming from the rooms around her. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Itachi stole a furtive glance at the shark-nin beside him. They had been traveling for nearly a week now at an almost inhuman pace. They had skirted the border between Wind and River, south, away from Rain. It wasn’t a particularly treacherous terrain, but Itachi knew that he could not keep up this level of speed for much longer. They were still at least a day away from their destination.Kisame showed no signs of needing, or wanting, to slow down. Other than a few beads of sweat gathered around his blue tinged temples, he looked as casual as if he were taking a stroll through a market.Sensing that he was being watched, Kisame turned his head and met Itachi’s gaze with an eyebrow raised, “Something wrong?” he asked. There was a hint of something in his tone that Itachi couldn’t quite place.Itachi slowed to a stop, Kisame following suit. They couldn’t stop here, Itachi knew. They were in grasslands, no cover anywhere around them. It wouldn’t be wise to camp out in the open, and they were too easily recognizable with their Akatsuki cloaks on. Nervously, Itachi fingered the orange pill bottle in his pocket. He needed to take his medicine soon.“Your stamina isn’t what it used to be, Itachi-san,” Kisame said, a good-natured humor lacing his voice.Itachi raked his hair away from his face and used his arm to wipe the sheen of sweat from his brow. If only Kisame knew the reason for that, Itachi thought grimly, maybe he would stop bringing it up. “There’s a stream a mile east of here,” Itachi said, ignoring the jibe.With nothing more needing to be said, both missing-nin leapt off toward the stream. When they arrived, Itachi wandered off downstream alone, under the pretense of relieving himself. He filled his canteen in the stream and pulled his pill bottle out of his pocket and popped one into his mouth. The effect wouldn’t be immediate. He could still feel the burning in his throat and the deep ache in his lungs. His breaths were still going to be shallow for about half an hour before the medicine took effect.Feeling better knowing that he would soon regain some of his strength, Itachi returned to his partner and they took off south once again.He wasn’t particularly thrilled about their current mission, and he was in no hurry to get there, but he could see that his partner was itching for a fight. Their hunt for the jinchuriki had been put on hiatus for a while after the capture of the one-tailed beast, but other missions had still been given to the two-partner teams to occupy their time. It seemed that funds were low for the terrorist organization and the teams had been reduced to hunting bounties.The man they were currently searching for hadn’t been in the bingo book. He was no shinobi. Itachi thought with some trepidation that Kisame would not have a particularly thrilling fight ahead of him and might resort to other, more torturous ways of entertaining himself when they finally caught the man.He was a merchant, nothing special about him except for the fact that he had crossed the wrong person. Maybe it was a gambling debt he owed, or a deal gone bad, but whatever it was, Itachi thought that it probably wasn’t worth the man’s death. Still, it had to be done - there was no way around it.Itachi hoped it would go smoothly so that they could go back to Rain where he could keep a closer eye on Konoha and his brother. He tried not to think of Sasuke and the dangerous path he had inadvertently sent him down. Somewhere in Sound, Sasuke was cavorting with Orochimaru - the one man (scratch that, one of the few men) that Itachi had wanted to protect Sasuke from. He had heard rumors that Sasuke had killed the snake summoner – which wasn’t surprising. But where was he now?Looking back, it was hard not to blame himself for pushing Sasuke straight into Orochimaru’s waiting arms. At this point, he could only assume that when the time came that Orochimaru would attempt to take Sasuke’s body (if it hadn’t happened already) that he would be strong enough to defend himself.A painful tightness in his chest that had nothing to do with his illness slowed his gait a little.“Do you need to stop?” Kisame called over his shoulder. He was grinning, showing rows and rows of white, pointed teeth.Itachi ignored him again and matched his pace with Kisame’s. At this rate of travel, they would reach their destination by nightfall. He only had to make it until then..When they arrived at their target’s home (which was really more like a shack), Itachi was surprised to see two children playing outside. A boy, and a girl a few years younger were chasing each other in the grass - though Itachi noted that they didn’t seem to be enjoying it. Neither child smiled - they simply took turns catching each other, somber expressions belying what they were actually doing.When the children noticed the two strangers, one of which was blue and had gills and sharp teeth, they shrieked loudly and ran into the shack.Itachi and Kisame exchanged glances, not sure of what to make if this situation. Itachi had never seen Kisame interact with children before, and wasn’t sure if their presence would in some way affect how he chose to proceed.Kisame merely shrugged and followed the children inside, Itachi in tow behind him.The smell was the first thing Itachi noticed - a wretched stink of death that permeated the air before they had even reached the door. Everything inside was encased in a film of dust and mold. The windows had been boarded shut and very little light made its way into the dark rooms.They stepped over toys and overturned furniture, following the smell into a small bedroom. In the bed was their target, obviously sick. He was pale and soaked in sweat, unmoving and barely breathing. The children were huddled beside him, their heads peaking over the edge of the bed. Itachi saw the boy reach for the girl’s hand and hold it tightly against his chest. A pang of guilt caught in his throat.“Is this your father?” Itachi asked.The boy swallowed hard and nodded.“Where is your mother?”“She’s dead,” the boy replied. There was a fear in his eyes, but also an acceptance - as if he knew that this moment was fated and out of his control. “She was sick, like father.”Itachi looked at Kisame, who was pouting. “He’s not even conscious,” he whined, “That’s no fun.”“Kisame,” Itachi said, a hint of warning in his tone. He didn’t like the idea of killing the man in front of his children. He knew it had to be done, of course, but it seemed a little cold - even if his death was inevitable anyway.“Getting soft on me, Itachi-san?” Kisame asked as he cocked his head, “Well, maybe you should take the kids here outside and show them on of your cool Sharingan tricks, then?”Itachi tossed the man an annoyed look, but said nothing as he heaved the girl up onto his hip and gripped the boy’s hand. To his surprise, they didn’t struggle against him or even question where he was taking them. The girl gripped his cloak tightly in her fists and buried her face into his shoulder.“You came to kill father, didn’t you?” the boy asked once they were outside again. Itachi set the girl down next to her brother and straightened her dress.He said nothing to that - really, what was there to be said? They knew the truth already. They must have known about the bounty. Itachi imagined they weren’t the first to try to collect it.“What’s going to happen to us now, Yamato?” the girl asked, her voice high, adorable, Itachi fleetingly thought. He looked over at the boy - he couldn’t have been more than ten years old. He had a mop of dark curls against his brow and a harsh look in his eyes that Itachi found somewhat familiar.“Your name is Yamato?” Itachi asked, kneeling in front of him. The boy nodded, but took a step back away from him. He pushed his sister toward his back, hovering in front of her, protecting her.Neither of the children spoke in response, and Itachi felt uncomfortable. They looked at him with large eyes, waiting for whatever would happen next, whatever answers Itachi could give them. He didn’t have any answers, of course, but he would have to think of something, wouldn’t he? He couldn’t just leave them here alone.“What is your name?” Itachi finally asked the girl, after the silence had grown thick and tense.“Don’t name them, Itachi-san,” Kisame called, emerging from the house with a burlap sack slung over his shoulder, dripping with blood, “You’ll get attached.”Itachi grabbed the girl by the shoulders and turned her toward him, away from the shark-nin who carried her father’s severed head in a sack. She flinched and shrank back into her brother, her hands seeking the young boy’s.“It’s alright,” Itachi said, “I am not going to hurt you.”The girl relaxed a little, but still held onto her brother who was steadily backing away from Itachi, “Her name is Sachi,” he answered for her. Maybe he had realized that he did want Itachi to get attached. Itachi could already feel a strange magnetism toward the boy, a familiarity that he hadn’t felt since he was thirteen.“Let’s get out of here,” Kisame said, coming to stand behind the children. Neither of them turned to look back at the shark-nin, but they inched forward, closer to Itachi - who might have still been quite scary, but at least he didn’t have pointed teeth.“We can’t just leave them here.”“Sure we can.”“Kisame.”“Itachi.”They stared at one another over the heads of the children between them. Itachi had the sudden urge to activate his Sharingan, but he repressed it, knowing it was a bad idea.He ran his mind through all the possible options. They could take the children with them and leave them in the nearest town with an orphanage. But that would delay their return to Rain by several days as there were no towns close by, and certainly not any that had an orphanage. It would also slow them down to travel with children so young. They could leave the children here and send a message to someone that the children needed to be retrieved, but who could they send such a message to?“We could kill them.” Kisame offered, as if he could sense that Itachi was running out of options himself, “Ya know, put them out of their misery?”“They aren’t in misery,” Itachi answered with a tone that meant that killing them was not an option.“Well what do you want to do then?” Kisame asked with exasperation, “We can leave them here or take them with us. Those are the only other options.”Itachi was silent for a moment, continuing to mull over his dwindling options.“You go back to the bounty office and collect the bounty,” Itachi said after a few beats of silence, “I will find someplace to take the children. We can meet back in Rain.”Kisame gave him a pointed look, “You wouldn’t think that a man who killed his entire clan would be so broken up about a couple of civilian orphans.”Itachi knelt down to the children again, ignoring the comment, “I will take you somewhere safe, but I need your help. Do you know of any family you have anywhere? Or anyone that your father was close to?”The children shook their heads in tandem, but looked noticeably less frightened. Sensing that their odds were better with the man who didn’t have pointed teeth and hadn’t threatened to kill them, they drew closer to Itachi. Sachi tugged on his sleeve and held out her arms, indicating that she wanted to be picked up. Yamato yanked her back away from him before he could refuse her.“Sachi, no,” he said with a wagging of his finger. If Itachi had been in a different mood, he might have wanted to smile at the gesture, having remembered doing it so often to Sasuke when they were younger.“Fine,” Kisame said, “I don’t want to waste any more time here. I’ll meet you back in Rain.”The trio watched Kisame bound away through the grass, north, back toward the border. When the children were satisfied with the shark-nin’s distance, they turned their expectant gazes back to Itachi.The nearest town, if Itachi’s memory served him, was about ten miles southeast of their location. He hoped that someone there would be able to help him, or at least have some advice on where to take the children. He set off in that direction, pulling the collar of his cloak up higher around his chin.After a few paces he turned back to the children, who hurried after him.“Where are we going?” Yamato asked.“There is a town close by,” Itachi answered, keeping his eyes trained forward. It was easy to forget that he was in enemy territory whenever he stepped outside of Rain. He needed to keep his guard up even more now that he was responsible for the livelihood of two children. “We should arrive by nightfall.”Itachi and the children traveled in silence for several hours. He kept his pace slow so that they could keep up, but the itch to run was killing him. The irony was not lost on him - how he struggled to keep up with Kisame, and now here he was with two children lagging behind.“Sachi,” Itachi heard Yamato say. His voice was much farther away than Itachi had thought. He turned back to see them several yards away. “Here, climb on my back.”The girl jumped onto her brother’s back, who caught her with a wince and gripped her legs tightly. Itachi felt a sting of nostalgia, remembering the way Shisui had carried him on his back, the way he had carried Sasuke on his.“It’s alright if you need to stop,” Itachi said, backtracking toward the siblings.“No, it’s fine,” Yamato said, “I can keep going. Sachi isn’t used to walking this far, though.”“And you are?” Itachi asked with a raised eyebrow.The boy scowled and shifted his sister higher up onto his back. He walked past Itachi, ignoring the man’s question. Itachi was feeling merciful and decided not to press the issue. It wasn’t his job to pry.“Hey, what should we call you?” Yamato asked after a few beats of silence.“My name is Itachi,” he answered. He considered for a moment that he should have used an alias - that it was unwise to have shared his real name like that, but the name had slipped out and the damage was done.“Itachi-san,” Sachi said with a giggle.The giggle made him nervous.The unlikely trio continued through River Country, hiking through the tall grass until they reached a wide river. Itachi suddenly felt very foolish for not having considered the fact that they would not be able to use chakra to cross it like he could. He wasn’t aware of a bridge nearby, which meant he would have to carry them.“Come here,” Itachi commanded, “I’m going to have to carry you across the river.”Sachi immediately leapt down from her brother’s back and bounced straight into Itachi’s outstretched arms. He shifted her against his hip and wondered if her blind trust in him was a trait he should be worried about or grateful for. Her brother, on the other hand, was shaking his head.“I don’t need you to carry me.”“Then how will you cross the river?”“I’ll swim.”“The river is at least four miles wide,” Itachi countered, “Can you swim for four miles against the current?”Yamato huffed in irritation and stalked over to the riverbank, his arms crossed indignantly.“You’ll be wet for the rest of the day,” Itachi said just as the boy had begun to wade into the water. This stopped him in his tracks. He froze, Itachi assumed weighing the pros and cons of sacrificing his pride or traveling for several more hours in the chilly air with wet clothes.Itachi gave the boy about a minute to make the choice, and when he showed no signs of making a decision, Itachi swooped him up with his free arm and sped off across the river.“Hey!” Yamato shouted, struggling for a moment before realizing that he did not want to be dropped into the rushing river. Itachi allowed him to climb onto his back while he shifted Sachi into his arms, cradled like a baby. He heard Yamato mutter something bitterly under his breath. In the opposite vein, he fought back a grin when he saw the contented smile on his sister’s face as she snuggled closer to his chest. It had been a long time since he had held someone like this.He couldn’t even imagine another person who would feel comfortable being this close to him. The only person in the world he cared about currently hated him enough that his life goal was to kill him. That was admittedly Itachi’s own doing, but still, it hurt to think about. Everyone else… well, he was a missing-nin after all. A terrified orphan girl was the best he was going to get.Itachi shook those thoughts from his head and quickened his pace. The sooner he reached town, the better..Several hours later, Itachi had removed his cloak and turned it inside out so that the red clouds were hidden. He couldn’t risk anyone recognizing him as an Akatsuki member while he was with the children. If anyone recognized him as Itachi - well, that couldn’t be helped.Sachi was clinging to Itachi’s back, her arms around his neck. She had gotten used to being carried, it seemed, and did not want to be put down like Yamato did. Itachi had continued to carry him long after they had crossed the river, but when the town came into view, he insisted that Itachi let him walk.Itachi complied, grateful that the boy had let him carry him that far. It would have taken several more hours to reach town had he been forced to slow his pace down to match the young boy’s.They entered the town’s inn together, looking every bit like a travel-worn family. Itachi approached the counter apprehensively.“Do you need lodging for the night?” the innkeeper, an elderly woman with missing teeth and an ivory comb in her hair asked.“I was hoping you might be able to help me,” Itachi said, holding Sachi against his chest. The girl peered curiously at the old woman and then buried her face back into Itachi’s shoulder. The woman grinned and then turned back to Itachi.“What can I do for you?”“These children,” Itachi began, gesturing toward the boy who had been reaching into a bowl of sweets left on the counter. Itachi swatted his hand away, “They’re orphans. Is there an orphanage nearby that I could take them to?”“Oh, dear,” said the woman, a genuine sadness in her voice. She tutted and cooed at Sachi, who did her best to ignore the woman until she offered her a lollipop from the bowl on the counter. Sachi snatched it quickly and lodged it in her cheek before turning back away from the woman.“If she gets one, I want one!” Yamato exclaimed. Itachi wondered if he had ever sounded that petulant as a child.“Of course, my boy,” the woman said, handing another lollipop to Yamato. He shot Itachi a triumphant look and popped it into his mouth.Itachi cleared his throat.“Right, the orphanage,” she said, “Well, there isn’t one in this town, but there is a town near the border, Toyeiki. There is an orphanage there, I believe. Well, there used to be, anyway. I’m not sure anymore.”“What do you mean?”“Well, there’s been some kind of epidemic happening over there,” the woman explained, “People sick, bedridden with some kind of disease. There’s no cure for it, as far as I know.”Itachi thought back to the mission target, the children’s father sick and on the verge of death. Toyeiki was his best shot for now, epidemic or not. He had heard of the town before. It was farther down south, farther away from Rain. It would set him back by nearly a week.“Are you sure that’s the closest orphanage?”“I’m sure,” she replied.It wasn’t the best news, but it was the best he had to work with. He would take the children to Toyeiki and drop them off. He would have to be careful not to be seen as it was dangerously close to Fire Country. If everything went smoothly, he could be back at Rain in two weeks. He would send a message to Kisame at the bounty office by crow. Hopefully it would get there before he did. Kisame could cover for him until his return.“Alright,” Itachi said, his tone flat, “I’d like to rent one room, two beds.”.“Itachi-san, Yamato keeps pulling my hair!”“Well, you keep kicking me!”“You’re taking up my side of the bed!”“You’re hogging the covers!”Itachi stared blankly at the ceiling. By his estimations, it was nearing two in the morning and he had not had a minute of sleep. He tried to think back to what he would have done if Sasuke had been causing trouble, but he couldn’t remember a time when he and Sasuke bickered the way these siblings were. What would his mother have done?“That’s enough from both of you,” Itachi said. “Go to sleep.”A rustling accompanied by a few grunts told Itachi that they were at least trying to obey him. He let his eyes fall shut and waited. After several more seconds of the bed creaking under them, it seemed that they had finally fallen asleep. Or were at least pretending to be asleep.He stayed awake through the rest of the night, unable to sleep even in the silence. He couldn’t explain the nervousness he felt - the way it brewed restlessly in the pit of his stomach. He wasn’t prone to nerves - certainly not without reason. It left him on edge, feeling that something wasn’t quite right.He felt some trepidation at the fact that he would be returning to Rain much later than he was expected, but that wasn’t the reason for his nerves. No, this feeling was entirely unrelated. His thoughts drifted to the two sleeping children in the bed next to his for a moment, and he considered that maybe they were the cause of these unwanted nerves.But no, that wasn’t it either. He was concerned for their well-being, of course, but the sinking feeling was different. Almost like a premonition - Itachi could feel that something big was about to happen.The dipping of his mattress brought him out of his reverie as Sachi climbed into his bed with a whimper. She crawled underneath his blanket and curled her tiny form around his leg.“Itachi-san,” she whispered.He grunted in response.“I think I wet the bed.”.The next morning, the trio was back on the road. Itachi had been no stranger to caring for children. He had taken care of Sasuke’s accidents on the rare occasion that he had them, but it felt different to be taking care of children he didn’t know. He had wrinkled his nose in disgust when he changed the sheets on the bed - a thing he had never done when assisting his own little brother.Unfortunately, the children did not have any spare clothes - only what they had brought on their backs. Yamato had somehow escaped the incident completely dry, but Sachi needed a new outfit. Having no other options, Itachi had dressed her in one of his own shirts that came all the way down to her ankles.It was an odd sight, to be sure - a man traveling with two children, one of which was only dressed in what was obviously a grown man’s shirt. Itachi could only hope that they would not run into someone who would question him. At least, he thought, if that happened he could always use intimidation. He didn’t like to think of himself as a particularly scary-looking man, but he was aware of the way people tended to give him a wide berth.Itachi-san,” Yamato asked. They had been on the road for most of the day, and Itachi predicted the question before it could escape the boy’s lips.“We are not there yet,” he answered.“When will be there?”If Itachi were a less patient man, he might have rolled his eyes, “We will be there soon.”Yamato peered at the man ahead of him. Itachi had been gracious enough to let him walk again, but Sachi was attached firmly to his back still, clinging to him with her arms around his neck.“What will happen to us,” Yamato asked, “When we get to Toyeiki?”“I don’t know.”He wished he had a better answer for them. He wished that he could find some way to make sure that they were safe permanently. If time wasn’t a constraint, Itachi would have spent more energy on making sure that they would be well taken care of. As it was, this was the best he could do. And he didn’t know if that was enough.“Why do we have to go to Toyeiki?” Yamato asked, “Why can’t we just stay with you?”“It’s too dangerous.”“I can fight,” the boy countered, “Father taught me how to use a kunai.”Itachi stopped and pried Sachi from his back. He fished a kunai out his pouch and handed it to Yamato. “If you can hit me with the kunai,” he said, “I will take you both with me.”He knew that a merchant’s son would not be able to hit him. Not even a highly skilled shinobi would be able to hit him without putting in some serious effort. But it was a good opportunity to see what the boy was capable of. He might feel better about leaving them in the care of strangers if he thought the boy was any good.Yamato’s eyes lit with excitement and he twirled the kunai around his finger. Itachi carried Sachi over to a nearby tree and told her to stay put. She nodded at him with wide eyes.“Alright, Yamato-chan,” Itachi said, “Begin.”Yamato immediately flung the kunai toward Itachi. Itachi leaned away from the attack, not even moving his feet. The kunai hit the tree behind him and clattered to the ground.“How many tries do I get?” Yamato asked, unperturbed by his failure.“One.”“One more?”“Fine,” Itachi conceded, “One more.”After at least fifty more attempts, Itachi finally drew the line. He had wasted nearly an hour “sparring” with Yamato, but he couldn’t say that he felt bad about it. Yamato was predictably not very skilled with a kunai, but he had begun to show improvement nearing the end of their session.“You are impossible to hit!” Yamato exclaimed as Itachi replaced his kunai in his pouch, “You must be an incredible ninja. How did you get so good?”“I train,” Itachi said. He retrieved Sachi from her curled up position under the tree, careful not to wake her.“I want to be a ninja like you,” Yamato said, falling in step behind Itachi, “when I’m older.”“Being a ninja is dangerous,” Itachi said, “Are you sure that’s what you want to do?”“Yeah, I’m sure,” Yamato replied, “I want to be able to protect my sister.”From people like you, Itachi finished in his head. The increasingly familiar pang in his chest returned. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- When Sakura woke up the next morning her head was pounding. She had tossed and turned restlessly all night. If the cries and moans of pain had not been enough to keep Sakura awake, the smell alone would have done it.She spent the entirety of the morning looking over her notes and studying the few blood samples she had taken. She still found it curious that the nurses and Rokuda had not yet taken ill in spite of having been surrounded by the infection for so long and had taken a blood sample from one of the nurses to compare alongside the sample from the woman she met at the inn.The infection was brutal, Sakura noted. She had lost the majority of the people who had been at the inn when she arrived. Almost three hundred people had died. Their bodies had been stacked in a pyre a mile or two west. The pyre stayed lit constantly, with a few of the civilian men looking after it, tossing in more bodies as they came.Her gut wrenched with the thought that she was supposed to have saved them. Her entire purpose in coming to Toyeiki was to save everyone. At the first blur of tears in her eyes, Sakura had angrily wiped them away and refocused her attention on the papers in front of her. She didn’t have time to be feeling sorry for herself. Everyone was depending on her.By mid-morning, Sakura had made some progress.“Rokuda-san,” Sakura said, trying not to wake the few people left who were sleeping, “I think I’m on to something and I need your help.”“Anything, Sakura-san, what is it?”“You and the nurses,” she began, “I’ve been studying your blood samples and it seems that there are some people who are naturally immune to the disease. I think it might be related to chakra in some way. As far as I know, no shinobi have fallen ill, or no one who is able to use chakra, anyway.”“That makes sense,” Rokuda answered, “The nurses and I, we’ve been exposed for so long. The only thing we have in common is a little knowledge of medical jutsu.”“Right,” Sakura said, “But that isn’t going to help me come up with a cure. I need to study one of you and see how the infection tries to fight against your body’s defenses – if it does at all. Would one of the nurses be willing to let me do that?”Rokuda tilted her head to the side, pondering who would be best suited for such a thing, “Kira would be willing, I’m sure,” she answered, “But how long would this take her away from her duties? We’re understaffed as it is.”“I don’t know,” Sakura admitted, “But if it will help me come up with a cure, it will be worth it.”Rokuda nodded in agreement..Kira was a quiet girl, who Rokuda had incorrectly assumed would have been willing to take part in such a project. Maybe she had mistaken her penchant for avoiding conflict for a willingness to do nearly anything, but it was clear to Sakura that Kira was only doing as she was told.She flinched at every needle, every probe of Sakura’s chakra. She was an exceptionally difficult patient for someone who supposedly dealt with other patients on a regular basis.“Kira-san,” Sakura said, “Are you uncomfortable doing this? Should I ask the other nurse?”The petite girl shook her head, “No, Amika would not like this anymore than I do.”“Is it really so bad? You have it much easier than the people around you who can barely stand up.”“I know.”“Don’t you want to help them?”“I’m still here, aren’t I?”Sakura narrowed her eyes but said nothing else. She continued to run tests and study the samples for the rest of the afternoon, stopping occasionally to check in on the sick.So far no one else had come seeking help – no one who had been more recently infected. It should have been a good sign, that no one else was getting sick, but it meant slower progress on the cure.“Kira!” Sakura exclaimed, startling the poor girl out of the comfortable silence that had descended on Sakura’s makeshift office, “I think I have it!”Kira stood up quickly, nearly knocking over a stack of books on the table beside her, “You do? What is it? How can I help?”“The infection,” Sakura began, pointing to a diagram of the human body in one of her journals, “it seems to be more prevalent in areas of the body where chakra accumulates – chakra points. Except, for those who are sick, they don’t have an accumulation of chakra there.”“What does that mean?” Kira asked.“It means, we can use our chakra to stimulate the chakra points in the infected and hopefully burn off the infection with their own chakra as it responds to our foreign chakra,” Sakura answered, pleased with her new discovery.“So we’ll have to do that for every single person here?” Kira asked, “That’s not really a cure.”Sakura was too pleased with herself to scowl, “No, but it will help us prevent more people from dying – and if we manage to get every person infected clean, then we won’t have to worry about a cure immediately.”Kira shrugged, “Alright, let’s do it.”.For the next few hours, Sakura taught Amika, Kira, and Rokuda how to use their chakra to stimulate the chakra points and burn off the infections. It was tedious work – dangerous work. They could potentially damage chakra pathways and cause severe damage to the central nervous system.When Sakura was satisfied that each woman was able to perform the task sufficiently, they set about healing the remainder of the sick.It took the better part of the day, and they lost several patients in the interim, but after a grueling seven hours, each person in the inn was cleared of the infection.“Thank you so much, Sakura-san,” Rokuda said wiping her brow with the back of her hand. “We couldn’t have done this without you.”“It’s not over yet,” Sakura said tightly, “I still need to find an actual cure. We don’t know how many more infected there are out there, and this thing is highly contagious. I still would like to be notified if someone else shows up who has been recently infected.”“That might happen sooner than you think,” Kira said from her perch on Sakura’s cot. She tossed Sakura the newspaper that had been in her lap.Sakura caught it with ease and glanced down at the headline. It appeared that Toyeiki had just become renowned for its care of the sick. She skimmed the article, noting that the author had deemed Toyeiki to be a safe-haven for the sick.“Oh my god,” Sakura muttered, “I guess we better prepare for an influx of patients, then.”.Later that night, Sakura sent a messenger bird back to Konoha with a message for Tsunade. She had been in Toyeiki for almost two weeks and was no closer to finding a cure. He work-around had bought her some time for those who were infected, but if she was going to create a vaccine, she needed some help.She had asked for reinforcements – a small team of her nurses from back home that could help her with the sick, and also some equipment that would be useful for data analysis.She didn’t like to admit it, even to herself, but Sakura felt in over her head. She wasn’t used to being the one in charge and it was taking a mental toll on her. There was no one to ask for help, and no one to catch her if she fell.Having a found a way to help those who were infected, Sakura felt much better about the situation. The inn was no longer filled with the cries of the sick, the moans of pain that had kept her awake for nearly three weeks.But a cloud hung over her head. Was there something that she was missing? Tsunade had put so much faith in her – it pained her to think that she might have misplaced it. The mission was supposed to only last for a month. That was how long Tsunade had estimated it would take her. She was nearing on three weeks now. Had Tsunade over-estimated her abilities? Was she wrong to have sent her instead of Shizune?Sakura didn’t often doubt her medical skills. Sure, she was young. But Tsunade herself had said that she had surpassed her mentor.At the hospital, Sakura knew exactly what she was doing. She could heal a broken bone, repair a damaged lung, she could even use chakra to sustain someone’s life after they had been dead for several minutes. She was a miracle worker. She could command her nurses efficiently, she could think well under pressure. She could multi-task like a champ.And yet, she was at a loss.Unbidden, thoughts of Naruto came to her. She could vividly remember a time that Naruto had hurt himself training and been rushed to the hospital. It was shortly after he had returned to Konoha after training with Jiraiya.He had used up nearly all of his chakra – an impressive feat for someone like him – and was verging on death when Jiraiya carried him through the hospital doors. Sakura felt lucky to have been standing in the lobby at the time. She wasn’t usually one to dawdle – certainly not when there was work to be done. But for whatever reason, she found herself near the entrance, chatting amicably with one of the nurses.Her heart nearly stopped when she saw Naruto’s limp body flung over Jiraiya’s shoulder. She had rushed to his side and her glowing green hands reached his chest before Jiraiya had even set him on the gurney.Had Tsunade been there, she would have snatched Sakura away from the boy so fast it would have given her whiplash. It was a rule – medics could not work on their family. And of course Naruto was family. At least Tsunade would have seen it that way.But Tsunade was not there, and the nurses were wise enough (or scared enough of Sakura) not to say anything.For hours, Sakura pumped her own chakra into Naruto’s system, slowly leaking it to prevent damage to his chakra pathways. It was grueling work, but if she stopped for even a moment, Naruto’s life would be over.“What do you think you’re doing?”She heard Tsunade enter the room behind her, but she didn’t have the strength to answer, or the right words to say. She had been caught red-handed.“Step away from him, Sakura.”“I can’t,” she choked out, “I can’t let him die.”Tsunade stepped around the girl, clucking like a mother hen. She let her hands fall to Naruto’s chest just above Sakura’s.“I’ll take over from here. Go home and get some rest.”Sakura nodded and pulled her hands back, relieved that the only other person she would trust to take care of Naruto was there.“Oh, and Sakura?” Tsunade spoke just as Sakura was disappearing through the door, “Report straight to my office first thing in the morning.”She had been in a lot of trouble for the mishap. Tsunade had stripped her of her duties for an entire week. She wasn’t permitted to step foot in the hospital, preventing her from taking care of any clerical work as well.At first, she felt that the punishment was unfair. It left her with nothing to do but “think about what she had done,” in Tsunade’s words. Sakura didn’t feel that the incident warranted much thinking. She did what she had to do. She saved Naruto’s life!But after the first day, Sakura found some good company.“Thanks for saving me, Sakura-chan,” Naruto said, barging through the front door of her apartment. It was the first time he had ever been there since she had moved while he had been away training.“You shouldn’t have been so stupid,” Sakura chided, but her heart wasn’t really in it.“I know, I know,” he replied, waving his hand dismissively, “But I was on the verge of figuring out this new jutsu I’ve been working really hard on.”“Would it have been worth it if you died?”“It will be worth it if it will help me bring Sasuke back.”The pair fell silent at the mention of their teammate. The air effectively sucked from the room, Sakura collapsed onto her couch with a sigh. Naruto followed suit and threw an arm around her shoulder.She wasn’t sure how long they sat there, or when she had started to lean into him. Those three years away from Konoha had really changed Naruto – had changed her as well. She couldn’t remember why she had disliked him so much when they had been genin and felt guilty about the way she had treated him.He had been obnoxious, true, and that hadn’t changed much. But he had also been a good friend, devoted to her when Sasuke wasn’t - kind to her when Sasuke was cruel. Realizing that had been Sakura’s first step to getting over her crush on Sasuke. Sasuke would never treat her the way Naruto did. And maybe that was what she deserved for being so mean to Naruto for all those years.“I’m going to bring him back for you, Sakura,” Naruto said, his voice low and tense, “I promise.”“Thanks, Naruto.”.A week later Ino arrived, carrying a massive pack on her back.“Hey, forehead,” she said, tossing her pack onto an empty cot in the lobby on the inn, “It smells like death in here.”Sakura gave her a pointed look and went straight for the pack. It contained several small medical machines that could break down the material make-up of nearly anything placed inside, a microscope, and a few scrolls pertaining to infectious diseases.“So it’s just you, then?” Sakura asked. “I asked for a team.”“You don’t need a team when you have me.”“You do understand that you’re my subordinate on this mission, right?”Ino waved her hand dismissively, “Yeah, yeah, whatever.”Together, Sakura and Ino set up the equipment in the office and Sakura filled Ino in on what she had discovered so far. They sent blood samples through the machines, hoping to fill in the blanks with what new information the equipment could provide.“I don’t know, Sakura,” Ino said after several minutes, “It doesn’t look like the disease is responding at all to antibiotics. You said it didn’t even try to adapt to them – they just had no effect.”“Yeah, I know,” Sakura said, rubbing her brow with the back of her hand, “That’s what I don’t understand. The only thing it seems to respond to is chakra.”“Could you create a vaccine infused with chakra?”Sakura thought about this for a moment, pinching her lower lip between her finger and thumb. “I’m not sure how I would go about doing that,” she said, “I’ve never seen chakra utilized in that way before. It’s worth a try, I suppose.”The pair grew silent, each girl scribbling down notes. They worked quietly for a while, and Sakura felt comforted by Ino’s presence. She had begun to feel a little homesick after being away from Konoha for so long. It felt nice to have the blonde around, a little reminder of home.She glanced over at her friend who was chewing her lip with determination as she studied something underneath the microscope. Ino’s talents didn’t really fall into the medical jutsu category. She had trained with Tsunade, of course, but compared to Sakura, Ino’s knowledge of medical jutsu was extremely limited.With wry amusement, Sakura realized that Tsunade hadn’t sent Ino because of her medical knowledge, but rather because of her ability to push Sakura forward, to spur her in to action.Ino had always been one to get on Sakura’s nerves, but not necessarily in the worst possible way. She had a habit of bringing out the competitive nature in Sakura. It all boiled down to Sasuke, she supposed. But she couldn’t think about that right now.“What are you staring at, Forehead?”“Nothing, Pig.”.In the few days that followed Ino’s arrival, the inn had gone through some drastic changes. After Sakura’s discovery of burning off the infection with chakra, the inn’s population had dropped to zero, giving the nurses a much needed reprieve and Sakura an opportunity to work on the cure.But the headlines had brought in an even larger crowd. New sick were constantly shuffled in to the inn, bringing it’s population right back up to where it was when Sakura arrived almost a month ago.To her dismay, it seemed that every new patient had been infected for at least a week, so there was no one recently infected to study. She called it intuition, as she had no reason to believe it, but Sakura was certain that if she could study someone who had been recently infected she could find out something that would lead to a breakthrough.Kira and Amika were struggling to keep up with the new influx of patients. They did not have the same training as Sakura and Ino, whose chakra control was vastly superior to theirs. This left Sakura, Ino, and Rokuda to deal with the brunt of the work.“We’re sorry, Sakura-san,” Kira said, having collapsed from exhaustion on Sakura’s cot in her office. Amika was next to her, already snoozing and leaving a considerable amount of drool on Sakura’s pillow.“Don’t worry about it, Kira,” Sakura said, gathering as many clean cloths from the cabinet as she could carry, “It isn’t your fault. You’re doing your best.”Kira didn’t say anything else, but Sakura could feel her eyes on her back and she went back down to the lobby..By the next day, the inn had been mostly cleared again. There were stragglers that came in every so often, but Rokuda or one of the nurses were easily able to handle the work load now that there weren’t several hundred patients to tend to.Sakura and Ino were back in the office above the lobby, curled up in their chairs. To an outsider it might have seemed like they were catching up on some light reading, but in spite of their relaxed demeanors, they were both bordering on mental exhaustion.“We could try using a seal,” Sakura said, thinking out loud more than making a serious suggestion.“Rokuda wouldn’t be capable of sealing anything,” Ino pointed out, “And if she couldn’t, then the nurses couldn’t either.”Sakura frowned.“It’s a good solution to the problem,” Ino said quickly, noticing the frown lines deepen around Sakura’s mouth, “But once we’re gone, it won’t help anymore.”Sakura let out a groan of frustration. She could burn the infection away with chakra. She could seal it away with a justu. But she couldn’t come up with an actual cure. It seemed that nothing they did could fix the problem without the use of chakra.“Do you think we should try to find patient zero?” Ino asked, “It might give us some insight about what the cause it and how we can prevent it.”Sakura mulled over her words for a moment. It made sense to try Ino’s idea, but they wouldn’t have a clue where to start looking. And even if they did, they couldn’t leave the inn while the sick were still migrating to it. Rokuda and the nurses wouldn’t be able to handle the workload on their own.“That’s a good idea,” Sakura said, “But we’d need to recruit some help for that. We shouldn’t leave the inn until we’re sure Rokuda can handle it.”“Let’s go ask Rokuda if she knows anything about patient zero,” Ino suggested.They found Rokuda in the lobby, behind the counter. She looked much worse than she had when Sakura first arrived. Her skin was sallow and pale and her eyes had deep purple bags underneath them.Her eyes lit up when she saw them approaching and Sakura felt almost guilty for the glimmer of hope she saw flash across her face.“Did you make a breakthrough?” she asked with barely restrained excitement.“Not quite,” Sakura said quietly. Ino shook her head mutely.Rokuda sighed softly, her disappointment obvious and a little annoying to Sakura. Sakura couldn’t really blame the woman. She had hired an elite medical ninja from the champion of medical jutsu herself and had nothing to show for it. It had been a month now, and there was no cure in sight.“We want to know if you have any information about patient zero,” Ino said before Sakura could get too introspective, “Maybe if we know more about where the infection originated from we can figure out a way to prevent it.”Rokuda pursed her lips. “The very first person I treated was a woman from a town several days north of here. She said her husband had been sick first,” she explained, “and that she sought out a healer after he had died.”“Why didn’t she try to find a healer before,” Sakura asked, “while her husband was still sick?”“She said she didn’t think that it was that bad,” Rokuda answered, “that the symptoms didn’t seem that serious. It wasn’t until he was bedridden that she thought something was really wrong.”“Where is she now?” Ino asked, but they all already knew the answer to that.“I’m sure her body was burned in the pyre.”“And the town she came from?” Sakura asked, “Was that the first you’d heard of the infection?”Rokuda nodded, “Yes, it’s barely even a town. Just a general goods store and an inn, really.”“I’ve been there,” Sakura said, remember the three sisters she had met there.“Yeah, me too,” Ino said, “Do you think it’s worth going to check it out?”Sakura tapped her finger against her lips. At this point anything was worth a try. Anything that could give them a potential lead would be worth it. She could handle the inn on her own for a while.“Why don’t you go investigate, Ino?” Sakura suggested, “I’ll stay here and keep working on a cure and taking care of the inn. You go find out what you can and report back as soon as you can.”Ino grinned, “You can count on me.”.Ino left early the next morning with an empty journal to fill up with her sleuthing and an eager grin on her face.Sakura wished that she felt as excited as Ino did. She couldn’t say that she anticipated much from Ino’s investigation. That left her to her own devices, working on a cure.Between healing the sick that wandered in and doing what little research she could that hadn’t already been done, Sakura was actually bored. It was a sickening feeling, knowing that people were depending on her and she was decidedly out of things to do.She tried to continue her search for a cure, but reading the same words, seeing the same slides under the microscope only seemed to stress her out more. She had completely given up on being productive in her research and instead refocused all of her attention on the sick people who still wandered into the inn.She was surprised by the fact that there were still no recently infected people in town, but she supposed that most of the people who fell ill didn’t bother to seek help until their symptoms had reached a more serious state.It really annoyed the medic in her that people chose to live their lives that way. Even her own teammates would wait until the last possible second to go get their health issues checked out. It was almost as if they feared going to the hospital more than they feared whatever potentially catastrophic thing could happen as a result of ignoring the problem. A sword wound through the chest? No problem. A little needle? Better run for the hills.After Sakura had spent as much time as she could with the few people who remained in the inn (delegated into their own rooms now, instead of crowded in cots lined up in the lobby), she decided a nice long walk would clear her head.River Country was far more beautiful than Sakura had ever given it credit for. The grass was thick and lush and soft, she thought. The leaves looked greener and everything seemed to be more alive. She followed the path of a river, watching as salmon sporadically jumped out of the water.Sakura was no stranger to the outdoors. She had her fair share of missions that left her essentially camping outside for weeks at a time. Maybe it was the fact that for a month she had been cooped up inside an inn with stale, sick air, but something about being outside made Sakura feel more alive than she had felt in weeks.A shrill cry in the distance snapped Sakura to attention. It sounded young – like a child. She darted off in the direction of the sound, masking her chakra just in case.When she neared three figures that appeared to have been where to noise came from, Sakura stealthily leapt into a nearby tree and crouched low on a high branch, scouting the area.There were two children and a man sitting in the grass. Sakura noted that no one appeared to be in any danger, and that the trio in fact looked quite amicable. The two children were taking turns pinching each other while the man, whose back was to her, watched.Relieved, Sakura was about to jump down from the branch and release the mask on her chakra when the man turned and she caught sight of his face. The familiarity almost caused he to tumble out of the tree, but she kept a sure grip on the branch underneath her.Sasuke?No, that wasn’t Sasuke. He was older. His hair was longer, his eyes darker. It was a face that she had seen only once before, but she would have recognized it anywhere.It was Itachi. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Itachi wasn’t used to such talkative company and it was starting to take a toll on him. They had been back on the road for a couple of days now and would reach Toyeiki by the end of the day, at least.Yamato and Sachi chattered incessantly, bickering back and forth, asking him questions – the most common of which was are we there yet? in a cadence that Itachi had come to loathe like a song that played too often on the radio.In some ways, he enjoyed their company. They were bright children, smart and always asking questions. Sachi had grown quite obviously fond of Itachi and spent the majority of her time cajoling him into carrying her, or slipping her tiny hand into his while they walked side by side. Yamato seemed to regard him as some type of hero, a reverence in his eyes when he looked at him. The irony was not lost on Itachi.He was almost sad to think about leaving them soon. Of course Itachi was in no position to be taking care of children, and he couldn’t even say for sure that he would be good at it. He’d be lying to himself if he thought he never wanted to have children. Before the massacre, Itachi was heir. It was his responsibility to have children. He’d always looked at Sasuke as a kind of practice for that, and now…Well, now Yamato and Sachi were the closest he would ever get to that.“Quit pinching me!”Itachi pinched the bridge of his nose and glanced over at the shrieking children. He was certain he had never fought so much with Sasuke. Sasuke was much too fond of his elder brother to ever have caused trouble the way Sachi sometimes did for Yamato. She was currently sinking her teeth deep into the delicate skin of Yamato’s wrist.“Alright, why don’t we take a break?” Itachi suggested.“I’m hungry, Itachi-san,” Sachi said, running over to tug on his sleeve. Apparently her brother’s arm wasn’t quite filling enough. Itachi pulled a couple of protein bars from his pouch and handed one to each child.They plopped themselves down in the grass, munching happily, quietly, Itachi noted with relief. He sat down next to them and let his eyes fall shut.It would be bittersweet, he thought, being rid of the children. He wouldn’t miss the bickering and the whining. Or cleaning urine out of bed sheets.A rustle of leaves in the distance perked up Itachi’s ears. The wind was too light to have made the sound. He strained his ears, listening for voices that would identify them as civilians, or a noise that an animal might make.But there was nothing. Which meant he was being watched. Itachi cursed.Sachi gasped, “Itachi-san said a bad word!”Itachi shushed the girl and quickly scooped her up just as a kunai whizzed past his head. Itachi knew that there were people out there who hurt children – who wanted to hurt children, that is. But he couldn’t fathom anyone wanting to harm these particular children, especially since they obviously had a guardian with them. Even most bad guys had a heart – he was somewhat proof of that.“Wait,” Itachi said to the attacker, though it was hardly audible, the sound catching in his throat. He spun around, pinwheel eyes spinning dangerously.But he wasn’t prepared for the sight of a pink-haired waif of a girl, twirling a kunai around her long fingers like she was the deadliest kunoichi in existence. Itachi could have laughed if he had not been struck by a cold shock of fear that reached all the way down to his toes.He knew this girl. This was Sasuke’s teammate, the kyuubi’s teammate. She was a medic-nin, he heard. She had killed Sasori, which he had found quite impressive upon hearing the news. She was the Hokage’s apprentice.Oh, this was very bad.“Sakura Haruno,” he said, his voice smooth, not indicative at all of the swirl of fear that raged inside him.Her face was hard, much too hard for the delicate body, the feminine hair, he thought. She was like a peacock, strutting about with colorful feathers. He could easily kill her. He could incapacitate her with his Tsukiyomi. He could possibly even outrun her, but that would be difficult to do with the children. Not to mention, he would have to run further away from Toyeiki in order to lose her.It’s better to wait, he thought, to see what her plan was. Surely she knew she couldn’t kill him on her own. He certainly didn’t want to have to kill her.“Step away from the children,” she said, her tone low, authoritative in a way he hadn’t expected from someone so pink. It reminded him of his mother.Ah, he thought, she must have some stellar motherly instincts to try to stand up to one of the most feared men in Konoha to save some children she didn’t know.“Itachi-san, is she an enemy?” Yamato asked, peeking around Itachi’s legs to get a better look at this mysterious pink-haired woman.“Is she going to hurt us?” Sachi asked, her voice so small that he felt himself pulling her closer against his chest to comfort her.“No.” Itachi said. He didn’t know whether he was speaking to Sakura or the children, but it didn’t matter. The answer was the same.Sakura’s brow furrowed in confusion, and Itachi almost berated her for letting her face show so much about what she was thinking. It wasn’t what a good shinobi would do.“What are you doing with them?” she asked, and her voice was trembling now. She was afraid and confused, he could tell. She should be, he thought. But that didn’t quell the sudden urge to calm her down that bubbled up in his stomach. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. He had no desire to hurt her, but he couldn’t tell her that.“They are orphans,” he said slowly, keeping his eyes fixed on her, “I’m taking them to an orphanage in Toyeiki.”She swallowed hard and Itachi forced himself not to let his eyes linger on her incredibly pale throat. “Toyeiki is… it’s in shambles. Everyone is sick. You can’t take them there,” she said.He had heard, obviously, that Toyeiki was a kind of safe-haven for those who had been infected by a highly contagious disease that had been ravaging the southern parts of Fire and River country for over a month now.But it was his only option.“Where did you find them?”He let his eyes narrow at her, aware of the terrifying effect it seemed to have on most people. Predictably, she withered under his gaze.“It’s none of your concern,” he answered coolly.Sachi began crying in his shoulder, her tears hotly soaking into his cloak, making it stick to his skin. Absently, he reached up and stroked her hair soothingly. He wondered too late whether the image of him soothing a crying little girl would sully the fear and discomfort he had worked so diligently to instill in the pink-haired woman several meters away.Next to him, Yamato reached into Itachi’s pouch and pulled out a kunai. Itachi huffed in amusement.“Don’t worry, Itachi-san,” he said, his voice determined, “I got this.”He charged toward Sakura, who watched with bemusement until he was close enough for her to catch his wrist and twist it back behind his back.“Ow, ow,” he screeched, “Itachi-san, she’s hurting me! Help!”Itachi’s eyes flicked to hers, noting that there was a hint of mirth there. She crouched down to his eye level and released his arm.“Looks like you need some more practice,” she told him, handing him back Itachi’s kunai, “Or maybe you just need a better teacher.”Itachi couldn’t help the quirk of his brows at the quip. He hadn’t expected her to say something so brazen about him while he was standing right there. Maybe the image of him soothing a crying little girl did sully the fear and discomfort he had worked so diligently to instill in her.It appeared that she no longer feared him enough to keep her eyes trained on him, which Itachi thought was a stupid mistake on her part. But watching her ruffle Yamato’s hair with affection was distracting him from what he should be doing – which was coming up with an escape plan.“Itachi-san is the best ninja in the whole world!” Yamato exclaimed, defending his teacher’s honor.“Yes, that might be true,” Sakura agreed, raising her eyes up to meet Itachi’s. He was transfixed for a second by the brightness of her eyes. They were so green, so wide. He thought with an unfamiliar jealousy that Sakura would nearly always have the tactical advantage of people underestimating her. He didn’t know why that bothered him so much.“It is true,” Yamato insisted, “And he’s gonna kill you for hurting me.”“No,” Itachi said, startling them both, “I’m not.”Sakura’s eyes widened, if that were even possible, and she locked onto his eyes again. Uncomfortable with the prolonged eye contact, Itachi looked down at Yamato.“Get behind me,” he said.“I’m not going to hurt him,” Sakura said, taking a tone that clearly indicated that she was offended, “I wouldn’t hurt a child.”“I’d expect nothing less from a Konoha-nin,” he replied.She narrowed her eyes at him, no doubt letting her thoughts about what rights he had to speak about Konoha spin out of control. He could see the outrage plain on her face, curling her fists into tight balls at her sides. Once again, he thought she could benefit from learning to hide her emotions better, but more than that he wished he had just kept his mouth shut.“If it’s alright with you,” Itachi began, “I’d like to continue on my way.”It was the easiest way out he could think of, and probably the most peaceful. There wasn’t much she could do to stop him unless she engaged him in a fight, which he hoped she was smart enough not to do.He didn’t wait for her to answer before taking Yamato’s hand in his and brushing past her. He was careful not to get too close to her.She moved toward him, quickly, aggressively, but not like an attack. Itachi thanked whatever gods might be listening that he had the Sharingan because he could see that she meant to stop him with a firm hand to his chest. If he had been anyone else – if he had not had the Sharingan at his disposal, he would have had no choice but to attack her.But if she thought he was going to let her touch him, she was dead wrong. Even he knew what a medic-nin could do with a single touch. He was no fool.Dropping Sachi into her brother, Itachi moved with incredible speed and pushed Sakura against the trunk of a nearby tree. He pinned her arms above her head with one hand and squeezed her hip tightly in his other, pushing her torso into the tree. From the way she winced he could tell it must have been painful.She trembled against him and he could see her pulse beating wildly underneath the thin skin of her neck – the second time he caught himself staring at her throat.“Don’t make me kill you,” he threatened, and he really did not like the way his voice sounded – so dangerous, so low.He really didn’t want to have to kill her, but the more he thought about it, the more it seemed like the best option. If he let her live, she would certainly send word to the Hokage that a rogue Akatsuki member was traipsing about southern River Country with random kids – one of which was wearing what was obviously his shirt.“Get her, Itachi-san!” Yamato cheered behind him.And then a wave of dizziness washed over him. He felt… woozy? Was that the right word? He felt nauseous in a way his autoimmune disease had never made him feel and he had a feeling that the pills in his pocket would do nothing to help this time. He looked at Sakura, searching her face to see if it would give him any indication of what she had just done to him. He could have sworn that she wouldn’t be able to perform any kind of jutsu without the use of her hands.To his surprise, she looked just as shocked as he felt, and then her face changed, shifted to something more – eager? Well, that couldn’t be good.And then his vision began to blur. In an effort to dispel the blurriness, he deactivated his Sharingan – something he really didn’t want to have to do while he held a woman prisoner with his bare hands, but the sensations swirling around in his head and stomach were almost too much to bear. He felt as though any second he would lose the strength to stand and topple over.“Are you dizzy?” Sakura asked, and luckily for Itachi, his hearing was just as fine as ever – he heard the unmistakable tone of a doctor in her voice, clinical, no-nonsense.He released her hands, but kept his grip tight on her hip, digging his fingers into her hipbone in a tacit warning. As soon as he released them they were on his chest, lit with a glowing green chakra.This was really, really not good. If she found out about his disease (and why the hell wouldn’t the famed number one medic-nin in the world find an obvious disease?) would she tell Sasuke? Would that even matter? He was completely at her mercy now. Her hands were on his chest.His vision was now nearly gone, the world nothing but a swirl of color, of pink, predominantly. He felt her ease him to the ground and lay his body in the grass. It was much too gentle for someone who was supposed to be his enemy.“No!” he heard Yamato yell, “Don’t kill him!” Sachi had begun to cry again, loudly this time, and the sound made his chest tighten painfully.“I’m not going to kill him,” Sakura said. He felt her chakra sink into him and it was a strange, but not unpleasant sensation. He wished he could see her clearly, as if maybe he could see in her face why she wouldn’t want to kill a man that had caused her and her teammates so much grief and had killed his entire family and had aligned himself with a terrorist organization after abandoning his home.But the ball of nausea in his stomach was churning like a raging sea and his head was suddenly pounding. He found himself craving the cooling sensation of Sakura’s chakra, hoping it would invade more of him and relieve him of all this discomfort.And that was when everything went black..When Itachi came to he was surprised to find that he was still lying in the grass, which meant that he couldn’t have been out for too long. He blinked his eyes blearily against the setting sun and decided to keep them closed when another wave of nausea washed over him.He could hear Sachi giggling nearby, punctuated by an occasional loud, snapping sound.“Now do this one,” he heard Yamato say, “You’ll never be able to break it. It’s so big!”Groggily, Itachi forced himself to sit up and blinked his eyes open just in time to see Sakura holding a massive tree branch – easily two feet wide and nearly as tall as she was – and snapping it in half.“Amazing!” Yamato said, clapping. Sachi burst into another bout of giggles, looking up at Sakura with awe.Itachi attempted to stand up, but it seemed his dizziness had not yet faded and he groaned against the sensation of falling and swimming and tilting. Sakura was at his side in a second, her hands green with chakra again, pressing them against his chest. He made no attempt to stop her this time.“Be careful, Uchiha-san,” she said and his brow furrowed immediately in confusion. She was watching him with her clinical eyes, running chakra through his body. He could feel it everywhere in him this time, like his veins were flowing with it.“It’s purely diagnostic,” she said, noticing his alarm, “I’m just checking to see if everything is alright.”He knocked her hands away and pushed himself up against the tree behind him – the same one he had restrained Sakura against – and let his back fall roughly against it.They stared at one another for a moment, both unsure of what to do next. The silence was tense, but Itachi could tell that Sakura was tempering her behavior, waiting to see what he would do next.“Uchiha-san?” Itachi asked, his voice raspier than he would have liked.Sakura blushed a deep red that clashed horribly with her hair and ducked her head. “I’m sorry, I don’t really know how I should address you. I was erring on the side of caution.”In spite of the situation, Itachi was amused – charmed, even – by her change in demeanor. “Do you always address your enemies so formally?” he asked.If she understood that he was teasing her, she didn’t let on.“I want to make a deal with you.”He stopped himself from raising his brows in question and kept his gaze squarely on her. He was surprised, to say the least, and wondered what she could possibly want from someone like him.From the corner of his eye, he could see Yamato and Sachi nearby. He had half expected them to be bickering, but it seemed that they were both waiting to hear what Itachi would say.“Go on,” he said.He watched Sakura take deep breath as if steeling herself against an anticipated resistance.“I’m sure you’ve realized that you’re sick,” she began, “I mean not with – you’re sick with the same infection that the rest of Toyeiki is plagued by.”Ah, so she had realized that he had an autoimmune disease.“I’m currently on a medical mission to find a cure for it,” she continued, “and I’ve been having quite a lot of trouble so far.”That news certainly surprised him. It was his understanding that Toyeiki was where people came to get healed. What made it such a safe-haven if they were all coming here to die?“I think you can help me find a cure.”Itachi huffed and fixed her with a pointed look, “I don’t know anything about curing infections.”“No, that’s not what I meant,” she said, “You’ve been recently infected. So far, every person I’ve treated has been sick for at least a week. I need to study the early stages of the infection to get a better idea of how to deal with it. You’re the first person I’ve seen that I would be able to study it from.”The sudden implications of what was surely about to happen caught Itachi off guard. He knew the infection was fatal if left untreated. The children’s mother had died from it, and their father would have as well had he and Kisame not intervened.He already had to worry about his autoimmune disease – an infection on top of that would definitely be fatal. He couldn’t imagine a scenario where he survived it. He felt a surge of panic catch in his throat like a burning lump.Sasuke.He’d never get to see his brother again – never get to let him get the revenge he deserved.“You’re also the only person I’ve seen infected that is able to use chakra,” Sakura added, obvious to his inner turmoil, “But I think that might be due to your pre-existing condition.”The words barely registered to Itachi, who felt himself gasping for air and then coughing violently. His lungs – he couldn’t get enough air in them. He felt hot – too hot to be natural, and he felt beads of sweat forming along his brow.Sakura knelt down next to him and pressed the back of her hand to his forehead. “Calm down,” she said, “Try to take deep breaths.”He felt her cooling chakra flood into his system again and he was beginning to familiarize himself with the sensation – welcome it, even.“My medicine,” he choked out, “In my pocket.”Sakura blinked at him in surprise, probably not expecting him to have shared something so personal with her, but it was necessary, he figured. He could die here under a tree with a pink-haired medic hovering over him, or he could trust that she could help him.She reached into his pocket and pulled out the orange pill bottle. She shook a single pill out into his hand and watched as he swallowed it dry.“Are you okay, Itachi-san?” Yamato asked. The children had both clustered near him under the tree, one on each side of Sakura.Itachi felt overwhelmed, claustrophobic with the three of them so close.But then Sachi leaned over and curled herself into his lap, looking at him with wide worried eyes that reminded him of Sasuke’s. He placed his palm over her head and smoothed her hair, waiting for the burning in his lungs to pass.If Sakura had not been there, he would have closed his eyes and enjoyed the moment. He knew his time with the children was coming to an end, and if he was honest with himself, he would miss Sachi the most for the way she was so physically affectionate.“Maybe we should give him some space,” Sakura suggested.“The deal,” Itachi said before she stood up, “What are the conditions?”He watched her look down at Sachi in his lap and then at Yamato before meeting his gaze again, “I need to study blood samples from you. If you agree to help me find a cure for this infection, I will heal you completely – I can even fix your autoimmune disease.”The shock must have been evident on his face.“I’m very good at what I do, Uchiha-san,” she said with a cocky grin, “I realize others might have told you that it’s untreatable, but I assure you that I’m capable of fixing it.”Itachi chose not to comment on that. He didn’t quite believe her, but if she could get rid of the infection, that would be enough for him.“Is that all?” he asked.Her face dropped for a second before he saw a cautious expression dawn on her features. “One more thing,” she said, “If you promise not to hurt me or anyone else in Toyeiki, I will take Yamato and Sachi back to Konoha with me when I’m done here. Yamato wants to be a ninja and is old enough to join the Academy.”If Itachi had been the expressive type, he would have grinned. He had never planned on hurting her anyway. This solved his problem perfectly. He could be sure that the children would be safe with Sakura, and if everything worked out like she was suggesting, he would leave here a perfectly healthy man.Except he still had the pesky issue of needing to be back in Rain, like now.“How long would this take?” he asked, still holding Sachi close to his chest, “I have somewhere that I need to be.”Sakura blanched, but made no comment about where it is he might need to be – specifically whether or not it involved either of her teammates.“I’ve got a partner re-joining me soon – probably within the next week, so I’d like to have you gone by then,” she said, “It would be hard to explain your presence, obviously.”He nodded in response, but said nothing else.“So, do we have a deal, Uchiha-san?”“We have a deal.”She stuck her hand out him and he took it with a firm shake..Sakura led her new companions back to Toyeiki, insisting that they take the long way around so she could get a little bit of fresh air.Itachi had never been a medic-nin and had no idea what usually went on during missions like her current one, but he imagined that she had been confined mostly to where the sick people were. It didn’t sound enjoyable at all so he didn’t protest too much when she decided to meander about before going back.He kept up the rear, never letting his eye wander too far from Sakura. They might have come to a sort of truce, but she was still an enemy. She had fallen in step with Yamato, who had taken a liking to her. She was talking to him, laughing at the silly things he told her, but Itachi knew that she was keeping a close eye on him as well – or rather, a listening ear instead.Logistically, Itachi wasn’t sure how he could possibly handle this situation without lending a certain amount of trust to Sakura. He would be almost entirely at her mercy – a position he certainly didn’t want to be in.But if he was truly as sick as she claimed (and he had no reason not to believe her), then he would need her help.In spite of himself, he felt comforted by the fact that Sakura seemed to be fond of the children. She would see their needs met – he wouldn’t expect anything less from her.So it seemed like trusting her was the best option.“Alright,” Sakura said to Yamato, using a tone that reminded Itachi of his mother once again, “Now we’re almost to Toyeiki. When we get there, I’m going to lay down some ground rules for you. But first, you and your sister need a bath. And when was the last time you had a proper meal? You’ve been on the road for some time, I imagine. You’re both looking a little thin.”“I’m not thin!” Yamato said with a pout, “I’m big and strong like Itachi-san.”Sakura tilted her head back and laughed, “Don’t be silly!” she said, “Itachi-san” – Itachi winced at her mocking inflection – “is big and strong because he trains hard. You need to train hard too, if you want to be like him. But first, you need a good wash behind the ears and a bowl of ramen.”Itachi was careful to avoid eye contact with her, which was easy enough to do while walking behind her. If their conversation continued in the direction of how big and strong he was he would have to put an end to it.“Ramen! That’s my favorite!” Yamato exclaimed.“Is it, now?” Sakura asked, and Itachi could tell from her voice that she was smiling, “It’s one of my favorites, too.”Sakura paused and turned back to face Itachi, who was carrying Sachi on his back, “What about you, Sachi-chan?” She asked, “What’s your favorite food?”Sachi merely buried her face into the back of Itachi’s neck, ignoring the question completely. Itachi didn’t want to admit it – even to himself – but he was the tiniest bit happy to know that Sachi hadn’t quite warmed up to Sakura yet.Yamato, on the other hand, was smitten. “Don’t worry, Sakura-san,” he said, sliding his small hand into hers, “She’s just shy.”Sakura glanced back at Itachi, catching his eye briefly before she turned back toward Toyeiki. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- The initial shock of being escorted back to Toyeiki by the deranged and genocidal older brother of her former teammate had worn off by the time they strolled into the inn that evening.The sun had just dipped below the horizon and what little activity that was still happening in town had died down. Sakura feared that she might have to sneak Itachi into the inn should they come across anyone who might recognize him, but they encountered no one – even in the lobby of the inn.“The place is a little empty right now,” Sakura said, “I’ve been healing people as they come in and they’ve been coming in waves. Hopefully it’ll stay empty for a while so I can get some work done.”Sakura led them upstairs to the room closest to hers, “Your kids can stay in this room.” The room had two beds and ten cots folded and lined against the wall. It was clear that the room had contained children recently as the walls were covered with crayon drawings pinned up by the nurses and forgotten toys were scattered around the floor.“Uchiha-san,” Sakura said, leaning to the other side of the hallway and flinging open the adjacent door, “You can stay in this room.”“Call me Itachi, please,” he said.Itachi had barely spoken on their way to Toyeiki, and hearing his voice startled Sakura and made her feel a bit uneasy, almost like she had forgotten who he was. She felt a cold wash of fear sink into her again and she shook it away with a shiver.Was she in her right mind? Had she really brought an S-class criminal in for potentially an entire week to study him?“The formality seems wrong, doesn’t it?”Boy, was that an understatement. Sakura suddenly had a list of Itachi’s grievances spring to mind and the urge to read them back to him angrily swept over her. She could feel them practically spilling from her lips already. Here was a man who had committed more heinous atrocities than she could even imagine, caused more pain and heartbreak for the people she cared about and he was standing in front of her with the audacity to suggest that she should change the way she addressed him?“Itachi-san would be fine, too, I suppose,” he said, his voice measured. Her lack of response seemed to annoy him, but he seemed wise enough not to comment on it.“Right,” Sakura said, slowly coming back to her senses, “Itachi-san.” The name tasted like poison on her tongue.She turned back to Yamato still standing in the doorway behind her, “Let’s get you guys a hot bath.” She turned to Itachi and reached her arms out to take Sachi from him, “And we need to get you a change of clothes.”“No!” she shrieked, her voice echoing down the empty hallway. She retracted her hands and watched as Itachi shushed her and rocked her on his hip.Yamato pulled at her shirt, “Maybe it would be better to let Itachi-san give her a bath instead,” he suggested.Sakura blanched and let her gaze fall on what was clearly Itachi’s shirt bunched up around Sachi’s hips, “I’m not sure that’s entirely appropriate…”“No, Sakura will give her a bath,” Itachi insisted. He pried Sachi away from his side and held her out for Sakura to take. She began kicking and shrieking even louder this time, determined not to be held by the pink-haired medic.Itachi set her down on the ground and knelt down next to her. Sakura noticed the hard set of his face, the way his eyes brooked no room for argument. She would have found it comical had it been any other person – he could definitely be intimidating when he wanted to be, and he had toned it down for the toddler in front of him.“Sachi, calm down,” he said, “Sakura is not an enemy and she will not hurt you. Let her give you a bath.”Sakura hadn’t expected that to work so easily, but immediately Sachi turned to Sakura and extended her hand. Sakura took it and threw a pointed glance up at Itachi. She took Yamato’s hand in her free one and pulled them into her room, shutting the door behind her.After each child was given a hot, scouring bath and a bowl of ramen from the kitchens, Sakura brought them back to their room. She tugged down at the hem of Sachi’s new dress (well, new to her) as she pushed the door open and was surprised to find Itachi in the room.It looked like he had cleaned up, straightening the linens on the beds, scooping the toys into a neat pile by the window, and wiping away any dust that had settled in the absence of patients.Sakura wanted to make a snide remark about it – she had planned on cleaning up after dinner – but she chose to let it go.“I’m surprised you had the energy to do all this,” she said instead, careful to keep her tone neutral, “But I’m glad you’re here now. I think it’s time to go over some ground rules with the children.”Itachi nodded and took a seat at the end of the nearest bed. Sachi climbed down Sakura and ran to sit in his lap. Sakura huffed, teetering between amused and annoyed. Of all the people for a young girl to be infatuated with…Sakura pulled herself up onto the opposite bed and patted the spot next to her. Yamato obligingly hopped up beside her and waited patiently for her to speak. She didn’t miss the way Itachi’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. Maybe Yamato hadn’t been as well-behaved for him, she thought.“Alright,” Sakura began, “Rule number one. Neither of you are allowed to leave this room unless either Itachi or me is with you. Got it?”Both children nodded.“Good. Rule number two. There will be no screaming or yelling or any loud noise-making of any kind. There are many people here who are sick and are trying to recover. Understood?”They nodded again.“And rule three. You are not to enter the room at the end of the hall right here,” Sakura said, “That’s my office and there are lots of dangerous things in there. I don’t want you to get hurt.”The children nodded in tandem.“Good,” she said, smiling, “Itachi-san, is there anything you’d like to add?”“No,” he answered.“Alright then,” she said, clapping her hands together with finality, “Let’s get you guys into bed.”“I’m not tired yet, Sakura-san,” Yamato said through a yawn.“Of course you aren’t, Yamato-chan,” she said, pulling the covers up around his shoulders, “But if you want to be big and strong like Itachi-san, you have to get a good night’s sleep.”Yamato acquiesced and snuggled down into his bed. Sakura ruffled his hair affectionately and turned to tuck Sachi in only to find that Itachi had already done it. He stood over her bed, watching her with an expression Sakura couldn’t quite pinpoint.“Itachi-san?”His eyes snapped up to her.“I’d like to run a few tests now, if you’re up for it.”“Of course.”.Itachi, like most people, was not a fan of being stuck with a needle. Or maybe it was the fact that it was an enemy doing the sticking, but Sakura couldn’t help but notice the tense way he watched her.He was sitting on the bed in his room, rigidly like he was expecting her to attack at any moment.“I’m not going to attack you, Itachi-san,” she said, not bothering to hide the irritation that tickled her chest, “It would be counter-productive to my mission.”Itachi said nothing, keeping his eyes trained forward.“So, Sachi seems to really like you.”He didn’t answer.“What do you have to do to earn the blind trust of a little girl like that?”Sakura withered under the scouring gaze he threw at her. She knew better than to poke the bear – especially this bear – but there was something about his relationship with the little girl that didn’t sit well with Sakura.“How much longer will this take?” Itachi asked, his voice restrained.“I’m almost done,” she said wearily, letting her glowing hands fall to his chest again. She let her chakra flow through him and noticed that he was resisting her less and less. He almost seemed to welcome her chakra.Delving deeper, Sakura realized that he was probably in a lot of pain. His lungs were in poor condition, filled with blood. His throat was raw from coughing too much. His immune system was already in shambles and now he had to suffer through this mysterious infection on top of it all.She set to work healing some of the damage in his lungs – not too much of it, she still needed her bargaining chip. Itachi visibly relaxed, letting the tension melt from his shoulders.“She wet the bed,” Itachi said, pulling her out of her own thoughts.She paused and looked up at his face.“I didn’t bring any extra clothes for her, so I had to give her my shirt.”Oh. Well, she certainly hadn’t been expecting that. The thought of Sachi tugging on Itachi’s sleeve after having wet the bed amused her thoroughly, but she wisely decided against laughing.Sakura pulled her hands away from him and collected the syringes and bottles from his bedside table and tucked them back into her medkit.“Thank you for your cooperation, Itachi-san,” she said, “I’ll check in with you again in the morning. Try to get some rest.”.Sakura tossed and turned for the better part of the night. Itachi had given her no indication that he was going to harm her – quite the opposite in fact. It just felt too strange to fall asleep with a known enemy on the other side of the wall. She wondered if he was sleeping – if he felt weird about being around her as well.After a couple hours of restlessness, Sakura flicked the lights on and moved over to her desk where she started analyzing the samples she had retrieved from Itachi. If she wasn’t able to sleep, she could at least be doing something productive.It was tedious work and Itachi’s samples looked much like the other samples she had been staring at for a month. She had hoped that finding someone with a recent infection would give her the clarity she needed or lead to a breakthrough. After a few hours of searching, Sakura found that she had been right about Itachi’s autoimmune disease being the reason he contracted the disease in spite of his capability with chakra. The weakness of his immune system left him extremely vulnerable to an infection like this one. The state of his body shocked her – he could die at any moment, really. His organs were slowly failing and his body was no longer able to fight off bacteria. She was surprised he was still alive at all. How long had he been living like this?And she had promised to heal him. Completely.She blinked rapidly, getting her eyes adjusted after having spent so much time looking under the microscope. How could she broach a topic like this with him? How would he react to her not being able to hold up her end of the bargain? Would he get violent?A knock at the door startled her.“Sakura-san?”It was just Rokuda. Sakura let out a sigh of relief.“Come in,” she called, turning back to her microscope.She heard the door open and then shut again.“I see you amassed a few new patients,” Rokuda said.“Oh,” Sakura said, “Yes, I meant to tell you. The man in the adjacent room has been recently infected. You don’t need to keep an eye out for that anymore. I’m looking over his samples now.”Rokuda hummed thoughtfully.“And the room across from him has a couple of kids,” Sakura continued, “They aren’t sick, but they were traveling with him.”“Sakura-san, I came up here to tell you that Kira left yesterday,” Rokuda said, her voice laced with a bitter sadness, “I tried to stop her, but she kept talking on and on about how she wanted to see the world. She didn’t seem to care at all that we really need her here.”Sakura pondered this information for a moment, still fixated on the sample beneath the microscope. Kira hadn’t been anything special in terms of medical jutsu. She was just an extra helping hand.“And what about Amika?” Sakura asked.“She’s still here for now,” Rokuda answered, “But I think she wants to follow in Kira’s footsteps soon. Before this epidemic both of them were going to move to Cloud together. I don’t think they ever intended on being nurses. At least not like this.”Sakura swiveled away from her microscope and gave Rokuda a weak smile, “Rokuda-san, I owe you an apology. This is taking a lot longer than we promised it would. I’m sorry that we under-delivered.”“We are just grateful for your help, Sakura-san.”“Don’t worry about losing Kira,” Sakura said, turning back to her desk, “We’ll manage without her. The worst part is over.”.Late in the morning, Sakura peeked into the children’s room to find them sleeping soundly. It was a wonder they managed to sleep so late, but Sakura guessed they must have been exhausted from all the traveling they had been doing.She shut the door with a barely audible click and reached back for the handle of her own door when her hand collided with something warm and hard. She pulled her arm back to her chest and spun to face Itachi who appeared not to care that she had just smacked him in the torso.“How are the children?” he asked.“They’re sleeping,” she answered, her guard up after having been sneaked up on, “And you should be too.”“I’m hungry,” he said, and Sakura wished that her voice was always as steady as his seemed to be.“You know where the kitchens are,” she replied with an annoyed tone. Was he really asking her to make breakfast for him?“I don’t know where they are,” Itachi answered, his tone infuriatingly neutral again, “And I wasn’t sure if it was wise to walk about freely. There might be someone here who could recognize me.”“Fine,” Sakura said with a huff, “I’ll get some breakfast for you.”Like a petulant child, Sakura stomped her feet as she started down the hallway, but paused when she felt Itachi’s slender fingers wrap around her upper arm. She swung around to face him, to yell at him for touching her.“If it is a problem, I will go myself,” Itachi said, cutting her off before she could try to retaliate, “I don’t want to inconvenience you.”“Is that sarcasm?”“No.”They stared at one another for a moment before Itachi’s stomach growled loudly. She looked up at his face to catch any embarrassment she might find pinkening his cheeks, but to her disappointment he appeared as cool and collected as ever.“Let me show you where the kitchens are,” she said with her best attempt at nonchalance..Itachi didn’t wait for permission before he began pulling pots and pans out of the cabinets and wrestling food out of the refrigerator. Sakura watched with mouth agape as Itachi began cutting up vegetables with dexterity only a ninja could possess.“Is something wrong?” he asked, glancing up from the cutting board.“I didn’t peg you at the cooking type,” she replied with a furrowed brow, “It doesn’t seem like something you’d be good at.”“You don’t know me,” Itachi replied, and even though his tone didn’t sound condescending or cruel in any way, Sakura felt herself bristling.“I know you killed your entire clan. I know you tortured your little brother. I know that you and the rest of Akatsuki are planning on killing my best friend and doing god-knows-what with all the tailed-beasts,” Sakura said, her voice growing louder with each word, “So yeah, it feels a little weird to throw good at cooking into the mix of things I already know about you.”Itachi set his knife down and braced himself against the counter in front of him, staring down at the cutting board. A beat of silence filled the room, tense and overwhelming. Sakura could feel her heartbeat up in her throat.She didn’t wait for him to respond before she left, slamming the door behind her..A short while later, Sakura was interrupted from her studies by the sound of two children screaming.In a panic, Sakura leapt from her chair and darted into their room to see what was the matter. She rolled her eyes when she saw the two siblings rolling around on the floor, pinching and biting one another.“Knock it off,” Sakura said in a tone much too casual, not quite authoritative enough, “Remember rule number two.”The children continued their scuffle in spite of Sakura’s warning until she grabbed each of them by the collar and yanked them away from one another.“Yamato-chan,” Sakura said, “You’re not acting very much like a ninja right now. Would a ninja attack his sister?”“She started it!” he exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at Sachi, “She was pulling my hair.”“That doesn’t excuse your behavior,” Sakura said, “Now go get washed up and I’ll make you two some breakfast.”Yamato dutifully trotted off to wash up and Sakura pretended not to hear when he muttered under his breath about stupid rules and stupider sisters. When he was gone, Sakura turned back to Sachi.“You really shouldn’t provoke him like that,” Sakura said, smoothing out the girl’s rumpled dress. She would need to go find her some proper sleep clothes today, if time permitted.Sachi said nothing, but the protrusion of her lower lip told Sakura exactly what Sachi thought of the whole ordeal.“Come on, let’s go get washed up.”.Sakura hadn’t imagined it would be so hard to help two perfectly able bodied children brush their teeth and wash their faces – nor had she expected there to be so much whining during the process.After twenty grueling minutes, Sakura took them down to the kitchens to get them some breakfast. She listened carefully as she passed Itachi’s door, but she heard nothing – meaning he was either sleeping (unlikely) or he was still down in the kitchens.And he was – scooping an omelet out of a pan and onto a plate.“Itachi-san!”Sachi ran over to Itachi and latched herself around his leg, grinning up at him with bright eyes. Sakura wondered if Sachi would love the man so much if she knew some of the atrocities he’d committed – if she was even capable of understanding them at such a young age.“Sachi, I made you some breakfast,” Itachi said, patting the girl atop the head. He actually looked down at her and smiled – a small smile, but a smile nonetheless. It was an expression she rarely saw on Sasuke and certainly had not expected to see on his older brother.Sakura watched as he scooped her up and set her down at the head of the table and placed a plate full of food in front of her.“I made some for you, too, Yamato,” Itachi said, setting down another plate at the opposite end of the table. Yamato took his seat without so much as a thank you and began stuffing his face with food.“I took the liberty of making some for you as well, Sakura-san,” Itachi said, adding two more plates to the table, “Though I understand if you do not want it.”Sakura eyed the plated omelet suspiciously.“It wouldn’t do me any good to poison you, now would it?” Itachi said with just a hint of mirth in his voice, “Besides, I’d never risk accidentally poisoning Sachi or Yamato.”Apparently their earlier encounter had been forgotten. Or at least forgiven.Sakura sat down at the table slowly, cautiously. Itachi took the seat across from her. The four ate in silence – well, save for the sounds of Sachi and Yamato inhaling food with gaping mouths.“Itachi-san, can you teach me some cool ninja moves today?” Yamato asked as he chewed with his mouth open.“He needs to rest today, Yamato-chan,” Sakura said before Itachi had a chance to answer, “Maybe in a couple of days if he’s feeling better.”“I’m feeling no worse than usual,” Itachi said, “Aside from the dizzy spell yesterday, I haven’t noticed many symptoms.”“The symptoms will get worse, Itachi-san,” Sakura said, “You need to rest and let your body heal itself. It’s going to be much harder with your condition.”“Is Itachi-san going to die like mama?”Sakura was stunned by the question and turned to look at Sachi’s wide, brimming eyes. If the moment hadn’t been so somber, Sakura would have found to sight of her comical – dark curls flying about her head, eyes as large as Sakura had ever seen glittering with unshed tears, quivering lower lip.“I’m not going to die,” Itachi said with unmistakable certainty, “Sakura-san is the best medic-nin in the world. She is very capable.”Sakura eyed Itachi with disdain, miffed that he would mock her so openly and in front of the children. But when she looked back at Sachi she saw that the girl had blinked the tears away and pulled her lower lip back to its rightful place.“Thank you, Sakura-san,” she said in the tiniest voice Sakura had ever heard.Sakura fixed her gaze on Itachi who was regarding her with… was it appreciation? It was hard to tell, but it was warm and unsettling.“Oh, I thought I heard voices in here.”Sakura turned to the door and saw Amika holding an armful of linens. She hefted them up higher to get a better grip before dumping them in a nearby laundry cart. She wiped her brow with the back of her hand and smiled warmly at Sakura.“I was just working on getting some of the bed clothes changed,” she said, “Are these new patients of yours? I could have fed them for you.”“Eh, no,” Sakura said, “Not exactly. Well, kind of.”Amika raised an inquisitive eyebrow.“Itachi-san is my patient,” Sakura said, waving her hand in the general direction of the Uchiha, “The kids are his companions.”Amika smiled prettily at Itachi and nodded her head, “Itachi-san, you’re in good hands here.”He nodded to her, and resumed eating.“So, Sakura-san,” Amika said, pulling up a chair, “Is there anything you need help with today?”Sakura nearly snorted, “You actually want to help me?”But when she looked over at Amika she found the young nurse staring intently at Itachi, an expression of sheer admiration on her face.Sakura tensed up, feeling very uncomfortable with Amika’s obvious attraction toward the famed Uchiha. It was one thing for Sachi to admire him – she wasn’t in a position to protect Sachi from the man. He had made it clear he didn’t really pose a danger to her anyway.But Amika was her nurse. She had no idea what Itachi had done in his past, no idea what a monster he really was.She couldn’t really blame Amika. She didn’t know the truth. She just saw Itachi for what he was at face value – an attractive man close to her age.Sakura cleared her throat.“What?” Amika asked, tearing her eyes away from Itachi to glance back at Sakura who was glaring at her.“You want to help me, huh?” Sakura asked, “Why don’t you start by going over the notes I left on my desk. See if you can find a reason why Itachi-san here hasn’t keeled over yet in spite of his two very serious conditions.”“Sakura-san!”“What?” Sakura asked, feigning innocence.“Your bedside manner!” Amika said, aghast, “Your patient is sitting right here!”“He’s tough,” Sakura said, chewing her food with indifference, “He can handle some harsh words. He’s handled much worse.”Amika fixed her with a petulant look.“Go,” Sakura said, “Now.”Amika narrowed her eyes at Sakura and then flashed Itachi a bright smile, “You’ll have to excuse her. She’s a brilliant medic, but she has quite a mouth.”Wisely, Amika darted from the room before Sakura could gather enough chakra in her fist to punch the insolent girl through the nearest wall. When she was certain the girl was gone, Sakura resumed eating, pretending not to enjoy it as much as she actually was. She couldn’t let Itachi know that he was a decent cook.“She’s right,” Itachi said, that small trace of mirth back in his eyes again, “You do have quite a mouth.”She snapped her eyes up to his and pushed her chair away from the table with enough force to jostle everyone’s plates.“You are in no position to judge me, Uchiha,” she said through clenched teeth.“I was only teasing,” Itachi said, and Sakura didn’t miss the way his tone was almost remorseful.“Teasing?” Sakura said, vaguely aware that her tone was bordering on hysterical, “You think we’re friends now? That you can tease me like that?”“That wasn’t my-”“You have no right to tease me like we’re friends.”“I know.”“Do you even have friends? Is that why you feel the need to do this?”Sakura was hovering over the table, leaning toward Itachi with growing rage, her hands trembling. It occurred to her that she must be out of her mind to say such things to a man like Itachi.Itachi had remained seated and silent in spite of Sakura’s hissy fit and glanced awkwardly between Sachi and Yamato who looked shocked and a little bit frightened.“Rule number two, Sakura-san,” Yamato said in that condescending way that kids sometimes say things.Sakura felt herself deflating and sunk back into her chair with a groan.After a beat of silence, Itachi pushed his chair back and began clearing the table.“I’ll clean up,” Sakura said.Itachi paused and eyed her skeptically.“Just take the children back to their room, please,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.Itachi dropped the plates he had been holding into the sink and scooped Sachi up. She attached herself to his hip in that way that toddlers do and rested her head on his shoulder, giving Sakura a reproachful look.“Come on, Yamato,” he said quietly but firmly. Yamato jumped up from his place at the table and followed Itachi to the door. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Itachi liked to think he was a patient man. He’d put up with his fair share of temper tantrums from Sasuke when they were younger, but Sakura’s behavior was completely unacceptable in his opinion.He knew, of course, that he was in no position to reprimand her. That would surely only exacerbate the situation.But he didn’t like the way she lost her temper in front of the children. He didn’t like the way she had said such cruel things about him while they were listening. It was different when they had been alone – when the bite of her words only stung him. It was entirely different to see Sachi and Yamato frightened of the woman who would supposedly be taking over care of them in the near future.It occurred to him that he was the reason she was so volatile. She didn’t know the sacrifices that he had made, the horrible things he’d been through. All she knew was that he was the source of her pain.But there was nothing he could do about that.“Itachi-san, will you read us a story?” Sachi was tugging on his sleeve with a stack of children’s books propped under her arm.“If you and Yamato can agree on which one to read,” he replied. He leaned back against the headboard of Sachi’s bed and stretched his legs out.Sachi toddled over to Yamato’s bed where he sat fiddling around with a kunai he had “borrowed” from Itachi’s weapons pouch. She tossed the books on the bed and climbed up next to her brother.Itachi closed his eyes and smiled, listening to Sachi and Yamato discuss which book they’d like to hear. He was surprised they hadn’t begun to argue yet.He tried not to think about Sakura downstairs, probably still sitting at the table with her head in her hands – not cleaning the dishes that ought to have been properly rinsed off by now.He felt Sachi pull on his sleeve again and cracked open an eye. She extended a book to him and began climbing into his lap. The book was pink with a picture of a little blonde girl holding a purple cake on the cover.“Princess Coco’s Baking Adventure,” Itachi read the title aloud, “Did you approve this, Yamato?”Yamato shrugged his shoulders indifferently and continued spinning the kunai around his fingers.“Princess Coco’s Baking Adventure it is,” Itachi said, pulling Sachi fully into his lap and tucking her head under his chin. He held the book open to where she could see the pictures and began to read to her.He felt weirdly calm and pleasant reading to Sachi. She giggled as he read, pointing with excitement to things little girls liked like Princess Coco’s fancy dress or trays of cupcakes with rainbow frosting.He realized with a start that he was feeling happy. In spite of being so close to enemy territory with a Konoha-nin essentially taking care of him, he felt happy.Sachi was the source of this happiness – he couldn’t really deny it at this point. He felt a strong affection for the girl, and her older brother to a lesser degree. The thought of leaving her with Sakura pained him. The thought of leaving her at all pained him.He knew what was best for her: being in Konoha where she would be taken care of and loved. He could think of no better place for her. It certainly wouldn’t be with him in Rain or on the run.Itachi turned the page and continued reading softly. He spared a glance at Yamato who had abandoned his kunai practice and was engrossed quietly in a book of his own.Flipping the page, Itachi began to read the caption underneath a picture of Princess Coco wearing an apron and holding up a spatula coated with pink frosting when he noticed that Sachi had not pointed to anything in a while. He looked down into his lap and saw her even breathing, her chest rising and falling in a steady cadence. Her eyes were shut, her thick lashes resting lightly on her cheeks.Itachi shut the book and set it down on the bed beside him and pulled the blanket over the both of them. Sachi had the right idea. He could use a good nap, too..He was awake the instant he felt Sakura’s presence on the other side of the door. His immediate reaction was that he needed to move away from Sachi. Sakura already had the wrong idea about their relationship. He didn’t feel the need to explain it to her (it was none of her business), but seeing the pair of them dozing off together probably didn’t paint the best picture.But he didn’t want to wake the poor girl who looked so much like a cherub when she was sleeping. Her cheeks were tinged and rosy and her breaths were soft, nearly musical. She looked like she could have been a character from her book or an angel from a painting.Instead of jostling her, Itachi stayed put but shifted himself up higher so that he was sitting up. He saw from the light pouring through the window that it was somewhere close to noon. He had slept for most of the morning. He noticed that Yamato appeared to be missing, his kunai and books left scattered about his bed.“Itachi-san,” Sakura said, not bothering to knock before she entered the room. If she had any particular feelings about him holding Sachi against his chest while they both were in her bed she made no indication of it. Her gaze was steely and sharp.“I was hoping to get in a quick healing session,” she said, “If you feel well-rested enough.”Itachi gingerly stood up, cradling Sachi in his arms and set her down in the spot he had just been. When he had covered her again with the blanket he turned back to Sakura.A feeling of dizziness swept over him – not as severe as the first time it had happened, but strong enough that Itachi had to brace his hand against the wall beside the bed.Sakura was at his side in an instant, her fingers looped around his arms. She tried to pull him toward Yamato’s bed, but he pushed her away.“I’m fine,” he said, though he was not feeling fine, “Where is Yamato?”“Rokuda-san has put him to work,” Sakura said, “He’s outside pulling weeds.”Itachi didn’t know who Rokuda was, but was pleased to know that Yamato was doing something to pull his weight – their weight, he thought. He had made a deal with Sakura, but that had nothing to do with the inn in which he and the children were staying for free now.“So how about that healing session?” Sakura asked.He took a good look at her now. She was wearing what he presumed was her standard gear – red vest, black shorts with a pink apron buckled over top. They were rumpled like she had slept in them. Her eyes were dry, but bloodshot. She had most likely been crying and had the good sense to wash her face afterwards.“Are you alright?” he asked. It was probably not a good idea to ask such a question. She seemed volatile enough to explode at even an innocent inquiry. He figured she might have taken offense at the fact that he was either telling her she didn’t look alright or that she wasn’t in the best condition to facilitate a healing session.But instead her shoulders appeared to droop and she cast her eyes downward toward his feet.“I should be the one asking you that,” she said.Itachi had nothing to say to that and they stood in silence for a moment before Sakura spoke again.“Let’s take this across the hall so we don’t wake Sachi,” she said, “I’d really like to make some good progress today.”Itachi followed her to his own room and took a seat on his bed. Sakura stood in front of him – too close for his comfort – but then her hands were on his chest, funneling her sweet, cooling chakra into his lungs.“There will have to be two phases to your recovery,” she said, her tone clinical and nothing like the way she had spoken to him in the kitchen, “The first phase will be to clear the new infection, but because you are the key to my cure for it, that phase will likely be prolonged.”Itachi nodded and resisted the urge to let his eyes fall shut. The pain in his chest had begun to fade away and he felt like his lungs could take in a full and deep breath without causing him to careen into a coughing fit. He didn’t want to test that theory just yet, but the sensation was relaxing all the same.“As for your autoimmune disease,” Sakura began, “It will take much longer to fix. Longer than I original thought.”His posture went rigid and he locked his eyes onto hers. “So you’re unable to hold up your end of the bargain?” he asked.“Not in the time frame I slated,” she said, her tone still clinical, no trace of the volatility he had been expected, “But if you can spare a few extra days, I can still make sure you leave here a perfectly healthy man.”Itachi thought about this for a moment. He was already defying his orders from Akatsuki. He should have arrived in Rain by now and people would be wondering where he was. Kisame might cover for him, but he couldn’t know for sure.He could potentially tell them the truth – a portion of it at least. He had fallen ill with a highly contagious disease and had gone to the nearest town with a force able to handle such an infection.But if they chose to investigate these claims they would find Sakura at the heart of the operation. It was an entanglement that was questionable at best – traitorous at worst.He didn’t really have a choice – he supposed. He could leave after she had cleared the infection, but he was likely to get sick again and die. He couldn’t fathom dying any way but by Sasuke’s hand – a fate he could no longer predict now that he had no idea where his little brother was. Last he had heard, the boy had killed Orochimaru and fled from Sound.If he stayed here, Sakura could heal him and Sasuke would have his chance at revenge. That was more important than anything else.Distantly, as if the thought was not his own, he was pleased to know that staying a few days longer meant more time with Sachi as well. He did not dwell on that.“I guess I’ll have to stay a few extra days, then,” Itachi said.Sakura peered at him, head tilted. A strand a pink hair had fallen into her eyes and she flicked it away with a slender finger. Itachi wondered briefly what Sasuke thought of this very pink woman in front of him. Did he put up with her sometimes violent antics? Did she even have those spurts of anger when Sasuke was around?“You’re nothing like I thought you would be, Itachi-san.”She was looking at him with an expression he recognized to be regret, but he couldn’t quite determine why she would feel that way. Looking into her eyes, bloodshot as they were, made him feel uncomfortable so he shifted his gaze to the floor.“I thought you might be more like Sasuke,” she ventured. He could tell by her voice that she was nervous to bring up his brother in front of him.“The way you are with Sachi…” she said, her words trailing, falling, sinking, “I can’t imagine Sasuke acting that way. He’s always so cold. Maybe he wouldn’t be that way around kids. Babies. I don’t know.”Itachi was listening with rapt attention. He had been keeping tabs on Sasuke to the best of his abilities, but he longed to know more. There was only so much information he could glean from a distance. But here was Sakura – his teammate, someone who would know him better than anyone else – confessing things she ought not confess to a man like Itachi.“You’re not like him at all,” Sakura continued, “He would never have made me breakfast – not even when we were on missions together. And he would never have tolerated me yelling at him the way I yelled at you today.”Her hands were still on his chest, but the sensation of her chakra had receded. She let them linger there a second longer than was probably appropriate and Itachi wondered if she was thinking about Sasuke, imagining that it was him on the bed in front of her instead of Itachi.“I’m sorry,” she said, “for yelling at you. I shouldn’t have done that in front of Sachi and Yamato.”His heart ached a little bit when he caught the pained expression on her face. She looked so much like Sachi when she was about to cry that he felt a sudden urge to pull her into his chest and stroke her hair.“I’m just so angry,” she continued, “At Sasuke for leaving us. And you for making him want to.”“You really love my brother.”She looked up at him and he saw a flash of anger in her features before it faded away just as quickly as it had come.“Of course I love him.”Itachi felt a pang of jealousy tighten in his chest. He was happy, of course, that his little brother was loved. It was so hard to remember what having loved ones felt like – what it felt like to know that someone out there loved him. An image of Sachi presented itself in his mind, unbidden. He blinked several times and let out a labored sigh.“I’m going to extend my chakra into all of your chakra points now,” Sakura said, her clinical tone back, “It won’t hurt, but it will require a lot of my concentration – so no more talking.”Itachi was grateful for the shift in mood. They were approaching dangerous territory. Maybe later he would ask her about Sasuke some more.“I appreciate your apology, Sakura-san,” Itachi said.Sakura, who had her eyes closed and her hands back against his chest, shushed him.“I’m sorry if my presence is painful for you.”“Be quiet, please.”“I will do my best not to provoke you any further.”Sakura glared at him but continued to work in silence, threading her chakra into his system. It felt different than before – stronger and tighter, like she was winding up all of his nerves and stretching them taut. It was unpleasant, but not painful.When he had familiarized himself with the sensation and was no longer distracted by it, he noticed that her hands were trembling. She was unguarded now, with her eyes closed as she worked. Itachi took that moment to really look at her face. Beneath the thin skin of her eyelids, he could see her eyes darting about as if she were dreaming. Her lashes – a dark pink, he noticed – shook against her cheeks. Her lips were parted when she caught her lower lip between her teeth and chewed it pensively before releasing it.Itachi cast his eyes down to the floor, feeling as though he had somehow invaded her privacy by looking at her..Sakura had spent nearly an hour funneling her chakra into Itachi and when she finally left, Itachi felt relieved. She had exhausted a massive portion of her chakra – he could feel that her signature was weakened severely. It made him wonder just what she had been doing to him and just how much chakra med-nins usually used.But with his room to himself again, Itachi felt like he could breathe. Being around Sakura made him uncomfortable. She was a variable he couldn’t have predicted when he formulated his plan to bring Yamato and Sachi to Toyeiki, and now he wasn’t quite sure how to deal with her.She was predictably hostile toward him, save for when she slipped into her medic mode – a mode Itachi much preferred. He couldn’t blame her for that. They were enemies to be sure. At least as far as she was concerned.Her hostility kept him on edge. She had been the one to propose the deal to him, yet he couldn’t help but feel like she would somehow stab him in the back. Once she had found the cure she needed, would she really just let him go? If it came down to a true fight, Itachi had no doubt that he would win. But there were many other ways that Sakura could subdue him.He wondered what Sakura might do with him if she did manage such a thing. Surely she wouldn’t want to kill him knowing that Sasuke wanted desperately to be the one to strike the final blow. Would she take him back to Konoha? What would happen to him there? Hiruzen had known the truth – been a crucial part of it, in fact. Did Tsunade know as well? He had no way of knowing what information the Fifth had learned.Itachi felt a deep longing to speak to Tsunade, just to confirm what she might know. He didn’t know much about the woman, but she had been chosen as Hokage and he trusted that she could look after Konoha just as well as her four predecessors. Uninterested in letting his thoughts sour his mood, Itachi decided to peek into Sachi’s room and see if she was still asleep.She was awake, sitting on her bed with her book in her lap. She was humming softly – nonsensical notes, not in the slightest bit musical – and swaying back and forth. Itachi watched her, unnoticed. She would flip a page, giggle to herself and then flip to a new one. “Sachi,” Itachi said, “Did you have a good nap?”The girl slammed her book shut with a loud snap and rushed over to him, arms wide so she could circle them around his legs.“Come on,” Itachi said, “Let’s go find your brother.”They found poor Yamato outside with the woman Sakura had said was named Rokuda. They were in what appeared to have once been a garden, now overgrown with weeds and shrubs. Yamato was yanking weeds up with a gloved hand and tossing them into a wheelbarrow. His face was red and a sheen of sweat coated his skin.“Rokuda-san,” Yamato whined, “I’m hungry.”“No whining,” said the woman, who was carefully tilling the ground in an area that Yamato must have already cleared.“Itachi-san!” Yamato exclaimed when he caught sight of Itachi and Sachi standing near the garden’s entrance. He dropped the weeds in his hand into the wheelbarrow and crossed the garden, “Itachi-san, I’m so hungry and this mean old lady won’t let me eat!”“I told you that you can eat when all the weeds are pulled,” Rokuda said, leaning her hoe against the wooden fence. She extended her hand to Itachi with a friendly smile, “You must be Sakura’s new patient. I’m Rokuda.”Itachi shook her hand and gave her a weak smile as he introduced himself.“Itachi-san is in charge,” Yamato said, crossing his arms with an angry huff, “And he’s here now, so I can leave.”“Not quite, Yamato,” Itachi said, “Rokuda-san is nice enough to let us stay here at no cost. The least you can do is help her pull the weeds.”“But—”“No buts,” Itachi said, “Sachi and I will help so it won’t take as long. Then I will make you some lunch.”Yamato sucked in an angry breath, but returned to his spot and began yanking weeds from the ground. Itachi and Yamato continued to pull weeds while Sachi played in the dirt. Too late, Itachi realized that he should not have let Sachi play in the dirt. Now both she and her brother would need a bath before they could eat. He was certain that Yamato could bathe on his own, but Sachi would need assistance and he wasn’t sure what Sakura would think of him bathing her.Itachi wondered if Sakura would be willing to bathe her while he made their food, but he didn’t feel comfortable asking her. It was a hard enough subject to broach without the added factor of having to ask a hostile enemy.While he thought of this, Itachi made quick work of the rest of the weeds in the garden. Yamato had followed his lead and started to put a little more effort into the task, but with Itachi doing most of the work the garden was cleared in less than an hour.“Thank you so much for your help, Yamato-chan,” Rokuda said when they had finished, “And you, too, Itachi-san.”Itachi nodded to the woman and took the children inside for their baths, leaving Rokuda to work in peace on her garden. He left them to play in their room for a moment before resigning himself to asking for Sakura’s help.He knocked on her door.“Come in,” Sakura yelled from the other side.Itachi was surprised to see Sakura’s state when he entered her room. She had changed into sweatpants and her hair was wet, twisted into a messy chignon on the top of her head. She was curled into a desk chair, her legs bent at an angle he would have found uncomfortable. She held a journal in her lap and tapped the eraser end of a pencil against her lips. Beneath her eyes were dark purple shadows, and Itachi could sense that had not regained much of her chakra yet.He wanted to turn around and forget that he’d entered the room at all. She was working hard and obviously still tired. It wasn’t a good time to ask a favor of her.“Oh, Itachi-san,” she said, uncurling herself, “I thought you were Amika.”She stood up and tossed her journal onto the desk. Standing up, it was easier to see just how small she looked inside her baggy clothes. He would not have believed that this pink-haired mess in front of him was a ninja if he had not already known.“Are you feeling ill?” she asked. He wanted to ask her the same thing.“No,” he answered, “I wanted to ask a favor of you, if it’s not too much of an imposition.”She raised a brow and folded her arms across her chest. He could only imagine what types of things were running through her mind – what things she presumed he might ask her.“Yamato, Sachi, and I helped Rokuda-san clear the weeds from her garden,” Itachi said before Sakura could come to her own conclusions. They would likely only cause her to become angry with him. “Could you give Sachi a bath while I make food for everyone?”“Oh,” she said, clearly not expecting his question, “Yes, I suppose I could do that. Or maybe I could get Amika to do it. I have a lot of work to do.”Itachi couldn’t quite explain it, but he didn’t want Amika to be the one to bathe Sachi. He didn’t know Amika, save for the previous incident in the kitchen (an incident that didn’t paint her in the most favorable way).“If it’s too much of an imposition, I can do it myself,” Itachi said, “I assumed you might be more comfortable if someone else did it.”She looked up at him with a penetrating gaze. Itachi forced himself not to flinch under her scrutiny. It was a wonder that a woman so small and so pink could make him feel ashamed – like he had done something wrong. It was ironic. He could kill her in the blink of an eye, yet he couldn’t look at her face.“I will bathe her,” Sakura said with finality, “And Yamato, too.”“Thank you,” Itachi said.A beat of silence followed, neither of them knowing what to say. For a moment, Itachi couldn’t draw his eyes away from her. She looked exhausted, grumpy, and damp. He marveled at the fact that his life was in her hands, that her hands were even capable of such a thing.“Would you like me to make some food for you as well?” he asked, “You look like you’ve been working hard. Your chakra signature is weak. You must be hungry.”“What’s your angle, Itachi?”“Excuse me?”She had cocked her hip to the side and placed a supportive hand against her desk. It was a casual pose, but juxtaposed by the growing seriousness on her face. Itachi braced himself for her next outburst“I mean, why do you care so much about these kids?” she asked, “And why are you being so nice – well, pleasant – to me? I don’t understand your motives. You kill your clan, people you should have loved, but these two random children that I still don’t understand how you came to possess-” Itachi flinched at her harsh inflection of the word “-are so important to you and you take such good care of them. Watching you with Sachi – it’s so weird. If I didn’t know who you are and what you’ve done, I’d have a completely different opinion of you. You seem so goddamn nice and I hate it. I wish you would just be cruel. Why can’t you just act like a missing-nin should act?”During her rant, Sakura had straightened herself up, chest puffed out almost comically with bravado. She raked her fingers through her damp bangs, flicking them away from her eyes. Her eyes were a brighter shade of green now. They had lost some of the dullness, the gray, that had crept in at some point between their healing session and now.It didn’t take a genius to know why Sakura was so confused. Itachi regretted that he had not acted his part well enough. She should not be questioning whether or not he was a nice person. He had cultivated an image of himself that was now rapidly falling apart. He could blame Sachi and Yamato – they were certainly part of the problem. But in reality, Itachi was tired of playing the villain. It didn’t seem so necessary at the start, and now it was too late to fix.“I’m sorry, Sakura,” he said.She seemed to grow more angry, eyes narrowing sharply. He wondered if she ever directed that same pointed look at Sasuke, or if she only looked at him with tender gazes and affection. He wondered if she could have ever looked at him that way, if things had been different. Would they have been friends? Or would she have regarded him as nothing more than her teammate’s older brother?“No,” she said sharply, “No apologizing. Just tell me why you act this way. I want to know. I want to know what’s wrong with you.”“I wish I could answer your questions,” he said, measuring his tone carefully. He felt his villainous persona had already slipped too far from his grasp. He felt so comfortable here in this spot where he was just a man, where he didn’t have to hold up the weight of the village on his ever-weakening shoulders.“Then just answer them.”“We are shinobi, Sakura,” he said, “Things aren’t always straight-forward.”“Don’t lecture me,” she snapped.He went quiet, expecting her to say something else, but she sagged against her desk and let out an exasperated sigh. He watched her expression soften as she seemed to collapse in on herself like a dying star. He moved closer in case he might need to catch her, but she took a step back from him.It occurred to him that she must be feeling a myriad of things right now. She was on a mission that didn’t seem to be going so well for her. Her teammate was missing and she was too far away to do anything about it should any update be made, and the man responsible for it was currently standing in her office.“If you need me to be mean,” Itachi said, “I can do it. If it would help you.”“Shut up,” she muttered, “That makes no sense.”In spite of the seriousness of the situation, Itachi laughed. He couldn’t recall a time when someone had told him to shut up. She looked up at him with incredulity, no doubt baffled that he was even capable of laughing.“I understand what you must be feeling,” Itachi said, “I’ll do what I can to make all of this go as smoothly and quickly as possible. It’s not my intention to agitate you.”She cast him a skeptical glance.“Best case scenario for both of us is to hold up our ends of the bargain and then go our separate ways,” he continued.She let out another pained sigh and brushed past him into the hallway. “I would appreciate if you made some food for me as well, Itachi-san,” she said and then disappeared into the children’s bedroom. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Just like Sakura had asked, Itachi had set the table and prepared four dishes by the time she had bathed both Yamato and Sachi. They had not fought her so much this time, probably exhausted from a day of pulling weeds. Sakura, too, was feeling exhausted.Itachi was standing in the kitchen near the sink, watching Sakura with undiluted attention. She had expected that Sachi would receive the warmest welcome from the missing-nin, but he seemed to have saved that privilege for her. He continued to watch as she took her seat and began eating.“Thank you for bathing the children, Sakura-san,” Itachi said. He remained standing in the kitchen with no obvious intention of joining them at the table.Sakura glanced up at him from her food. She didn’t like the way he was watching her. His expression was as neutral as ever, as if he were regarding a speck of dirt underneath his fingernail. It was infuriating and unnerving.“It needed to be done and I did it,” she said. “No need to thank me.”Itachi remained silent, watching as she ate her food. If he was trying to provoke a reaction from her, she hated to admit it was working. She wished that for once he could just be accommodating and sit down and eat in silence so that she could go back to working on the cure.“Itachi-san, come sit and eat with us,” Yamato said, patting the chair next to him with a tiny flourish.“Yeah,” agreed Sachi, reaching over to pat the chair but coming up short and patting wildly at the air.The corner of Itachi’s mouth quirked up in an amused smile. It reminded Sakura so much of Sasuke that she felt all the breath leave her body in a shudder. She gasped, sucking in a quick, deep breath. He looked sharply at her, worry evident in his eyes – definitely not like Sasuke. In that moment she realized that what really pissed her off about Itachi being so nice was that it left Sasuke with no excuse. If his psychopathic older brother could be pleasant and polite, damn it, he could, too.“Are you alright, Sakura-san?” Itachi asked. She hated how sincere he sounded.“I’m fine,” she said, “Just come sit down and eat.”Itachi complied and sat down across from her. He turned his attention to his plate – away from her, thank god.Sakura was in tune enough with herself to admit that she was in a bad mood. She couldn’t entirely blame Itachi for this, though he was certainly a big part of it. She was tired and hungry (which she was currently rectifying and could strike from the list, but decided to keep it anyway), and her mission was more wildly complicated than she could have predicted. All together, Sakura felt cranky. She was a mature adult (sort of) who was entirely capable of controlling her emotions, though.So, she supposed that if Itachi could be nice to her, she could be nice to him, too.“Thank you for the food, Itachi-san,” she said, “Where did you learn to cook? You’re very good at it.”That might have been too much, she thought.“My mother taught me.”Yeah, way too much. Sakura cleared her throat and kept her eyes on her plate. It wouldn’t do any good to snap at him in front of Sachi and Yamato, but a sickening mixture of fear and hatred had bubbled up to the surface and she could feel the pressure building. She wouldn’t let herself snap, though. Because she was almost a mature adult.“And I use my Sharingan to watch cooking shows,” the continued casually, “It helps me quickly memorize recipes and techniques.”In that instant, the shock of such a statement converted her hatred into a wild cackle that ripped through her body and out of her mouth so loud that Sachi and Yamato both flinched. She continued to laugh for much longer than was appropriate, until tears had streaked down her cheeks and her sides hurt.Itachi was watching her again, not so unnervingly this time – more with amusement, a smile just beginning to stretch across his lips.“Itachi-san,” Yamato piped up after it was clear that Sakura’s laughter was under control, “What’s a Sharingan?”She watched him falter, maybe not prepared to answer such a question. He swallowed the mouthful of food he had been chewing and rubbed the back of his neck, considering what his answer would be.“It’s a bloodline limit,” he answered – vague to be sure, but he didn’t seem to want to offer any more information.“What does that mean?” Yamato asked.“A bloodline limit is a special ability that is passed down genetically with specific clans,” Sakura answered for him, “Kind of like you and Sachi both have brown hair because one of your parents had brown hair.”“Our hair is a bloodline limit?”“Not quite,” Sakura said with a smile, “It’s just an example of genetics. A bloodline limit is a specific ability. Usually a person who has one is a shinobi.”“You’re a shinobi, aren’t you, Sakura-san?” Yamato asked, “Do you have a bloodline limit?”“No,” Sakura said, and it was a little too difficult to keep the wistfulness out of her tone. Itachi was looking at her again, something between concern and curiosity in his gaze. “And I don’t have a tailed-best inside me either. I’m just plain ole Sakura.”“Tailed-beast…?” Yamato asked, but it was muttered under his breath and Sakura didn’t want to elaborate. She probably shouldn’t have even mentioned it in the first place.Itachi cleared his throat and when Sakura looked up at him she saw that his eyes were crimson. She ripped her eyes away, settling them back down in her lap as a cold lump of fear twisted in her stomach. He promised not to hurt me.“Woah!” Yamato exclaimed. Sakura didn’t have the courage to look away from her lap just yet to see what all the fuss was about.“Is that your bloodline limit?” she heard Yamato ask, “What does it do?”“Maybe I will show you some other time, Yamato-chan,” Itachi said, “But this is what it looks like. If you ever meet someone who has eyes like this, do not look at them. They are very dangerous.”Sakura fidgeted uncomfortably. The only other person he could have been referring to was Sasuke. Did he really think that Sasuke would want to hurt a couple of kids? Ironic, really, because if Sakura had to choose between Itachi and Sasuke as caretakers Sasuke would obviously be her pick. Now, though, she wasn’t so sure anymore.“Will you show me tomorrow?” Yamato asked.“If it’s alright with Sakura-san.”Sakura swallowed, keeping her eyes squeezed shut and her head down. If he was asking if she would allow him to use his Sharingan on Yamato he should have expected that she would not agree to that.But maybe that was what he wanted. He didn’t seem to want to share information about his Sharingan. This way he could pin the blame on Sakura.“Sakura-san?” she heard Yamato say. His voice was pleading, a little bit over the top. She imagined he had busted out his wavering lower lip and was giving her puppy dog eyes.“It’s okay, Sakura-san,” Itachi said, “I’ve deactivated my Sharingan.”She cracked one eye open and stole a highly conspicuous peek at the famed killer to find that, true to his word, he had deactivated his Sharingan and his eyes were once again coal black. He was regarding her with pity, and little bit of concern, which was a combination Sakura didn’t much care for.He turned back to Yamato. “If you or Sachi ever come across someone with eyes like mine, do exactly what Sakura-san did and keep your eyes closed.”Yamato nodded enthusiastically. Sachi, on the other hand, seemed entirely disinterested in the entire conversation and was pushing her food around her plate.“Do you understand, Sachi?” Itachi asked. The girl cocked her head to the side, pausing for a moment and then nodding.Satisfied with her answer, Itachi took another bite of his food.“Do you think Sasuke would hurt them?” Sakura asked. She knew she shouldn’t have. There was no possible answer he could give that wouldn’t anger her in some way, but the curiosity got the better of her.“Of course not,” he answered, “But I think you’d know better than I would.”“Then why warn them about the Sharingan?”“Because…”“Sakura-san,” Yamato interjected.“Because what, Itachi-san?” Sakura asked.“Sakura-san,” Yamato said again.“Never mind,” Itachi said. He’d spoken with finality. The subject was now closed. He turned to his food and took another bite.“No,” Sakura said, pounding her fist on the table, “If you aren’t warning them about Sasuke, then who is it? I thought you two were the only Uchihas left.”“That information is beyond the scope of our bargain,” Itachi said. His tone was cold now – a harsh juxtaposition against his usual warmth.“What information?” Sakura asked, “So there is another Uchiha?”“Sakura-san!”“What, Yamato?” Sakura snapped.He flinched back away from her. “Can Itachi-san show me his Sharingan tomorrow?” he asked.“Absolutely not,” she replied.“Why not?” Yamato asked.“Who is it?” Sakura asked, “Who is the other Uchiha?”A wail came from the lobby then – a pained, sickening cry that could only have come from someone in an excruciating amount of pain. Sakura didn’t hesitate before she was off after the sound. The medic in her took control.The screaming was louder as she approached the lobby – one voice backed by the sounds of lots of people talking, moaning, sobbing.She found herself back in the lobby, kneeling down near a cot that had been recently filled by a portly looking civilian man. He was screaming loudly for no outwardly apparent reason.“I need you to calm down,” Sakura said, green chakra gathering in her palms.Behind her, Sakura realized that many more people were being shuffled into the lobby and onto beds. Rokuda and Amika were directing the swarm of new patients into rooms and cots as they filtered in, but it was apparent that the inn would not be able to contain the crowd.Sakura didn’t think about that as she channeled her chakra into the man. He was sick with the infection. He couldn’t have been in any more pain that those around him. His screaming didn’t cease, even after Sakura had cut off the infection and relieved his pain.“Stop, please,” Sakura said, running a hand through her hair, “You aren’t the only patient here. Tell me why you’re screaming.”His screaming faltered when he saw Sakura’s face, probably for the first time since he’d had his eyes closed since he arrived.“Tell me why you’re screaming so I can help you,” Sakura said with a calmness that she definitely didn’t feel.“My wife – ” he said. He didn’t finish his sentence before he passed out.Sakura sighed deeply and spun around to survey the rest of the damage. It appeared that every room and cot was now filled, and the cries of the sick brought back memories of her first few nights in Toyeiki.“Sakura-san,” Amika spoke. She looked ragged and nervous, “We need the two extra rooms upstairs. We’re already over capacity.”“Okay, clear out the kids room and move their stuff into my office,” she said, “They aren’t sick, so they can stay with me.”“What about the man?” Amika asked.Sakura paused. “I don’t know.”“Sakura-san!”Sakura spun around to see Rokuda carrying a small child in each arm, both looking pale and sweaty.“Rokuda-san,” Sakura said, “Where did all these people come from?”“A caravan,” she said, “I’m not sure if we can handle all of this without Kira.”“We’ll be fine,” Sakura said, “I’m close to a cure. If you can handle getting everyone situated for now, I will go work on it. I need Itachi and I need a couple of hours uninterrupted. You don’t need to work on curing anyone for now. Just make sure they’re comfortable.”Rokuda and Amika nodded and dispersed. Amika disappeared up the stairs and Rokuda found suitable cots for the children in her hands and began going from cot to cot to help out where she could.Sakura ran back to the kitchens. Everything was the way she had left it – the trio still eating at the table. Itachi’s posture was more rigid now. He seemed to understand what had happened and was looking at Sakura expectantly.“How can I help?” he asked, rising from his seat.Help? What help was he offering?“I need you in my office,” she answered, “Now.”Itachi nodded, but cast a questioning glance at the children who were both watching Sakura with a mixture of confusion and fear. They had probably never heard someone scream the way that man had. It certainly hadn’t been pleasant for Sakura, so she imagined it must have been terrifying for them.“Yamato, take your sister and go play outside in the garden,” Sakura commanded, “Do not leave the garden no matter what. And keep an eye on Sachi. Don’t let anything happen to her.”Itachi looked like he wanted to protest, but he said nothing.Sakura crouched down in front of Yamato. “This is your chance to prove that you can be a ninja like Itachi-san,” she said, “Your mission is to protect your sister. Can you do it?”Yamato nodded vigorously and took his sister’s hand.Sakura didn’t need any more affirmation before she had grabbed Itachi’s arm and was dragging him up to her office. Nothing was likely to happen to them in the gardens. No one in their right mind would come anywhere near the inn right now, and the garden was hidden from view. They would be fine.“What’s going on?” Itachi asked, gently pulling his arm out of her grasp.“Massive influx of patients,” she said, running about her office, grabbing her journals, syringes, and bottles of medicines from her cabinets. She indicated to Itachi that he should sit on the bed, “I’m very close to a cure. I was certain I’d have it finished by the end of the day. I hadn’t expected all of this.”Outside the door, groans of pain floated to them - a symphony of pain and sickness. Sakura ignored it and rolled up the sleeve on Itachi’s cloak.“Did you consolidate our rooms?” Itachi asked, gesturing to the toys and books that had been moved into the office.“Just the kids,” Sakura said, plunging the needle into the pale skin of his arm, “I know it’s not the most favorable of situations, but you’ll probably be getting some roommates.”Itachi nodded, complacent. He was far too gracious, Sakura thought.“What can I do to help?” he asked.“What do you mean?” Sakura asked, “Do you have some secret medical ninjustu knowledge you’ve been hiding?”“No,” he said, cocking his head to the side, “I can help you feed and bathe the sick. I can change the bed linens or help you move cots. Whatever you need.”Sakura felt her mouth fall open, gaping like a fish. She realized how dumb she must have looked, but she was in no condition to be too concerned with her appearance, and she could have sworn that Itachi Uchiha had just offered to do grunt work for her.“Are you serious?”“Yes.”Regaining her composure, Sakura placed her emptied syringe on the tray next to the bed and pulled out her medical journal, handing it to Itachi.“I really wish Sasuke was more like you,” she said as she flipped through the pages that were now upside down to her. She located the page she needed – a chart mapping out chakra points.“Rokuda and Amika can handle the grunt work for now,” she continued, “If you really want to help, memorize that chart. I’ll show you how to burn off the infection at the chakra points and you can help me get these people out of here.”Itachi held the journal limply in his lap, staring at her with the most pained expression she had seen on his face so far.“You wish Sasuke was more like me?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.Sakura waved a dismissive hand in the air, “Yeah, yeah, we can delve deeper into that later,” she said, “Just study that chart while I run a couple of tests with my chakra.”She watched his eyes bleed from red to black with morbid fascination before she gasped and screwed her eyes shut. “What the hell?” she asked.She felt a hand reach out and lock around her wrist, pulling her closer to the bed, “It’s okay, Sakura-san,” he said. His voice was close and quiet, “I’m just using it to memorize the chart.”Sakura felt her heartbeat increasing, but the fear she had felt down in the kitchen wasn’t present now. Regardless, she still kept her eyes shut and tried to quell the trembling in her hands.She had never been subjected to the Sharingan before. She knew what it could do – the powerful genjustu he could place her under with hardly any effort. She had watched Naruto fight wildly against thin air after Gaara’s rescue while fighting against Itachi. She had seen both Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei in comas after coming in contact with Itachi’s Tsukiyomi. He was a powerful shinobi – one she didn’t stand a chance against.This was the only way she knew to protect herself. If she ever got caught in his genjustu, it was already over.“I promised I wouldn’t hurt you,” he said, his grip still firm around her arm, “It wouldn’t make sense for me to try to hurt you.”Sakura was inclined to agree, given the situation, but it also hadn’t made sense for him to kill his entire family, so it was only fair that she hesitated.“Do you want to make another deal with me?” he asked. Sakura could feel the warmth of his hand spreading through her arm.“What kind of deal?”He released her arm. She immediately took a step back away from the bed and rubbed the spot where his hand had been, eyes still closed.“I promise I will not use my Sharingan on you without permission,” he said, “If you open your eyes.”“Ever?”There was a pregnant pause.“Ever,” he finally said.“So,” she said cautiously, “If we ever meet again, like, in battle, you won’t use your Sharingan against me?”“Right,” he confirmed, “But only if you open your eyes.”Slowly, Sakura opened her eyes. Itachi was still sitting right where he had been on the bed (her bed, she realized). His eyes were still red and his gaze was focused on her, but it appeared that he had not been lying. She couldn’t help the jolt of fear that tingled through her spine at the sight of his eyes, but she trusted that he would keep his promise.“I can’t promise that I won’t use it against your comrades,” he said, “But I will never use it against you without permission.”She didn’t know what to say to that, or exactly why she felt heat flare up in her cheeks, so she busied herself with collecting the used syringe and tossing it in a nearby container.Seeming to sense her discomfort, Itachi dropped his eyes to the journal in his lap and began to flip the pages. Sakura took the opportunity to place her hands on his chest (an act that seemed almost inappropriate now) and funneled her chakra into him.She was back in her element now, and she had a job to do. She had all but stopped the infection in Itachi when she had found him outside yesterday. He had hardly showed any symptoms since then, save for an occasional dizzy spell. Going through his chakra system now, Sakura could see that the infection was still there, fusing with his chakra in a way she hadn’t noticed before.“How is your chakra control, Itachi-san?” she asked, suddenly all too aware that their faces were very close together.“What do you need?”“Can you concentrate some chakra in your hands like you were going to use them to walk on water?” she asked.He nodded, setting aside the journal and holding both hands in his lap with his palms facing up. A glow of chakra settled in his open hands. Sakura slid her hands underneath his, probing with her own chakra.She noticed immediately that the infection burned in the emitted chakra – not weakening it or strengthening it. It was just there.“Don’t move,” she said. She snatched her microscope from her desk and returned to the bed, placing it on Itachi’s lap. She arranged his hands under the scope so that she could see the skin of his palms.She looked through the scope and saw nothing but blurriness. She pulled her eye away to see where she needed to readjust when she noticed that Itachi’s hands were trembling.“Are you feeling alright, Itachi-san?” she asked, pressing a hand to his forehead. He felt warm, but no warmer than he should. “Are you dizzy? Nauseous?”“I’m fine,” he said in a whisper.She looked up at his face. Again, he looked pained.“Itachi…?”“I’m sorry,” he said. He placed his hand back under the microscope and waited, watching Sakura expectantly.Sakura gave him a suspicious glance, but turned her attention back to the microscope. His hands were steadier this time. Sakura stared for a long time, not quite sure what she was seeing.It looked like the infection had morphed the chakra into a more solid state than it should have been. It wasn’t just a color, a cloud, or an amorphous force. It had an almost gelatinous texture on a microscopic level. She had a sneaking suspicion that if she were to amass a large portion of infected chakra in one location, that it would have a near solid consistency.Curious, Sakura pushed Itachi’s hand away from the microscope and replaced it with her own, pulling a chakra scalpel through the tip of her finger. The chakra there was normal, as expected. The microscopic perspective didn’t offer much on her regular, uninfected chakra, but it did confirm that the infection was slowly changing the chakra’s state of matter.“That’s a chakra scalpel,” Itachi said. Sakura pulled herself away from him, just realizing that she’d practically had her hand in his lap. His eyes were still red, and watching her with renewed interest. “That’s impressive.”Sakura hummed politely in agreement because, well, it was impressive and she appreciated that someone had acknowledged it. She just chose not to dwell on the fact that it was Itachi Uchiha.“I’ve discovered something interesting about the infection,” Sakura said, “It’s manifesting itself within your chakra, not just your body.”She waited for his reaction, but he merely watched her with interest.“Does your chakra feel different since you’ve been sick?” she asked. He hadn’t been sick for very long, so the effect might not have set in, Sakura thought, and Itachi hadn’t been using his chakra very much these past couple of days – at least not to her knowledge. The only thing she knew for sure is that he had activated his Sharingan twice today. “What about your vision? Is it normal?”“My chakra feels… sticky,” he said, “It’s difficult to describe.”He deactivated his Sharingan, much to Sakura’s relief.“My vision is no worse than normal.”“No worse than normal?”Itachi looked down at his feet. She had known that the effects of the Mangekyou Sharingan could cause damage to the eyes. She had worked on Kakashi’s in the past and was quite familiar with it. For whatever reason, Sakura had assumed that the damage was happening to Kakashi because it was an implant. Now she wasn’t so sure.“May I take a look at your eyes?”“No.”“You don’t trust me.”“You understand why I wouldn’t want you to touch my eyes,” Itachi said, “It isn’t personal.”“You understand why I wouldn’t want to look into your Sharingan, but I did it anyway,” Sakura retorted, “at your request.”Itachi gave her an annoyed look. Now that was a look that reminded her of Sasuke.“Besides,” Sakura continued, “You made me a promise. It wouldn’t make sense for me to try to damage your eyes. They pose no threat to me now.”“Unless they’re in someone else’s head.”“Are you talking about Orochimaru?”Itachi shook his head, “Never mind.”“That’s really annoying, you know,” Sakura said, “I mean, I don’t expect you to tell me all of your secrets. I suppose that even though it doesn’t really feel like it anymore, we are still enemies. But you’re the one who brought it up.”“You aren’t my enemy, Sakura-san,” he said.She rolled her eyes. Of course he would say some shit like that. It was almost believable, because it felt true. Itachi didn’t act like her enemy, and if she thought about it hard enough, she would probably start to question his motives. That required a lot more effort and brainpower than she was prepared to spend today, so she just glared at him instead.“Of course I am,” she replied, “You’re an enemy of Konoha. We’re de facto enemies.”“I suppose,” he said in the most unconvincing manner ever.“But I’ll just let you know, against my better judgment,” Sakura began, “that I’m suspicious of you. If I didn’t know any better, I’d believe that Sasuke is the megalomaniac and you are the victim of whatever the fuck went on with that disaster of a family you have. Had.”“I guess I really messed up, then,” he said, letting the slight slide, “by letting you see the kinder side of me.”“Yeah, you probably shouldn’t have done that.”“But you aren’t going to tell anyone,” he said, “Are you?”“What would I tell them? That I met the infamous, cold-hearted clan-killer Itachi Uchiha and he really wasn’t that bad?” she said, using a tone that was light-hearted yet still accusing.“You’re right,” he said, the corners of his mouth quirking up in what Sakura determined was not a charming smile, “They’d never believe you.”She sent a glare in his direction and crossed her arms. They had gotten way too far off track.“Anyway,” she said, “As I was saying, your chakra has been infected and the bacteria has caused its state to become more viscous. I’m not sure what that means for you long term. I’d love to study the effects, but so far you are the only person I’ve seen infected who is capable of controlling chakra. And unfortunately, I promised I would heal you up and send you on your way, so I guess I’ll never know.”“Unfortunately,” he repeated.“Now, I have a lot of work to do,” she said, “So I’m going to show you how to burn off the infection and take you up on your offer to help me. And then I’m going to work out a fucking cure for this thing so I can go home." ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Itachi did not understand why Sakura had chosen to become a medic-nin. Sure, she was very good at it. Apparently much better at it than he was. He had quickly learned how to cure a person who had been infected from her (thanks to the Sharingan that she was rightfully, but annoyingly afraid of) and then spent the rest of the day going from cot to cot healing those who needed it most.Rokuda and Amika had also begun to help, and Itachi noticed with a small amount of pride that he was quicker at it than they were. It wasn’t really a fair comparison, he supposed, because he was a quick learner and basically a genius.But no amount of pride staunched the flow of rage that threatened to burst to the surface as he healed the most ungrateful and demanding patients. Itachi was a calm, reserved, and patient man. He rarely flew off the handle, or even felt anger at all. He could see now why Sakura was so volatile all the time. He would be too, if he had to deal with these ungrateful bastards every day.They complained, whined, and demanded. They coughed in his face, pushed angrily at his hands when they felt he was too close. They insisted that one of the women see to them instead.They didn’t know, of course, that Itachi was sick, too. And they didn’t know that Itachi was a missing-nin capable of killing them with just a look. So, justified in their minds, the patients grated on Itachi’s nerves.His only reprieve was the occasional walk he took out to the garden to check on Yamato and Sachi. They were as well behaved as he expected two unsupervised children would be. Predictably, they were covered in dirt the first time he went to check on them, and then subsequently more dirt with each additional walk.But they stayed in the garden and didn’t cause too much trouble, so Itachi was grateful for that.It had taken most of the day, but Itachi had finally healed everyone he was capable of healing. He was exhausted and his chakra did feel weird – now that Sakura had mentioned it. He hadn’t had the chance to wonder too much about what she had said about the changing of his chakra’s state. At the time, his mind had been elsewhere – which was not good, because it was definitely focused on Sakura and that was a huge problem.But now he could focus on the slow stickiness that had weaved its way into his chakra network. It made him feel sluggish and he noticed that his chakra control had diminished somewhat. It would likely only get worse if left untreated. He assumed that he now had the means to cure that damn disease himself, but he couldn’t do that until Sakura had found a cure. Or rather, he wouldn’t. Because he had made a promise. He had been making a lot of promises lately.Itachi was aware that he was in very dangerous territory. Sakura was suspicious of him and his role in the massacre. It made sense for her to be. It would have made sense for anyone to be, but especially her. She was probably the only person in the world who had met his real self. Sasuke had, and then he had shattered that image and replaced it with a monster. So now, he was just a monster to everyone who mattered.Except now there were other people who mattered, sort of. Yamato and Sachi mattered and they didn’t think he was a monster. They didn’t know any better, of course. And they were too young to understand the truth.Sakura was a wildcard, though. She was capable of understanding. She would probably even be sympathetic. He longed to tell her the truth, to let her know that he wasn’t really a monster and that she wasn’t too far off the mark when she said that he could have been the victim.She reminded him of the home he could never go back to, and the family that he had killed in order to protect her and the rest of the village.He was jealous that Sasuke had been given the opportunity to get to know the pink-haired girl, and even the kyuubi vessel who seemed to care about him more than anyone had ever cared about Itachi. And he was angry that Sasuke had thrown that opportunity away.In some ways, Itachi regretted the decisions he had made. Looking back, he couldn’t fathom another way to have handled the situation. Even if he had found one, it was no use to him now. He had already ruined his own life, accepting the hate thrown his way so that it wouldn’t be thrown on Sasuke – so that Konoha would have peace.He would have to make do with these snippets of happiness he mined from Sachi and Yamato. He would have to accept that while he and Sakura could be civil acquaintances, they would never be friends. There was no other option.“Itachi-san!”Itachi looked up, startled by the sound of Sakura’s voice that sounded infinitely better than the petulant whines that came from the patients that surrounded him.“Itachi-san,” she said, “I think I’ve got it! A cure, I mean.”She reached out and tugged him arm, pulling him along back toward her office in much the same way that Sachi might have done. When they were back in her office, she pushed him gently toward the bed and pulled out needle.“I think that this will work,” she said, prepping his arm for the injection, “The technique I showed you burns off the infection and eradicates it completely so that the bacteria can’t spread anymore.”She plunged the needle into his arm. He didn’t like it, but he didn’t flinch either.“But this injection – it contains a trace amount of your chakra that I manipulated with mine to be able to resist the bacteria. That’s why blood samples weren’t very useful to me. It’s a chakra based disease,” she explained.“I’ve never heard of such a thing,” he said.“Yeah, me neither,” she said, “But this should fix everyone up, if it works. You’re my guinea pig.”“That’s very reassuring.”“Are you worried?”“No, I’m sure you’ve done it,” he said, “The Hokage wouldn’t have given you this mission if you couldn’t complete it.”“And it only took me a week longer than it was supposed to.”He laughed, because it was funny and he felt comfortable laughing around her. He’d already fucked up and made her suspicious. He couldn’t make it any worse unless he just outright told her the truth.“Alright,” she said, “Now we just wait and see. Are there any patients left?”“There are some people still here, but everyone has been healed to the best of our abilities,” he answered.She raised an eyebrow, “All of them? There were hundreds of people here.”“Rokuda-san and Amika-san helped.”She tsked and rolled her eyes, but she was smiling and it made Itachi’s chest clench painfully for a second before it subsided.“You and I both know that they aren’t exactly the cream of the crop when it comes to medical ninjustu,” she said, “Have you ever considered becoming a medic-nin, Itachi-san? I think you’d be well suited for it.”“I’ve been wanting to take my career in a different direction,” he said.She threw he head back and laughed at his joke and again, Itachi breathed through the tightening in his chest. He would have to remember not to make her laugh or smile again because he wasn’t sure he could handle it. Even if it weren’t for the physical reaction it caused in him, the guilt was enough. It should be Sasuke making her laugh – not him.“Come on,” she said, “Let’s go check on Yamato and Sachi.”.Darkness had fallen outside by the time the children had been bathed and fed. They were back in Sakura’s office where Itachi was reading another book to Sachi. He had chosen this time – a book about a cat looking for its owner. Luckily, Sachi didn’t protest. He didn’t want to have to read another Princess Coco book while Sakura was listening.Sakura was unfolding two cots on the other side of the room, one for Yamato and one for Sachi. Itachi was envious that they would get to sleep in here where Sakura was their only company while he had to go back to his room where there were several other men – ones he had healed earlier that day. They had been just as irritating as the rest of the patients and Itachi was not looking forward to rejoining them.Itachi dutifully finished reading the book, even after it was obvious that Sachi had once again fallen asleep in his lap. When he finished, he took Sachi over to one of the cots and tucked her in.Sakura had put Yamato to bed already. The boy had been nearly asleep when they brought him back inside from the garden. It was a wonder he had stayed awake during his bath.“Are you feeling alright, Itachi-san?” Sakura asked, her voice low to avoid waking the children, “Can you feel a difference yet?”Itachi considered for a moment, moving his chakra around through his system to see if there was a difference. Truthfully, he couldn’t tell. His chakra did feel less sticky – but it hadn’t really felt that abnormal to begin with.When he didn’t respond right away, Sakura moved toward him and placed her glowing hands on his chest again. He wanted to push her away, but he let her touch him anyway. He felt her chakra flood into him.“Everything looks good,” she said, “I don’t see any more infection. It looks like the bacteria is cleared.”She was beaming, proud of her handiwork. Itachi found her smile infectious and he smiled, too, also slightly proud of her (and himself for his small part in finding the cure).“Tomorrow morning I will start making batches of the vaccine,” she said, “And once I fix your autoimmune disease we can all be on our way.”It was good news, and Itachi tried not to dwell on why it made him feel so depressed. His time here (his vacation, really) was coming to an end. Soon he would be back in Rain, back to being a villain.Itachi slumped himself into Sakura’s desk chair, avoiding her gaze in case she expressed annoyance at the fact that he was still in what was technically also her bedroom. He didn’t want to go back to his room just yet. He didn’t want to listen to the men who would assuredly be complaining for most of the night.He took in a deep breath and held it in for much longer than was comfortable.“Do you want to talk about Sasuke?”He wasn’t sure that he had heard her correctly. He would have assumed that Sasuke would be a sore subject for her. She seemed pretty bitter any time he was brought up. But, she had always been the one to bring him up.“I mean, we don’t have to,” she said, “If you don’t want to. I just thought since you seemed pretty interested when I mentioned him earlier that you might want to continue that discussion.”Truthfully, Itachi felt like it was a bad idea. It was too personal and he had already shared way too much information with her to begin with. She could be fishing for more information or trying to backstab him somehow.But curiosity got the better of him.“What do you think of Sasuke?” he asked.She smiled softly, appearing to be pleased that he wanted to talk, but the smile disappeared immediately, replaced by a wistful, longing look.“I think Sasuke is an amazing shinobi,” she said, “One of the strongest I know.”“What else?”She sighed and plopped herself down onto her bed, “Honestly, I have a lot of mixed feelings about him. I had a crush on him when we were at the academy. All the girls did. I was so excited when we were put on a team together. I thought he would finally notice me.”Itachi felt a smile tug at his lips, thinking about a young Sakura pining over his little brother.“Did he?”“Not quite,” she said, and there was a harshness to her tone that made Itachi feel uncomfortable, “I just annoyed him. Naruto and I, we both tried to befriend him. We did work well as a team. But Sasuke was always unreachable. He was consumed by his need for revenge. Nothing else mattered to him. Not even us.”Itachi held himself perfectly still. This had definitely been a mistake.“What would you have done, Itachi-san,” Sakura asked, “If Sasuke had been the one to murder your family and left you behind?”Never had Itachi expected to hear a question like that. How could he even begin to answer such a question?“Would you want revenge?”He didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know that Itachi had been the one to steer Sasuke down that path of revenge. Or maybe she did – it was hard to tell. Itachi had replayed that night in his head over and over again. He knew that he had made the right decision in accepting his mission. There was no other way to protect the village.But Sasuke. Had he made the right decision by lying to him? Itachi was worried that if Sasuke knew the truth that he would hate Konoha for what they had done to his family. But he had abandoned the village anyway, in spite of his efforts to foster what he thought would be a loving home for him.How would Itachi have felt if the roles had been reversed? Would he have stayed in the village? Would he have wanted revenge on Sasuke?“I don’t know,” Itachi admitted.“The night he left, I tried to stop him,” Sakura said, “I confessed my love for him and offered to go with him. I’d have followed him anywhere, done anything for him.”Itachi watched her intently as she spoke. She had pressed herself back against the wall behind her bed and wrapped her arms around her knees. Her eyes were bright – she looked as though she might cry.“But he knocked me out and left me on a bench,” she continued, “He was gone when I woke up.”Itachi remained silent. This wasn’t what he wanted to hear at all. He wished he hadn’t taken her up on her offer to discuss Sasuke.“I wonder sometimes if things would have been different if the massacre had never happened,” she said, “if you had stayed in the village with him. He loved you so much. Maybe he would have loved me, too. If things had been different.”Her tears had finally leaked out. She wasn’t sobbing. He wouldn’t have known she was crying if he hadn’t seen the tears fall. They left glistening trails down her cheeks. He watched one roll down her chin and land on her knee.“Why do you love my brother so much?” he asked, “Why would you go to such extremes for him when he wouldn’t do the same for you?”“So much has happened to him,” she said, “I just want him to be happy. And I know that he’s a good person, deep, deep down.”Itachi hoped that was true.“I hope he comes back to you,” he said, “You deserve to be happy, too.”Sakura laughed and brushed her tears away with the back of her hand, “How about I just bring you back with me instead? We can cut your hair and just pretend that you’re Sasuke.”Itachi found that offer very tempting, if a little silly. Obviously he could never pass as Sasuke, nor would he want to. But he would have done anything to be able to walk back into Konoha as a welcomed man. Why is that not what Sasuke wanted too?“I was only joking,” she said with a sniffle, “Obviously I’m not going to bring a mass murderer back to Konoha with me. There are children there!” She eyed the two children sleeping on the other side of the room and then collapsed into a fit of stifled giggles, chuffed by her own joke.“I should go,” Itachi said, feeling like his new roommates would be less depressing than discussing Sasuke with Sakura.“Wait, no,” she said, “Don’t leave yet.”She straightened out her legs and pulled her back up straight. “I’m sorry,” she said, “I won’t cry anymore. Or make offensive jokes.”Itachi stayed seated partly because he didn’t really want to go back to his room, and partly because Sakura wanted him to stay, which was unsettling and exciting at the same time.“Tell me about what Sasuke was like when he was little,” Sakura said. She leaned her head back against the wall and watched him. She looked a little dazed, like going from crying to laughing in the span of a few seconds wasn’t something she did on a regular basis.“He was always very eager to train with me,” Itachi said, “He was always waiting by the door when I came home to beg me to train with him.”Sakura smiled.“He wanted me to take him on missions with me,” he continued.“Aww,” Sakura crooned, “He wanted to be like his big brother.”Itachi shifted in the desk chair and fixed her with a more serious gaze, “Earlier you said that you wished Sasuke was more like me. You’ve said that twice now.”“Oh,” she said, “Well, Sasuke is just so cold all the time. Even when he’s in a good mood, he’s still aloof and indifferent.”She looked down in her lap and picked at her fingernails, a red blush rising up in her cheeks.“You smiled at me earlier today,” she continued, “After you told me that we aren’t enemies. And I’ve seen you smile at Sachi plenty of times. I don’t think Sasuke has ever smiled at me like that.”Itachi could recall plenty of times when Sasuke had smiled as a child. His heart clenched painfully in his chest at the realization that his brother was deeply unhappy and that it was his fault.“Why did you do it, Itachi?” she asked, “Why did you murder your clan?”To test his ability…That was what Sasuke thought, because Sasuke had to think that Itachi had done it on his own volition. It was what the world should think, because any other explanation would discredit the village – would unearth its inherent cruelty. Its necessary cruelty.There were two options. A lie that would reduce him to monster in Sakura’s eyes, yet again. And the truth.The truth was out of the question.But Sakura had already warmed up to him (sort of). He couldn’t bear to see her recoil in fear or disgust now that they were on somewhat amicable terms.“It’s complicated,” he said.She scoffed and rolled her eyes.“Do you think I’m a monster?” he asked.“Yeah, I do,” she said, “But it was much easier to think that before I met you.”“The children’s parents – their father,” he said, “He’s dead because of me. Because of my partner, I suppose.”“Kisame?”He nodded. He had forgotten that she would know his partner. That she had been there that day after the tailed-beast had been extracted from the Kazekage when they fought on the same battlefield. He’d barely taken note of her that day.“I figured you had something to do with their orphan status,” Sakura admitted.“I felt like a monster,” Itachi said, “I wasn’t even the one that killed him.”“Did you feel like a monster when you murdered your own family?”Itachi paused. He really should go back to his room. He should definitely not be discussing the massacre with his brother’s teammates. He should avoid Sakura as much as possible until he was able to leave. And he should try to forget that he’d ever met her once he’d gotten back to Rain.“I’m sorry,” Sakura said, “I shouldn’t be antagonizing you.”He agreed, but he didn’t blame her.“You’re a champ at putting up with me,” she said with a smile, “I’m surprised you haven’t snapped on me yet.”He half smiled at her because she was amusing and he liked her better when she was smiling and not alluding to his criminal past.“It almost feels like we’re friends, doesn’t it?” she asked, “I bet we would have been.”With a pang of sadness, Itachi thought of Shisui. He had been Itachi’s closest friend – he hadn’t had many others. Shisui would have loved Sakura, Itachi thought. He would have made fun of her pink hair and laughed at all of her stupid jokes.“Sakura…”“I know, I know,” she said. Itachi had a feeling that she didn’t know. “There’s no point in thinking about it.”“You aren’t my enemy right now,” he said, “but we should probably avoid conversations like this in the future.”She snorted and cast him a knowing glance, “The future?”“We have opposing goals,” he said, “We’ll likely see one another after this.”“Don’t you think a conversation like this could get us on the same page?” she asked, “So we could have the same goal?”“That’s impossible.”“Well, what’s your goal, then?” she asked.He couldn’t answer that in any capacity. Not only was he not aware of what Akatsuki’s goals were, but also his own goals only pertained to Sasuke. He couldn’t share that with her without her knowing the truth about the massacre.“Right now,” he said, “My only goal is to make sure that Sachi and Yamato have a safe place to live.”“That’s already taken care of,” she said, “Konoha, remember? They’ll be safe there. At least now that there aren’t any clan killers lurking around anymore.”He was used to her teasing now, and he let the comment roll off him. It was almost refreshing to hear someone speak so candidly about it. The incident had plagued his nightmares for years, causing him a great deal of stress. And yet her trivialization of it was somehow comforting instead of harrowing like it should have been.“See?” she said, “We’re on the same page already.”“I suppose we are,” he said, and it was true. Obviously Sakura would want to protect Naruto – the same man that was his eventual target. But as for her personal goals, maybe they did align in some way. They both loved Sasuke. That was a start.“You’re going to miss them, aren’t you?”Itachi glanced over at Sachi who was drooling a little bit onto her pillow. “Yes,” he answered, “I’ll miss them.”“Maybe we can arrange for you to have visitation rights.”Itachi laughed. He marveled at the fact that Sakura could coax so many smiles and laughs from him with seemingly little effort. He wasn’t used to laughing so much. He’d forgotten how good it felt.“I’ll settle for knowing that they’re safe and happy,” he said.“I’ll make sure that they are.”Itachi pried his eyes away from Sachi and let them drift back to Sakura. She had slumped down on her bed and was blinking her eyes blearily. Her hair was a wild mess of pink that hovered disastrously around her face. Her eyes were on his, watching, maybe waiting for something.“Itachi-san,” she said. He kept his eyes locked onto hers. It was the longest they’d ever held eye contact so far. “I’m going to find out what your deal is. I’m going to figure out the truth about you.”He swallowed hard, but maintained eye contact. “How would you go about such a thing?” he asked. His voice sounded strained.“Well,” she began, slumping down further onto her bed. She looked ready to fall asleep. Itachi realized that she was probably exhausted. Come to think of it, he was pretty tired as well. “It would be easiest if you would just tell me.”“That’s not going to happen.”“So you admit that there is something to find out.”Itachi shifted uncomfortably.“I’m the Hokage’s apprentice,” she said, “I have connections. I can do it without your help.”Inwardly, Itachi scoffed. Tsunade might have known the truth about the massacre, but he couldn’t know for sure. It wasn’t likely. The only person who Itachi knew for sure could tell her the truth was Danzo. The chances of him telling her were nonexistent.“You’re better off not knowing,” he said, his tone much steadier this time.“That might be true,” she said, “But curiosity is a powerful thing. It’s your own fault for making me so curious, you know. You should have been mean and hateful, like a good villain should be.”“Is it too late to start now?”She laughed softly, “Yeah, it’s way too late. I think the only thing that would change my mind about you now is if you killed Yamato and Sachi.”Itachi made a sound of disgust with the back of his throat. What a sordid thing for her to have brought up…She laughed again, louder this time. “See?” she said, “How can you expect me to believe that you killed your family when you can’t even stomach the idea of killing these two?”Abruptly, Itachi stood up. He couldn’t take any more of this and he was tired. He approached Sakura’s bed slowly, methodically, and placed his hands on the wall on each side of her head, looming over her as threateningly as he could manage.Leaning close to her face, close enough for him to feel her breath against his face, Itachi said, “I think you should let it go.” He had kept his voice low – the voice he reserved for enemies. Sakura watched him with wide eyes, fear evident on her face. She had grown accustomed to his niceness and he had grown accustomed to her sass, but things were dangerously close to being out of hand and Itachi needed to put an end to it.He thought about activating his Sharingan for good measure, but decided against it. He didn’t want her to fear him anymore than what was necessary.“Goodnight, Sakura-san,” he said, and made his way back to his room. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Sakura woke up feeling jittery and anxious. She didn’t want to admit that the Uchiha in the adjacent room had gotten under her skin, but it was the truth. She had teased him pretty ruthlessly, believing that he could handle it. The fact that he had the nerve to use such a cold intimidation tactic against evidenced that she had gotten under his skin as well.But if he thought that meant she would cease her efforts to learn the truth, he was sorely mistaken. Something was fishy about him and his story and she’d be damned if she didn’t uncover the truth. Things just didn’t add up.There was a lot about the massacre that had never been said. The general public of Konoha had been led to believe that Itachi had snapped, gone insane. But the Itachi that she knew definitely wasn’t insane. At least not in a way that she could see. For a shinobi, Itachi seemed just as well adjusted as anyone could have expected him to be.The few times Itachi had been spotted before, it had always led to some type of battle. That was expected, Sakura thought. But Itachi was lauded as one of the most skilled and dangerous shinobi. It was suspicious that he had never left a casualty. He could have killed Kakashi. He had the opportunity. He could have killed all of them back during Gaara’s rescue. But he didn’t.He could have killed her when she found him outside Toyeiki. It would have been easy. He could have hidden his tracks well. No one would have known he had done it. It would have eliminated her as a potential obstacle in the future should she ever stand between him and Naruto.Sakura was certain that there was more to Itachi than met the eye. She just needed to know the why.She shook herself from her thoughts and focused on the task in front of her instead. Yamato and Sachi were still sleeping soundly on their cots, so she kept as quiet as she could while she filled syringes with her vaccine. Once she had made several hundred, she could leave knowing that Toyeiki was safe. She could teach Rokuda how to make more of the vaccine, if necessary, but Sakura felt confident that now that the infection was under control that its spread would slow down and eventually die off completely.After a couple of hours, Yamato and Sachi stirred from their slumber.“Good morning,” she said to them with a smile.“Where is Itachi-san?”Her smiled dropped.“That’s not a proper greeting, Yamato-chan,” Sakura chided.“Good morning, Sakura-san,” he said, yawning, “Where is Itachi-san? I’m hungry.”“If you give me half an hour, I’ll make you both some breakfast,” she said, “I just have a few things I need to finish first.”“I’ll just ask Itachi-san,” he replied.“No,” she snapped, “He’s probably still sleeping. Just be patient and I’ll get you some food soon enough.”He pouted at her and crossed his arms, but said nothing else. Sachi looked warily between Sakura and her brother, but she, too, remained silent.After a tense half hour of silence, Sakura took Yamato and Sachi down to the kitchen. Mercifully, it was empty. She fixed them some scrambled eggs and watched as they picked at them. Sakura wasn’t hungry.The children were likely to be in a sour mood once Itachi was gone. They really enjoyed his company, it seemed. She would have to have a talk with them about keeping quiet about Itachi once they were in Konoha.Sakura was deeply worried that the children would somehow spoil her little secret. No one could know that she had teamed up with an s-class missing-nin, and children were notorious for not being the best at keeping secrets. Sakura made a mental note to ask Itachi if there was any sort of genjutsu he could place them under that would make them forget about him.“This isn’t as good as Itachi-san’s,” Yamato said, pushing his eggs around his plate.“Well, I don’t have fancy Sharingan to help me learn techniques,” she said, miffed, “This is the best I can do.”Yamato dropped his fork. “Sakura-san!” he said, “Can Itachi-san show me his Sharingan today? You said he could when he was feeling better, and you made him not sick anymore, right?”“Yeah, I did…” she said, “I guess that would be alright. If Itachi-san agrees.”“Yes!” he exclaimed, jumping down from his perch at the table, “I’ll go find him right now.”“No, finish your food first.”“I’ll eat later.”“I thought you said you were hungry.”“That was before,” Yamato said, “I’m not hungry anymore.”Sakura narrowed her eyes at him skeptically. “Fine,” she conceded, “Let’s go find Itachi-san.”.After searching the entire inn, Yamato, Sachi, and Sakura found Itachi in the garden throwing shuriken at small targets he had set up everywhere. Sakura held Yamato’s hand in hers while she watched Itachi nail every target with practiced ease. Sachi fidgeted on her hip and let out a whimper. It didn’t take a genius to know that she wanted to be put down so that Itachi could pick her up.But Sakura held onto the girl until it was obvious that Itachi was finished throwing his shuriken. Not that she expected an errant shuriken to hit her – Itachi didn’t throw errant shuriken.“Itachi-san!” Yamato yelled across the garden, “Sakura-san said you could show me your Sharingan now.”Itachi crossed the garden, eyeing Sakura with suspicion. “Did she now?” he asked. His tone was light, but his eyes were dark and serious.“Yes,” she answered confidently, in spite of the nervousness she felt at being so close to him after the previous night’s incident, “I was wondering if there was a specific jutsu you could show them that would help them with their tongues once we’re in Konoha.”“Their tongues…?”“You know,” she said, “So they don’t go telling the entire village about their super cool Uncle Itachi.”Itachi blinked and Sakura had the impression that he had never thought of that before.“I suppose I could place them under a genjutsu,” he said, “But I’m not sure how effective that will be long term.”“You shouldn’t have given them your real name.”“Yes, I agree,” he said. His eyes were sharp on her. “But it’s too late now.”“Itachi-san,” Sachi said, reaching her arms out for the man.Grudgingly, Sakura passed the girl over to him. Itachi took her with a genuine and disarming smile and hugged her close.Sakura felt uncomfortable around Itachi now, and was unsure of what to do. She needed to be working on his autoimmune disease because the faster she got that done and out of the way, the quicker she could get home.And Ino was supposed to arrive back any day now. She’d be annoyed that Sakura had come up with a vaccine without her help, but Sakura was interested to know what the blonde had dug up in her investigation.“Alright,” Itachi said, “Do you want to see my Sharingan now?”He was looking at Yamato, who was bouncing up and down with excitement. There was no doubt in Sakura’s mind that Itachi would never do anything to hurt either of them, but she was still nervous at the prospect of seeing them put under the Sharingan’s effects.“Wait,” Sakura said, hating how her voice sounded small and scared, “What are you going to do to them?”Itachi cocked his head to the side and gave her a bemused look. “I’m not going to hurt them,” he said, “I’m going to put them under my Tsukuyomi, but they will be fine.”“Tsukuyomi…” Sakura repeated slowly.“Yes,” he continued, “I can put you under it as well. If you are curious.”She shook her head vehemently and took a step back.“I thought not.”He turned back to the children and crouched down in front of Yamato. His eyes bled to red, the Mangekyo that she had studied before in Kakashi’s eye. Sakura moved to stand behind him so that she couldn’t see his eyes. She watched Yamato.“This won’t hurt,” he said to Yamato.Sakura watched as Yamato’s eyes widened and then glazed over, glassy and unfocused. He looked as though he was about to fall over, but Itachi held him up with a hand on his shoulder.He eased Yamato into a sitting position and then turned to Sachi. Sachi shifted her eyes between Yamato and Itachi hesitantly.“I won’t do it if you don’t want me to,” he said to her.She took a step toward him, letting her hips bump into his knees. Sakura saw him smile at her and he placed his fingers against her chin. Sachi’s eyes glazed over like Yamato’s and she slumped forward. Itachi caught her and eased her down next to Yamato.“See?” Itachi said, “If two children can be brave, so can you.”“It’s not quite the same, is it, Itachi-san?” she asked, “They don’t know the real you. They have no reason to be afraid of you.”“I don’t blame you for being afraid of me,” he said, “But you don’t really need to be.”Sakura gave him a pointed look because she really didn’t believe him, even though he made it feel like he was telling the truth. She wasn’t a fool, in spite of what anyone else might think if they knew that she had joined forces with the infamous Itachi Uchiha.“What’s happening to them?” she asked, changing the subject.“I put them on a beach,” Itachi said, “I find beaches calming. I figured they might, too. They’ve been through a lot, losing both their parents.”Sakura said nothing. She wouldn’t know what that feels like and she didn’t want to think about what Itachi felt about “losing” his parents.“I am with them,” he said, “They aren’t alone there. Not that anything could happen to them without my manipulation. I thought you might want to know.”“Are they together?”“No,” he answered, “I’ve never tried to put two people under the same genjutsu together. Maybe I’ll try it someday. Not on them, though. I don’t know what might happen. I don’t want to hurt them.”“Right,” she answered, not knowing what else to say.Itachi sat down next to Yamato and Sachi and stretched himself out in the grass. He deactivated his Sharingan and looked up at the sky. It was the most relaxed – vulnerable – Sakura had ever seen him.“I’d like to work on your autoimmune disease today,” Sakura said. She felt more relaxed now that he had deactivated his Sharingan. “My partner should be back soon, and obviously you can’t be here.”“I need to leave soon anyway,” he said, but there was a wistfulness in his tone.“Not looking forward to getting back to work, huh?” she asked.He gave her a reproachful look.“Your autoimmune disease isn’t as complicated as you might think,” Sakura said, glancing down into her lap. “There’s a lot of inflammation, and obviously you are susceptible to infectious diseases. I can take care of the inflammation and I can stop your body from fighting against itself, but you will need to be very careful to avoid getting sick for several months after I’ve finished. It might cause your body to revert back to the way it was. It’s fixable, but not if I can’t get to you, and it’s not likely that we’ll meet again in an amicable way. So just be careful.”“I wouldn’t expect you to fix me again if I get sick,” he said, “That’s beyond the scope of our agreement.”“Well, you’ve made me plenty of meals since you got here,” she said flippantly, “I probably owe you for that. I’d have been eating gruel this whole time otherwise.”Itachi tore his eyes away from the sky and fixed her with a curious stare. His eyes were their usual coal black, but there was an intensity to them that made Sakura blush and look away from him.“And you helped me with the patients,” Sakura continued, “And Rokuda told me you helped her with her garden.”He dropped back down to his elbows and looked back at the sky.“That was more than what we agreed on,” she said.“You were the one who said that it almost felt like we were friends,” he said. His voice was quiet, almost nervous.“Almost,” she agreed, “But we aren’t.”“We might have been.”“But we aren’t.”They both fell silent. Sakura turned at looked at Yamato and Sachi who were both still glassy-eyed and unmoving. She wondered what it felt like to be in his Tsukuyomi – if they would feel somehow different after the genjutsu was lifted.“Are you sure you don’t want me to show it to you?” he asked.“Please,” she said, “I don’t want to.”He nodded and a small smile tugged at the corners of his lips. “I won’t force it on you,” he said, “I just thought you might be curious.”“Why do you want me to see it so much?”“It can be just as pleasant as it is painful,” he explained, “I can show you whatever your deepest desire is. I can show you whatever you ask me to.”“You presume a lot to think I trust you with that information.”“What information?”She blushed. “My deepest desires.”“Maybe,” he conceded, “I’ll admit that I am curious, though, about what someone like you desires.”“Someone like me…”“I won’t ask you,” he said.“But that’s why you want to use it on me,” she said, putting two and two together, “So you can sate your curiosity.”“It’s not a pressing matter,” he answered, “Just a fleeting thought. I respect that you don’t trust me with that information.”She scowled at the inflection of the last word – the way he stretched the syllables and teased her with them. He had no right to be curious about such a thing, if curiosity could be considered a right. This is how Sakura reminded herself that being friendly and being friends were not anywhere near the same thing. She wouldn’t hesitate to tell Naruto her desires.But Itachi would never have that privilege.“Do you trust me?” Sakura asked him. She could play this game, too. She could flip the tables on him.“Wholly, no,” he answered with a patronizing smile, “But in some ways, I do.”“What ways?”“I trust that you will take care of Yamato and Sachi,” he said after a moment of consideration, “And I trust that you will heal me completely as you promised.”Sakura didn’t respond, unsure of how to continue his game because she didn’t fully understand what he meant by all of it.“Trust is a fickle thing, isn’t it?” he mused.She pressed her lips together in a thin line and let her eyelids fall shut. She didn’t think trust was fickle at all, but she wouldn’t tell him that.“I’ll never understand you,” Sakura said, “You are, without a doubt, the most confusing man I have ever met.”He regarded her with scrutiny, his brow furrowed. “I’m not as complicated as you make it seem,” he said, “I’m no more confusing than any other man.”She hummed thoughtfully. “Maybe Kakashi is more confusing than you,” she said, “He certainly has his moments.” She was speaking to herself more than him, but he was still watching her with interest.“Kakashi?”Sakura nodded, but she didn’t want to talk about Kakashi or anyone else on Team Seven.“That’s enough lazing around,” she said, “Let’s get to work now. Can you snap them out of it?” She gestured to the children.Itachi sighed – hardly noticeable, but Sakura caught it..Itachi sat on Sakura’s bed and he seemed to be in a bad mood. Sakura had pulled up her desk chair in front of the bed and placed her hands in their usual spot on his chest to work on the inflammation in Itachi’s heart and lungs.Yamato and Sachi sat on their cots, Sachi with a stack of books that she casually flicked through as though she could read them and Yamato twirling his kunai again. Sakura was impressed by their patience. They had not complained very much about being holed up in a nasty inn for several days without anything to do. She herself was annoyed by how much time she had spent here.Sakura worked in silence, because efficiency was important at a time like this when Ino would be back any day now and Itachi Uchiha was sitting casually on her bed like he belonged there.The inn had been cleared of patients once again, and Itachi’s room was empty. It probably came as a great relief to him. He seemed to value his privacy. But when he had released the genjutsu from Yamato and Sachi and carried their fatigued bodies up the stairs, it was Sakura’s room that he entered instead of his own.Sakura didn’t complain because it was preferable to be in her office where all of her things were. But still, she thought, he shouldn’t have presumed that it was acceptable to use her personal bed in such a manner.And on top of that, he was scowling, sulking, for whatever reason. Sakura had an idea of what his problem might be. She suspected that he had been enjoying their conversation in the garden and she had cut it short. It had been dangerous territory again, because conversation about trust shouldn’t be had between two enemies unless there was an exchange of it – and there should not be an exchange of it.Yet here they were, irrefutably exchanging it. Sakura had her hands on his chest, her chakra in his heart and lungs. She could kill him if she wanted to. She could slow his heart down until it stopped completely. She could increase the inflammation in his lungs until he couldn’t breathe. Itachi was trusting her, and she had given him every reason to.If Sakura wracked her brain hard enough, she would find plenty of negative consequences for this. She knew that this was a very bad thing she had done – striking a deal with Itachi (and even worse, allowing this trust between them).But really, there was no better way the situation could have gone. No one was hurt. Sakura didn’t have to fight Itachi (a fight she was sure to have lost), and Itachi was no longer the sole caretaker of two orphaned children. Everyone got what they wanted. Sakura was even able to come up with a vaccine thanks to the criminal on her bed, so it wasn’t like she could be too ungrateful.There was no denying how odd it felt, though.“Sakura,” Itachi breathed, leaning forward slightly. His voice was labored and airy, and Sakura didn’t miss how he had dropped the suffix from her name. “I feel better than I have in years. You undersold your medical prowess.”“Nonsense,” she said, pushing lightly on his chest so that he was no longer leaning forward toward her, “I did the same thing those pills of yours do. I’m just better at it than they are.”She rolled her chair away from the bed and back toward her desk, inwardly pleased to hear the compliment from him. Back home, everyone took her medical skill for granted. Itachi probably wasn’t used to medical care of this caliber.“Speaking of your pills,” she said, snatching an orange bottle from the shelf beside her desk, “I’ve got some for you here. Take one of these a day until they run out. They should last you a couple of month. Do not take more than one within twenty-four hours. These aren’t like the ones you had before.”She turned back to Itachi, extending the pill bottle to him. He took it and put it in his pocket.“It really is a miracle you’re still alive,” she said, “You must have been in so much pain all the time. Breathing must have been difficult for you, but you never showed it. Your resilience is astounding.”He didn’t say anything, but Sakura could see the cogs whirling in his head.“You’re lucky you found me, Itachi-san,” she continued, “You wouldn’t have lived for much longer. If you had contracted a respiratory infection you definitely would have died.”He was silent, watching her with a detached interest. His mind was obviously very far away. Sakura felt a tinge of irritation deep in her chest, but she brushed it away quickly. She had no idea what he was going through right now. Maybe he had no clue how close to death he really had been.“Itachi-san…” she started. His eyes seemed to focus on her more sharply, caught by the note of hesitancy that was strung in her voice. “Are you alright?”“I don’t know.”“You’re spacing out on me.”He blinked rapidly and brought his palm to the back of his neck. Sakura watched as he stretched his arms high above his head and then moved them behind his back. He rolled his head side to side and took several deep breaths. He then stood up from the bed, forcing Sakura to roll her chair backwards a few inches. He bent forward and placed his hands on the ground and then pulled himself up into a handstand.Sakura wanted to laugh, and it wouldn’t have been at his expense necessarily, but she didn’t want to offend him so she stayed quiet.Itachi took several steps forward with his hands, earning some applause from both Yamato and Sachi. He dropped his feet back to the ground and spun to face Sakura.“I’ve never felt this strong before,” he said. He was grinning widely at her and it was almost unsettling, how happy he looked. He took a step toward Sakura, who shrunk farther back into her chair. “I didn’t even realize how much pain I was in.”“It must have been awful,” she said, grinning back at him because she couldn’t help herself and his smile was so infectious. “You have some incredible pain tolerance to have been able to continue on as you have for so long.”He took another step toward her and reached out for her hand. Her instinct was to jerk her hand away from him, but she forced herself to let him hold it. He caught her fingers and yanked her up out of the chair.In that moment, Sakura realized that she might have made a mistake. He was a lot stronger now, and probably felt more clarity in terms of shinobi instincts than he ever had before. She might have been able to take him in his weakened state, but there was no way she could last even a minute against the man the way he was now.But he wasn’t attacking her. He pulled her against his chest the way she had seen him do with Sachi so many times. He nearly crushed her with his new strength, but he didn’t seem to notice. He simply held her close.“Thank you,” he whispered into her hair.She stayed there for several seconds, enjoying the heat of his body and the way he seemed truly grateful to her in a way that no one else had ever expressed before.And if she chose to dwell on it a little longer, she supposed that it was nice to be held by an attractive man (and denying his attractiveness would be ridiculous since he looked so similar to Sasuke).“That’s enough,” she said, taking the biggest backwards step she could manage.He was still smiling when they broke apart. “I’m sorry,” he said, “I should have asked for permission first.”Sakura laughed at the absurdity of it all – that an s-class criminal should ask for permission to hug her. It was surreal – all of it was.Before she could respond, Sakura felt a spike of chakra in the distance – a familiar signature. Ino. Itachi must have noticed too, because she felt his signature immediately dissipate as he masked it.“Shit,” Sakura said, “I didn’t think she’d be back so soon.”“It’s alright, Sakura,” he said, “I can leave now. You’ve done more than enough for me. I won’t hold you up any longer. You’re done here in Toyeiki, yes?”“Wait, no,” she said, a note of panic rising in her voice, “I’m not done with you, yet. If you get sick again you’ll be right back where you were before. In all that pain. And I promised that I’d heal you completely. That was our deal.”He gave her a disapproving look, but didn’t argue. “What do you suppose we do, then?” he asked.“If she came back so soon she must have found something,” Sakura said, “Let me see what she found out before you go. We can make a plan after we have all the information.”He nodded in agreement.“Take Yamato and Sachi into their old room and stay there with them until I come back,” she ordered.He crouched down and held out his arms for Sachi, who excitedly bounded into them. Yamato rolled his eyes and followed closely behind her.“I’ll try to keep her away from you,” Sakura said, “But just use a henge if she gets too close.”Itachi fixed a sharp eye on her. “I know how to avoid detection,” he said.She blushed. “Yeah, sorry,” she said, “Maybe you should be the one giving orders, eh?”He shook his head with amusement, which struck Sakura oddly and left her feeling warmth spread through her chest that definitely should not have been there. She ignored it, pushed it aside, and went downstairs to greet Ino.Nervously, Sakura busied herself in the lobby, pretending to gather linens, touching things in general, trying to look as if she was doing something. She couldn’t sense Itachi upstairs, even knowing that he was there, so that brought her some relief. Ino probably wasn’t astute enough to sense him anyway.Ino burst through the front door, gasping for breath.“Sakura!” she exclaimed, panting. She tossed her pack onto the nearest cot and collapsed down beside it. “I’ve got some really bad news.” ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Itachi was a fool and he knew it. He should be well on his way back to Rain right now and instead he was hiding in an inn-turned-sanctuary with one child on his knee and another leaning against his side. He tried to listen to Sakura and her partner downstairs, but he couldn’t hear without the aid of chakra. He was nervous, of course, because getting caught wasn’t just a matter of life and death anymore. Sakura’s suspicion was troubling enough – he couldn’t bank on two people keeping their heads down about him. If the truth came out… Well, what if it did? He pushed the thought away as quickly as it had come. He couldn’t think about that now. “Itachi-san,” Yamato said, “When will I get to start my ninja training? I’m not getting any younger, you know.” Itachi shushed the boy and tried to listen for any movement downstairs. To his knowledge, there were no other people in the inn with them. Yamato huffed noisily next to him. Sachi breathed too loudly, hiccupping occasionally. Itachi had been four when the Third Great Shinobi War ended. Sachi couldn’t have been much younger than that, but he would never have thought a girl so young would be capable of handling such trauma. Had he ever been like her? So innocent and endearing in a way that only little kids can be? No, he was a born killer, a natural shinobi. Being a child was never an option. He had only been eleven when he joined ANBU – close to Yamato’s age. He had been thirteen when he left the village after the single worst mission of his entire life. He had the urge to tell Yamato to give up that dream, to find a new one. Itachi would give anything to have lived a different life. He was a pacifist at heart – yet forever branded as a cold-hearted murderer. He couldn’t change that now, nor would he have if he could go back in time. His sacrifices were necessary for the peace of Konoha. But Yamato… He had a chance to live whatever life he wanted. He could be anything, do anything. He could go anywhere. He was free to be friends with whomever he chose. His life was a blank canvas. Itachi didn’t want to admit that he was jealous. He’d been jealous before, but it had never felt so intense before. He wished he could say that it had nothing to do with the pink-haired woman downstairs, but he knew better. She was a taste of what his life could have been like, and instead of staying here with him, she was going back to Konoha and taking Yamato and Sachi with her. It was painful to think about her now. He had hugged her, which was an unforgivable mistake, but he couldn’t say that he regretted it. Really, when would he ever get the chance to hug someone like that again? Probably never. He’d hug Sachi and maybe Yamato when they parted. But would he ever hug a grown woman again? Would he hug Sasuke? He didn’t know why the thought of physical affection was somehow so important to him now. He certainly hadn’t thought much about it in the past. Maybe because he’d grown accustomed to it in the last week and he knew that soon it would all be over. He didn’t realize how much he had missed it. He would probably crave it again once he was back in Rain. He closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath. ‘I’m doing this for Sasuke.’ He heard Sakura’s footsteps as she walked down the hall. She was alone. Itachi shifted Sachi out of his lap onto the bed and stood up, ready to help Sakura in any way that he could. “Itachi-san,” she said as she opened the door. Her face was red and she looked worried, almost panicked. “We’ve got trouble.” He furrowed his brow and watched as she scooped up Sachi and grabbed Yamato’s hand and headed straight for her office. Itachi followed her, matching her pace. She began stuffing Sachi and Yamato’s things into her pack. “What’s going on?” Itachi asked. “Ino – my partner – she found patient zero,” Sakura said, “She traced him back to Kabuto.” Kabuto. Orochimaru’s lackey. Was he responsible for the infection? “Where is he?” Itachi asked. “He’s on his way here!” Sakura shrieked, still flying around her office, grabbing her belongings and stuffing them into her pack. “Ino found him in an underground bunker several days north west, in Fire Country. She confronted him, that idiot, and he admitted to creating the infection himself – an experiment.” “An experiment…” Itachi repeated, “And he’s on his way here? Why?” “He had to have known I was here working on a cure,” she said, “It was in all the papers. Everyone knew. Ino said he wanted me to figure out a cure. Me!” “I still don’t understand,” Itachi said. “I don’t either, Itachi-san,” she said, “But I know he’s on his way here specifically to find me and I really don’t want to be here when he arrives. I don’t think I could take him – especially not while Yamato and Sachi are here.” “Do you think he wants to fight you?” Itachi asked. That didn’t make sense. Kabuto, from what he remembered of the man, was more interested in learning new tricks than winning needless battles. “I don’t know,” Sakura answered, “But I don’t want to find out. I’m heading back to Konoha now. Ino went ahead of me, and she sent for backup.” “So you’re going to try to outrun him while traveling with two children?” Itachi asked. He couldn’t keep the irritation out of his voice. How stupid could she be? If she couldn’t fight him then she couldn’t outrun him either. Not like this. “What other choice do I have?” “Sakura,” Itachi snapped. She paused in her movements and raised a brow at him. “You’re panicking,” he said, “You need to take a step back and think about your next move. You can’t outrun him with two kids with you. Your partner has called for backup already. You don’t know what he wants with you.” She took a deep breath in and held it for a second before releasing it. “You’re right,” she said, “What should I do?” Itachi didn’t know. He really shouldn’t be getting involved in her affairs anyway. But while Yamato and Sachi were still around, it was technically his affair too. Their safety was his first priority. He was confident that he could handle Kabuto – especially with the way he felt now after Sakura had healed him. But Kabuto was Orochimaru’s minion and Sasuke was very closely tied in with all of this, if his most recent information regarding his whereabouts were correct. If Sasuke had indeed killed Orochimaru then what was Kabuto doing now? And where had Sasuke gone? The uncertainties were mounted against them. “I think you should stay here and see what Kabuto wants,” Itachi advised. They needed more information. Kabuto would have answers about Sasuke, too, which was a bonus for Itachi. “If he’s looking for a fight…” Sakura said, trailing off uncertainly. Itachi hadn’t seen what Sakura was capable of on the battlefield, but he doubted that her battle skills were up to par if she felt so determined not to fight Kabuto, who, by Itachi’s standards, wasn’t an exceptionally skilled shinobi. He had talent, definitely. But he wasn’t anywhere near the top. “I’ll stay with you,” Itachi offered, “I’ll stay hidden until you need me.” “What?” she snapped, “No, absolutely not.” “Why not?” “I thought you had somewhere to be.” “Yamato and Sachi take precedent over that.” She paused, considering that. Her eyes darted over to Yamato and Sachi, who were still standing by the door watching them with frightened eyes. “You can’t be here when my backup arrives.” “I’ll stay out of the way,” he answered, “I’ll leave quietly when they arrive.” “What if you have to fight Kabuto?” she asked, “How will I explain that to them?” “Should it come to that,” he began, “You may take credit for my handiwork.” “I don’t think this is a good idea.” Itachi wanted to shake her. It may not be prudent to stay here with her, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to leave her and the children unprotected. Besides, Kabuto would have answers for him and he couldn’t pass that opportunity up. “What if I intercept him?” he asked. “Why would you do that?” “It will give you more time to get away,” he said, “Your backup will be able to catch up with you before he finds you.” And I can get the information I need from him. “What’s in it for you?” “Yamato and Sachi will be safe.” Sakura looked at the children again, skepticism painting her features. Itachi didn’t know why she didn’t believe him. If there was one thing she had learned about him during their time together it was that he cared about those kids. She didn’t need to know the other reason he wanted to find Kabuto. It was irrelevant. “I thought you wanted me to find out what he wanted from me.” “It’s your choice, Sakura,” he said, “This is your mission.” “My opinion,” she started, and her voice was full of sass, “Is that you should leave now and let me handle this on my own. I’m sorry I couldn’t heal you fully, but I’m already in hot water for taking so long on this mission. It won’t do me any good if someone discovers I enlisted help from Konoha’s most wanted list.” “I’m not leaving until I know they’re going to be safe.” “You have my word, Itachi-san,” she said, gritting her teeth, “I will make sure they are safe.” “I don’t trust you.” “And I don’t trust you.” He didn’t answer right away because he was annoyed and he didn’t want to snap at her. If she was determined to do this on her own, he could let her think that. He could pretend to leave and then stay to make sure she and the kids were fine. If she chose to stay and wait for Kabuto, he could wait with her and find him after they spoke – or protect her if it came to that. And if she chose to leave and go back to Konoha, he could intercept Kabuto anyway and she would be none the wiser. “Fine,” Itachi said, “I’ll leave. But at least tell me what you plan to do.” She refocused her attention on the various journals and scrolls on her desk and began shuffling them together neatly. “I’ll stay,” she said, sweeping the pile off her desk and into her pack, “And hope that he doesn’t want to hurt me.” “And what if he does?” “I’ll figure something out,” she said, “But I want to know why he did this. I want to know why he would to do something so vile. Hundreds of people are dead because of him. Civilians – not even shinobi!” Itachi didn’t think there was a point in finding out that particular truth, but he kept his mouth shut. This was Sakura’s mission. “Sakura,” he said. She paused and looked up at him. Immediately she looked back down at the floor, an angry scowl marring her features. He realized that he had inadvertently activated his Sharingan. “Are you sure you want me to leave? Do you really want to be alone when he gets here?” “You being here is worse than being alone, isn’t it?” she demanded, “Because then I’ll have two enemies instead of one.” “We are temporary allies.” “We were temporary allies,” she countered, “But our agreement has been fulfilled to the best of my abilities. We have no reason to continue this arrangement.” “The safety of Yamato and Sachi was a condition of our agreement,” he said tersely, “A condition that has not yet been met.” “If you stay, you will be staying as an enemy,” she warned, “not as an ally.” He crossed his arms and resisted the urge to huff. It had been a very long time since he had felt this annoyed. She was being needlessly stubborn and she knew it. But he was in no position to argue with her. They were not in this together. She had every reason to distrust him – in fact, it was probably wise that she did. “Fine, I will leave now.” She nodded curtly and continued to pack. Itachi crouched down near Yamato and Sachi and pulled them both into a hug – the last one he’d give for a long time. “You will be safe with Sakura,” he said, running his fingers over Sachi’s nose. She scrunched her face up like she was going to cry and buried her face in his shoulder. “You’re leaving us?” Yamato asked. Even he was holding onto Itachi, his chin resting on the man’s other shoulder. “I have to,” Itachi answered, “But everything will be fine. You’ll be on your way to Konoha soon, and you’ll start your ninja training. Isn’t that what you want?” Yamato didn’t answer, and Itachi swore that he heard to boy sniffle, but when he pulled back his eyes were dry. Sachi, on the other hand, was in full-blown tears. She sobbed pitifully into Itachi’s chest. Itachi wrapped his arms around her and swallowed hard. He attempted to stand up, but Sachi held onto him. He picked her up and held her against him, turning to face Sakura. Sakura was watching him with tears in her own eyes, which amused Itachi in spite of the heavy weight of the moment. “Are you crying?” “No,” she said, no trace of emotion in her voice, “Now get out of here.” He set Sachi down and was gone by the time she had started crying again. . Annoyed wasn’t an emotion that Itachi often felt. Feeling it now was distracting, like a fly that buzzed around his face just when he thought it had flown away. He wasn’t used to being dismissed. Sure, he had orders from Akatsuki’s leader, and at times he found his situation frustrating. He didn’t want to carry out his orders. It was a necessity. But Sakura was an entirely different case. She was not as a good a shinobi as he was. She didn’t have all of the knowledge he had. She didn’t know what was best for her. She was still practically a child. And she had the nerve to reject his help. It may have been his own fault. He had grown to trust her (at least a little bit) and even like her somewhat. He had grown comfortable around her and found her company to be pleasant. It was no mystery why she wouldn’t feel the same way. She was a good, loyal shinobi who was dedicated to her village and bound by duty to protect it. And he was a monster who had abandoned his village and destroyed his own family. It still didn’t ease the pain of her rejection. If she wanted to handle things on her own, he wouldn’t stop her from trying. Against his better judgment, Itachi found himself perched in a tall tree just outside town. His chakra was masked and his Sharingan was activated. Now he would just have to wait. He should be on his way back to Rain. He should have been on his way back days ago. Now, though, he wasn’t so sure that he even wanted to go back. He never really wanted to join Akatsuki in the first place. It had been the easiest choice – a simple way to keep tabs on Sasuke. But he still didn’t know where Sasuke was. Going back to Rain would likely only take him further away from him. Sasuke was hell-bent on killing Itachi. So why had he not come yet? What was he waiting for? He had killed Orochimaru already. Did he not feel that he had enough power yet? Truthfully, Itachi didn’t think Sasuke could kill him at his full strength. He had planned to let Sasuke win anyway – after testing his limits, of course – but now that Sakura had fixed him up so nicely, he wasn’t craving death like he used to. That thought was too morbid for Itachi to linger on, so he focused on his surroundings instead. In the distance he could hear a flock of birds. Nothing else. Kabuto wasn’t close, as far as he could tell. On his right he could just barely make out the outline of the town. He wondered if Sachi was still crying. . It seemed that Kabuto had given Sakura a generous head start because it wasn’t until well into the evening that he finally meandered into Toyeiki. Itachi watched from his perch in the tree as Kabuto sauntered into town with a disturbing confidence and a pep in his step. Itachi assumed this meant that he did not intend to harm Sakura (and by extension, the children), but he lingered around anyway, just in case. He followed Kabuto to the inn where Sakura greeted him outside. She was dressed in her full gear and Itachi knew that she likely had all of her weapons readily available. He hadn’t seen her like that since the day he’d first met her. She still didn’t look much like a kunoichi – not with that pink hair. Itachi found himself hiding on the roof of the inn. Sakura and Kabuto would be unable to see him unless they stepped far back away from the inn, which suited him perfectly. He could still peer over the edge to see them if he chose, but instead he shrunk away from the edge of the roof and listened to their exchange. “Kabuto, it’s so good to see you,” Sakura said. Her sarcasm was subtle in tone, but obvious enough that Itachi wanted to roll his eyes. “I haven’t seen you since the chuunin exams.” “Glad to see you’re in good spirits, Sakura,” he said, “I’m sure your friend told you about my experiment by now.” “She did.” “You created a vaccine for it,” Kabuto said with a hint of admiration, “Not only that, but you found a way to cure the infection by using chakra to burn off the bacteria. That’s quite impressive.” “Why don’t you just cut to the chase?” Sakura demanded. “I’m sure you’re aware that Sasuke has killed Orochimaru.” “It’s a shame he didn’t kill you, too.” Itachi winced. She had seemed so determined to avoid a fight, yet she was egging him on with fervor. It didn’t seem practical from a shinobi standpoint and it irritated Itachi that she didn’t understand that. But Kabuto ignored the remark. “I’ve taken it upon myself to continue Orochimaru’s line of work.” “His experiments, you mean,” Sakura said. “Exactly,” he answered, “The infection was my own personal experiment. I’d been working on it independently, long before Orochimaru was killed. My purpose was to create something that could be used as a sort of biological warfare.” Sakura was silent. Itachi wondered if she had made a face at the bespectacled man. “You’re aware that I failed in that my infection did not affect shinobi,” Kabuto said, “In fact, chakra was supposed to be the means by which it spread. I’m curious to know what was in your vaccine.” “How did you know about the vaccine?” she asked, “And how I used chakra to burn off the bacteria?” Itachi heard a rustle of movement. “The vaccine I heard about from the paper this morning. The innkeeper here was all too eager to share that information. Understandably so.” “And the alternative fix?” “I had a plant,” he explained, “One of your nurses.” Itachi swallowed hard. He had met one of the nurses. Would she be able to identify him? He couldn’t leave any more loose ends than he already had. It was too risky. “I sent Kira here when I knew that you had accepted the mission,” Kabuto said, “I was curious to see how you would do with the little information that you had.” “That’s why Kira left,” Sakura said, “To report back to you.” “Yes.” “So was Amika a plant, too?” “Just Kira.” “Why go through all this effort?” Sakura asked. “The effort to create the infection was obvious,” Kabuto explained, “It’s a powerful weapon to have at my disposal. My failure, though, was unexpected. I still don’t quite understand why the infection wasn’t able to affect shinobi.” Sakura made an irritated noise with the back of her throat. “The effort I spent on you, though,” Kabuto continued, “Was a way to mitigate my failure – turn it into a different kind of success. You, Sakura, have incredible skill.” Itachi didn’t like where this was going. “What do you want, Kabuto?” she asked. “I want you to join me,” he implored, “and be my apprentice.” There it was. Itachi held his breath for a moment. He was sure Sakura would reject the offer. He had no doubts about her loyalty to Konoha. But inwardly, Itachi wondered if such an arrangement would be good for Sakura. There would be many things she could learn from Kabuto. “I can teach you more than Tsunade ever could,” Kabuto said, “Offensive medical justu you’ve never dreamed of, all of the things you can do to a person with a single touch. I assure you, I have plenty of things to share with you if you’re willing to help me out as well.” “I’d rather infect myself with your disease and let it kill me.” Kabuto chuckled. “You have a sharp tongue, Sakura.” “You don’t know anything about me if you think that I’d willingly help you with anything,” she said, venom dripping from her voice, “You’re a piece of human garbage.” “Now, now, Sakura,” Kabuto chided, “No need for name-calling.” Itachi didn’t like the way Sakura’s name rolled off Kabuto tongue. He was condescending and teasing and made Itachi feel uneasy. “I do know things about you,” he continued, “You know that. I know that you have an unwavering loyalty to Sasuke. Don’t you?” Sakura did not reply. “Sasuke never really gave you any attention, did he? He never appreciated you or your talents.” Itachi peered over the edge of the roof and saw Sakura clenching her fists at her side. She was unusually pale and her face was contorted into a deep scowl. “I heard that Sasuke was forming a team to go kill his brother,” Kabuto said. Itachi’s heart jumped in his chest. He slid back away from the edge of the roof and out of sight again. “He wanted a medic, and he didn’t choose you.” “I wouldn’t have been on his team even if he had asked me,” Sakura snapped. Itachi was eerily comforted by that. If it were true that Sasuke had formed a team in order to kill him, he wouldn’t have wanted Sakura to be on that team. “You want me to believe that you don’t have feelings for him anymore?” Kabuto asked. “That has nothing to do with this.” “If you join me I can help you grow. I can make you stronger. I can make you a better ninja. Sasuke will have to see what a true shinobi you’ve become. He’ll respect you. He’ll acknowledge you. Isn’t that what you want?” “Like I said, Kabuto,” Sakura replied, spitting the man’s name like a curse, “You don’t know me. The only thing I want is for Sasuke to come back home.” “That’s not the only thing you want, Sakura,” he replied, spitting her name back at her, “You do want to be stronger. You wouldn’t have asked Tsunade if you could be her apprentice otherwise.” Sakura said nothing. “I can teach you more than she ever could.” “I highly doubt that.” “Just think it over,” Kabuto said, “I’d hate to see all your talent go to waste.” Itachi heard another rustle of movement and then silence. He peered over the edge of the roof again and saw Sakura standing in front of the inn alone. Her fists were still clenched tight at her sides but the scowl on her face had melted into something much sadder and vulnerable. She put her face into her hands and began to cry. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Sakura didn’t know why she was crying. Well, she sort of did. Kabuto had asked her to be his apprentice. He had sought her out specifically. Surely that was enough reason. It didn’t necessarily make her sad, but it was overwhelming and unwanted all the same.Not to mention that he had brought up Sasuke, too. As if wasn’t already hard enough to keep her mind off him – especially after having spent way more time than acceptable with his murderous older brother.Kabuto told her that Sasuke had formed a team to kill his brother. She didn’t want to think about why that caused her so much grief. But it also meant that Sasuke was one step closer to coming home. Surely after he had killed Itachi he wouldn’t have anything more pressing to do. He would come back to her, back to Naruto at least.Sakura brushed the tears away from her face and straightened her posture. Her mission was now over and her duty was to honor the deal she made with Itachi. She’d get the children back to Konoha and then be done with the entire situation.She spent the next two hours with Sachi on her back and Yamato’s hand on her apron loop. Itachi had been right – she would never have been able to outrun anyone with these kids in tow. Sachi weighed a million pounds and Yamato struggled to keep up with her, even at her slow pace.She couldn’t blame him – he was carrying Sachi’s pack in addition to his own. Apparently they gained a lot of possessions while staying in Toyeiki. It was difficult for her to have both Sachi and her own pack, so she imagined he wasn’t feeling like a spring chicken either.“Let me know if you need to take a break, Yamato,” Sakura said. The boy shook his head and took bigger strides to match hers.At this rate it would take them at least a week to reach Konoha, maybe longer. Kabuto had disappeared after their conversation, but she couldn’t be sure that he wasn’t following her. Even if he wasn’t, there were still many other dangers involved in traveling with children. She would need to be very careful to avoid running into anyone.Once her backup arrived she could ease up a little. She was nervous that she would get ambushed and then have to fight off her attackers while simultaneously protecting Yamato and Sachi. She had enough trouble just defending herself, but she couldn’t break her promise to Itachi.“How much longer until we’re in Konoha?” Yamato asked.“We’ve got a long way to go, Yamato,” Sakura answered.“How long?”“A week, at most,” she said. She was annoyed, but for their sake she didn’t show it. They had been through enough.“I miss Itachi-san,” Sachi mumbled into the back of Sakura’s neck.Sakura missed him, too. Well, she missed his help, anyway.“Listen up, kids,” Sakura said, “When we get to Konoha you have to make sure that you don’t say anything about Itachi-san. It could put his life in danger. Understand?”“Why?” Yamato asked.“People in Konoha don’t like Itachi-san,” Sakura explained, “They’ll try to kill him. They’ll be angry at me for speaking with him. You have to keep quiet about him. Don’t ever say his name out loud.”“Why would anyone want to kill Itachi-san?”“It’s complicated, Yamato,” Sakura said with a sigh, “Just tell me that you understand.”“I understand,” he said.“Sachi?” Sakura said.“I understand,” Sachi whispered back.“Good,” Sakura said, only slightly relieved. There was still no guarantee they wouldn’t speak about Itachi. “Yamato, if you want to honor Itachi-san’s memory, you should work really hard at the academy. Do everything you can to become a powerful ninja like he wants you to be.”“I will,” Yamato said. Sakura was surprised by the fierceness in his voice. Itachi seemed to have had a profound influence on the boy.Sakura squinted her eyes against the setting sun, raising her hand to her face to block the light. It would be dark soon.“It’s time to set up camp, I think,” she said..The next morning was chaotic. Sakura woke up to feed the children and herself breakfast and was met with the backup team of ANBU that had been sent to help her. They were understandably confused by the presence of two small children and the lack of a single enemy.There were three ANBU total, each keeping his mask in place. Sakura, having worked in the hospital for so long, was aware of the identities of each man and didn’t see the need for the formality, but they insisted that the masks be left on. In fact, they hardly spoke to Sakura at all.Yamato and Sachi were both enchanted by these new masked strangers. In spite of themselves, the ANBU team also seemed to have taken a liking to the children.That was how Sakura found herself with no kids on her back, traveling third in succession behind two ANBU, each with a child on his back, and the third keeping up the rear.She was grateful for their arrival. It meant they could travel faster and that Sakura wouldn’t be alone should she be ambushed or just caught off guard by an enemy.She didn’t bother trying to explain the situation to the team and they didn’t ask.It felt strange to be around them. Sakura felt nervous for a multitude of reasons. The children could bring up Itachi at any moment and that would be the end of Sakura. Tsunade would definitely have her head for that. She also just wanted to outright tell them the truth, like a call of the void. It would release the tension and nervousness she felt to get it all out in the open.Or maybe she just wanted to talk about it and air out the feelings (ugh) that overwhelmed her.She couldn’t explain why she felt more comfortable around Itachi than she did the three ANBU. She couldn’t explain why the sight of Sachi on the back of another man seemed so wrong.Maybe she should just lay low for a while when she got back to Konoha. She could request some time off, not take any new missions, and just try to relax a little. Maybe she just needed time to clear her head..Several days later, the eclectic group of travelers arrived at the gates of Konoha. Immediately after walking through the massive gates, the three ANBU deserted her, leaving her alone with Yamato and Sachi again.Sakura knew that she needed to report directly to Tsunade after a mission, but she hadn’t really figured out what she was going to do with Yamato and Sachi yet. It was feasible that she could take them to the Hokage tower with her, but that would open up a terrifying can of worms.But she didn’t really have a choice. There was nowhere else to take them.When she knocked on the door to Tsunade’s office, Sakura was prepared for the worst. She wasn’t necessarily in trouble, but she certainly had the potential to be, and Tsunade’s wrath was never something she wanted to be on the receiving end of.“Sakura,” Tsunade snapped, “Come in.”Like a child with a stolen cookie in her back pocket, Sakura slowly slipped through the crack in the door, pulling Yamato and Sachi inside behind her.“What is this?” Tsunade demanded when she saw the two children, who looked just as terrified as Sakura.“Orphans,” Sakura clarified, attempting to use her most confident voice, “Their parents were killed by the infection.”“Orphans. You brought back orphans.”“I couldn’t just leave them there, Tsunade-shishou.”Tsunade narrowed her eyes at her. Her hands were steepled in front of her face – a telltale sign that she was not pleased.“So you plan to raise these children?” she demanded, “While working full time at the hospital. On top of being a shinobi. You’ll still have missions, you know.”“What?” Sakura breathed, “No, of course I didn’t plan on raising them.”“Well, who’s going to raise them, then?”Sakura fidgeted nervously because she hadn’t thought about that at all. There were many war orphans after the Third War. Sakura had assumed that there would be some type of program in place to take care of such children. Naruto had been an orphan, too, after all.But Naruto had been all alone, hadn’t he…?“I don’t know, Tsunade-shishou.”Tsunade’s gaze softened and she let out a tired sigh. “You’re tender-hearted, Sakura,” she said, “I can’t blame you for that.”Encouraged, Sakura lifted her eyes to meet her mentor’s. “Yamato wants to be a ninja,” she said, “I told him he could join the academy. He’s the right age.”“Yamato, eh?” Tsunade smiled at the boy.Yamato blushed and shrunk back behind Sakura, holding onto her apron with tight fists. Sakura didn’t blame him for being intimidated.“And what’s your name?” Tsunade asked, turning to Sachi who was on Sakura’s other side.Predicting that the girl wouldn’t speak up, Sakura answered for her. “Her name is Sachi.”Tsunade closed her eyes for a brief moment, collecting her thoughts. Sakura couldn’t tell whether that was a good sign or not. Usually, her mentor wasn’t so calm or collected in situations like this.“Shizune!” Tsunade bellowed, startling her three visitors.A clamor of thudding footsteps resounded in the hallway before Shizune burst through the door, looking quite frazzled.“Yes, Hokage-sama?”“Take these two kids and get them cleaned up. They’re filthy,” Tsunade commanded, “Sakura will come collect them when we’ve finished our meeting.”Shizune eyed the two kids in question with a curious, but wary gaze.“Yes, Hokage-sama,” she answered, ushering said kids through the door. They didn’t resist her, but they looked back at Sakura with wide, worried eyes until the door was firmly shut behind them, blocking her from view.“Let’s hear your mission report.”Sakura took a deep breath. “The mission took longer than expected, as you know. Upon my arrival in Toyeiki I was unable to find the cause of the bacterial infection for quite some time. The reason for this is that only civilians were infected and chakra was the instigating factor. I didn’t think to analyze chakra in the infected because no shinobi – to my knowledge – had been infected.”“How did you come to the conclusion that chakra was the instigating factor?”“A man who had been recently infected came to Toyeiki for unrelated reasons,” Sakura said. Her heart was beating wildly out of control. “He was a low-skill shinobi who exhibited several symptoms of the infection, so I asked him if I could study him before I cured him.”Tsunade nodded and didn’t ask any probing questions. Sakura breathed a sigh of relief.“Analysis of the infection in his body led me to believe that chakra was the cause of the spread of the bacteria. Not only that, but his chakra changed its state of matter, becoming more viscous the longer he was infected.”“Viscous?” Tsunade asked, “More solid, you mean?”“Exactly, gelatinous, almost,” Sakura answered.Tsunade furrowed her brow.“I concluded that the reason most shinobi were immune to this is that the infection seemed to accumulate near chakra points, and people with control over their chakra tended to subconsciously burn it off without realizing it. A natural defense, if you will.”“Why do you think the shinobi you met contracted the disease, then?”Sakura swallowed. “His immune system was severely weakened due to an autoimmune disease.”Tsunade nodded.“I created a vaccine using the shinobi’s infected chakra,” Sakura continued, “Because of its viscosity, I was able to use it within the vaccine with no trouble.”“That was a smart idea.”“Shortly after I created the vaccine, Ino returned from her investigation and told me that she had traced patient zero to a bunker east of Toyeiki, where Kabuto admitted to her that he had created the infection himself. As an experiment.”“I’ve spoken with Ino about what she saw,” Tsunade said. She didn’t seem happy about it, but Sakura didn’t want to press her luck by asking about it.“Against my better judgment, I stayed in Toyeiki knowing that Kabuto was searching for me,” Sakura continued, a nervous lump forming in her throat, “I knew that backup was on the way and that I wouldn’t be able to outrun Kabuto with the children with me.”Tsunade’s frown deepened, but she didn’t say anything.“Kabuto told me that he had planned on creating the infection to use as biological warfare and that he had failed because it didn’t affect shinobi,” Sakura said, “He told me he was impressed with my work in Toyeiki. He had sent a spy – one of the nurses – to keep tabs on me. She left a couple of weeks into the mission, I assume to report back that I was failing miserably.”“You mean you were working with a spy that whole time?” Tsunade demanded, “And you didn’t notice?”Sakura felt her face heat up, the tips of her ears burning. “Due to the nature of the mission, I had my guard down. I didn’t think I would encounter any enemies. I had no reason to think that.”“I thought you were a better shinobi than that.”Sakura let her gaze fall to her feet because Tsunade was right. And hadn’t Itachi mentioned something similar? Not about Kabuto’s spy, but certainly about her instincts as a shinobi.“I’m sorry, Tsunade-shishou,” Sakura muttered.Tsunade waved her hand dismissively, “Continue.”“Kabuto asked me to join him as his assistant,” Sakura said, “He claimed that he could teach me more than you could, and that I had the potential skill he needed to continue his work on experiments now that Orochimaru is dead.”“He confirmed that Orochimaru is dead?”Sakura nodded. She hadn’t thought that Orochimaru would be where Tsunade’s thoughts lingered, given that she had just admitted that an enemy shinobi had specifically tried to recruit her. But she supposed that Orochimaru had been Tsunade’s teammate, probably her friend. He had left Konoha, become an enemy, but so had Sasuke. And wouldn’t Sakura feel sad if Sasuke died?She chanced a look up at her mentor’s face and saw her stone still, her expression vacant.“Are you alright, Tsunade-shishou?”Tsunade shook herself back to reality. “Yeah,” she said, “Yeah, I’m fine. Please continue.”Sakura paused for a moment before speaking again.“I rejected Kabuto’s offer and came straight back to Konoha with Yamato and Sachi.”Tsunade nodded. Her face was harder than it had been before, more strained. “Is there anything else you’d like to add?”“Just one more thing,” Sakura said, twisting her fingers up nervously, “Kabuto said that when Sasuke killed Orochimaru, he began assembling a team. In order to kill his brother.”.Sakura was exhausted. She had been given a week of leave, per usual after a lengthy mission, and was unable to enjoy it because there were two children constantly bickering back and forth in her tiny apartment.She wasn’t annoyed at them, exactly. More with herself for not realizing how much work children could be. Or because she hadn’t really thought this through. There had to be someone out there who was willing to take these kids in.Yamato would be starting at the academy in the coming week, which meant that Sakura would have a bit less responsibility with him gone. She could just focus on Sachi (who, if Sakura was honest with herself, was much better company than Yamato). Sachi was a blessedly quiet angel who wanted nothing but to sit in her room and read her books.“Sakura-san, Sachi is pinching me!” Yamato wailed from the bedroom.“Give me back my book!” Sachi shouted at her brother.Sakura sighed and rubbed her forehead. She would have to think of something soon. She couldn’t keep this up while working at the hospital.“That’s enough, you two,” Sakura said, hands on hips, “Come on, I’ve got some people I’d like you to meet.”.She didn’t know what she was thinking showing up at her parents house with two children completely unannounced. She had barely spoken to them since she had become Tsunade’s apprentice, and she worried that she’d offend them by showing up now with a monumental favor to ask.But she didn’t know who else to ask.When she knocked on their door, she hadn’t expected there to be no reply. She stood on the doorstep with Yamato and Sachi standing behind her.“Sakura!”The pink-haired woman spun around and smiled at her father, who was running toward her with a massive grin on his face.“It’s so good to see you!” he said, pulling her into a bear hug. Sakura held onto him and buried her face in his shoulder. She had forgotten how much she loved him. Guilt flooded her brain as she released him. She needed to remember to visit him more often.“I’ve missed you,” she said, still smiling, “Where is Mother?”“Oh, I think she went out shopping,” he answered, “Come inside, let’s catch up.”He circumvented Sakura and found Yamato and Sachi on his doorstep, watching him with those wide eyes that children give strangers.“What have we here?” he asked.Sakura cleared her throat nervously. “They’re orphans,” she said, “I picked them up on my last mission.”“Orphans…” he repeated.Sakura felt a heaviness in her chest that settled there and made it difficult to breath. She was sad for Yamato and Sachi, who had lost both their parents and then Itachi, too. She was sad that she disappointed her parents by never visiting. She was sad that Sasuke was still gone. She was sad that she had disappointed Tsunade by not being the best shinobi she could be.“Well, let’s go inside and get everyone some tea,” he continued, “You kids like tea, don’t you?”Yamato nodded eagerly while Sachi gave the man a shy smile.When they were all inside and seated around the table, Yamato and Sachi eagerly sipping tea from their steaming mugs, Sakura set her face determinedly and turned her gaze to her father.This was option one, she thought. If her parents couldn’t take in Yamato and Sachi, she would ask someone else. She would keep asking until she found someone, because they could not be without a home and there had to be someone out there who was willing to take them in.She promised Itachi.And she didn’t have to do any mental gymnastics to admit that she cared for the kids, too.“Father,” Sakura started. She used her “hospital” voice, her authoritative one. She had never used it on her father before, but now seemed as good a time as any to start. “I have a favor – a pretty big one – to ask of you.”Kizashi was a kind-hearted man who cared deeply about his daughter. He didn’t seem surprised to hear that tone from Sakura – he may have even expected it. How often had his daughter shown up on his doorstep with two orphans, asking for a favor? The answer was never, of course, and he wasn’t an idiot.His smile never faltered, even in spite of the very serious question he surely knew that his daughter was about to ask him. Sakura hoped that maybe this was something that he wanted. Sakura wasn’t a model daughter – not by any stretch of the imagination. Maybe Sachi could be a better daughter to Kizashi than Sakura ever was. Maybe Yamato could be the son he never had.“Does this favor have anything to do with these two wonderful children you brought to visit me?” he asked. Sakura couldn’t stop the smile that spread across her face at the sound of his eager and jovial voice. He wasn’t upset. He wasn’t angry with her for asking something so huge from him.But that didn’t mean she knew his answer yet.“I know it’s a big favor to ask,” she said, accidentally dropping the authority from her voice and replacing it with a tinge of hesitancy. “But I can’t keep them with me. I have too much going on. They need a home. A steady, uncomplicated home.”Kizashi put a finger to his lips and tapped thoughtfully. “You want us to take them in?” he asked, but it didn’t really sound like a question.“If you can,” she replied, “I mean, if you want to.”“I see,” he said.“I really care about these kids,” she said, “They’re important to me. We’ve been through a lot together. I don’t trust their care to just anyone. That’s why I asked you first.”Kizashi’s grin spread even wider, if that were possible. “You don’t have to butter me up, Sakura,” he said, “I’ll have to speak to your mother, of course, but can you imagine her turning away a couple of orphans?”Sakura felt a little of the heaviness in her chest dissipate and float away.“I’m offended that you felt so nervous to ask!” Kizashi said, still beaming at her. She could always count on her father to be in a cheerful mood. That would be good for Yamato and Sachi. They would be happy here.“Oh, thank you, father,” she said on an exhale, pushing her chair back to throw her arms around the man’s neck. She held him tight – tighter than she had in a long time.When she pulled away, she noticed a more serious look in her father’s eyes – one she couldn’t remember ever seeing there before. She didn’t know what it meant and she didn’t feel confident enough to ask.“Father,” she said, back to authoritative mode, “I want to pay you each month for their care-” she held up a hand against his immediate protest “-these kids are important to me. Like my own children would be. I will pay for their food and clothes. I will pay Yamato’s academy fees. And I’ll help out whenever I can. I’m not just going to burden you with them and leave.”“Sakura,” he said, but he seemed to be at a loss for words.“Yamato starts at the academy in a few days,” Sakura continued, “I want to take him there on his first day.”“You’ve grown into an amazing woman, Sakura,” her father said, “I’m so proud of you.”Sakura swallowed back the tears that prickled at the back of her eyes..“Again!” Sachi screamed through fits of giggles. Kizashi held the girl by her ankles and spun her around, her arms stretched forward and her face red from all the blood rushing to her head.Sakura didn’t think that it was the safest activity to be doing, but it was very fitting that her father would be doing such a thing. And, of course, she was there to assist if anything went wrong.Yamato had found his way into Sakura’s old bedroom and was currently riffling through her childhood possessions – most of which were old ninja tools and pictures from missions she had gone on with Team 7.Sakura left Sachi and her father downstairs to get to know one another and stood leaning against the doorway to her room. She watched Yamato for several minutes as he picked up the various sundries on her dresser and examined them. He reached out for the framed picture of Team 7 by her bedside and paused.“Sakura-san,” he said, startling her. She hadn’t realized that he knew she was there watching. “Who is that?”He pointed to Sasuke. She inhaled sharply.“That’s Sasuke,” she answered. “He’s my teammate. Once you graduate from the academy, you’ll have your own teammates, too.”“He looks a lot like…”Sakura inwardly applauded him for not saying the name out loud.“They’re brothers,” Sakura said, answering his unasked question.“Oh,” Yamato said. “Is he… would I like him?”Sakura sighed and sat down on her bed. Yamato hopped up next to her, still holding the picture in his hand. She took it from him and looked at it, feeling nostalgic for Team 7 and sad that things were so different now.“He’s not like his brother, if that’s what you mean,” Sakura said, “I’m not sure if you would like him. I’m not sure if I like him.”“Can I meet him?”“I hope so,” she said wistfully, “Some day.”Sakura set the picture back down on her nightstand and leaned back on her palms. It felt weird being back in her old room, looking at her old things. It almost felt like she was twelve years old again.“Who’s this other guy in the picture?” Yamato asked, peering back at the picture from across her lap. She passed it back to him.“The blonde one is Naruto,” she said, grinning, “I think you would really like Naruto. He isn’t like… you know who. But he’s a good friend and an excellent ninja.”Yamato hummed thoughtfully, tracing the edges of the picture with his fingertip. “And the old guy?”“That’s Kakashi-sensei,” she answered, “He’s the leader of our team. Team 7.”“You look so little in the picture, Sakura-san,” Yamato said.She still felt little. It was hard to believe that so much had changed in just - what was it, four years? She didn’t feel much different from that little girl in the photo, but she imagined she looked a lot different to Yamato.“Yeah, I wasn’t much older than you are when that picture was taken.”“I can’t wait to have my own team,” Yamato said, “I wonder if I’ll like my teammates. I don’t want to get stuck with someone I don’t like, like you did.”Sakura chuckled at the irony. “I did like Sasuke,” she said, “It was Naruto I didn’t like.”Yamato set the picture down on her nightstand again. A comfortable silence spread around them and Sakura inched closer to Yamato and threw an arm around his shoulder. He leaned into her.“So this is going to be my room from now on?”“You’ll have to share with Sachi.”“Oh, come on!” ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Itachi had tracked Kabuto back to his bunker in Fire Country. It wasn’t the smartest decision he had ever made, but Itachi seemed to be making a lot of stupid decisions lately.He had all but given up on Akatsuki at this point. He had no more use for being a part of the organization now that Sasuke was going to come after him. He would soon be taking his last breaths, giving his brother the revenge he needed so badly. Everything else seemed trivial.He only hoped that Sasuke would reach him before any Akatsuki members did. It was somewhat in his control, if he got what he needed from Kabuto.A genjutsu, and not a particularly good one hid the entrance to the bunker. It wasn’t Kabuto’s specialty, but Itachi had expected better of the man.He activated his Sharingan and went inside.The inside of the bunker was much larger than it appeared from the outside. It went deep underground and into an open area that looked very much like a prison. There were several sets of spiraling metal staircases leading to suspended cages filled to capacity with some of what Itachi assumed were Kabuto’s “patients.”Their sickening cries echoed in the expansive space, reminding Itachi of the inn in Toyeiki. He didn’t want to think about why they screamed or what Kabuto had done to them.Itachi walked down to the ground floor and past the rows of cells that lined the walls around him. Skeletal hands lunged out between the bars to grab him as he passed. He was careful to keep his distance, recoiling minutely when a set of fingertips grazed against his cloak.He wondered if these people were here for Orochimaru or if Kabuto had gone out in search of them after the snake summoner’s death.Itachi entered the door near the end of the rows of cells where he could feel Kabuto’s chakra signature flaring. He was using it for something. On the other side of the door was a chamber that looked similar to a doctor’s office, but decidedly more gray. In the center of the room was Kabuto standing over a gurney and peering into the open stomach of a woman who was slumped – obviously dead – on the white sheets.Shifting his Sharingan to the Mangekyou, Itachi let the door fall shut, the sound echoing throughout the chamber.Kabuto didn’t look up from the gurney.“Itachi-san,” Kabuto said, his voice smooth and cordial, “What brings you here today?”Itachi paused a moment to collect his temper before he could lash out at the medic-nin. It was not the first time in the past week that he had been annoyed and he was beginning to grow accustomed to the feeling.“I want to talk to you about Sasuke.” Itachi said.Kabuto dropped his hands to his sides and took a step back away from the gurney. “Sasuke, you say,” he started, “Not Sakura?”Itachi remained impassive, but he felt his fingers curling themselves into a fist underneath his cloak. He wouldn’t let Kabuto get a rise out of him.“You were working with her, weren’t you?” Kabuto asked, “I sensed you in Toyeiki. I am curious. What could a guy like you and girl like Sakura have to work together on?”Besides the obvious – that Kabuto had created the need for them to work together – Itachi felt that it was a bit presumptuous for him to assume that they were working together. There were a slew of other reasons that a couple of enemy nins would be in the same location, but Itachi didn’t mention that.“Tell me what you know about Sasuke’s whereabouts,” Itachi demanded, cutting right to the chase.“Now, now,” Kabuto said in an irritatingly condescending tone, “You don’t need to worry about Sasuke. He’ll find you when he’s ready. You know that.”Kabuto was looking directly into Itachi’s eyes, seemingly unperturbed by the presence of the Mangekyou there. Surely he knew what Itachi was capable of – what his eyes could do. Wasn’t that what Orochimaru’s ultimate goal was? To have the Sharingan? It was inconceivable that Kabuto wouldn’t be aware of their powers.Itachi could pull him into his Tsukuyomi and get his answers there. He didn’t have to waste his time speaking to Kabuto anymore than he already had.“I’d like to talk some more about Sakura, though,” Kabuto said. Itachi raked his gaze over the man, feeling a strange pull to kill him right then and there. “If she was willing to work with you, there must be some part of her that’s willing to work with me as well. After all, my crimes are much less horrifying than yours, aren’t they?”Itachi didn’t think they were – not in the slightest. Itachi had never experimented on anyone – not nearly anything as cruel and disturbing as Kabuto had. He hadn’t held hundreds of innocent people captive in order to poke and prod them with needles.Had his torture of Sasuke been worse than this? Had murdering his clan been comparable to the devastation Kabuto wreaked on these innocent humans?He didn’t want to think about the answer to that.“I don’t care about Sakura,” Itachi said.Kabuto chuckled darkly. “I wonder about that,” he said, “But that’s besides the point. If you help me win over Sakura and get her to join me, then I will tell you everything you want to know about Sasuke.”“I’m not here to strike a deal with you,” Itachi said.“If you want my cooperation, you will help me get Sakura.”Itachi clenched his fists. He didn’t want to fight Kabuto. He didn’t want to get involved with Kabuto’s business either. All he needed was a close approximation of where Sasuke might be. He had other ways of tracking down his brother – he didn’t need Kabuto’s help.Without any indication of what he was about to do, Itachi pulled Kabuto into his Tsukuyomi. This genjustu wasn’t anywhere near as pleasant as the one he had shown to Yamato and Sachi, but it wasn’t quite as terrifying as some that he had used before. After all, he didn’t want to hurt Kabuto. Not yet, anyway.Within the genjutsu, Kabuto was strung upside down by his ankles, hanging from an unseen rafter. Casually, Itachi flung a shuriken at him, striking him in the abdomen. Kabuto winced, but made no sound.“Kabuto,” Itachi said, “I will release this genjutu when you give me the information I want. Otherwise, I will strike you with more shuriken until you decide to comply.”Kabuto looked up at his stomach and watched as the shuriken receded into nothingness. Another one that Itachi flung at him immediately replaced it. It embedded itself into his skin just below his ribcage.Kabuto remained tightlipped, refusing to utter a word.Three more shuriken followed the first, scattering around his chest and abdomen. Blood began to seep from the wounds, slowly dripping down Kabuto’s neck and into his face. The four shuriken in his torso disappeared and Itachi repeated the process.Three more times Itachi repeated the process, Kabuto remaining silent the entire time. There were worse things Itachi could do. A shuriken to the stomach wasn’t something that most shinobi would be unable to handle. It wasn’t the severity of the torture that would make Kabuto succumb to him. It was the time, the days he spent in the genjutsu.Eventually, Kabuto would become accustomed to the pain. Or maybe he already was. But how long would he remain sane? How long could he stay in the genjutsu without begging or crying?Itachi was in no hurry to find out. Not even a second had passed yet in the real world. Within Tsukuyomi, all he had was time..After three days’ worth of time in the genjutsu, Itachi released Kabuto. More time would have killed him, which was something Itachi wanted to avoid until he had the information he wanted.Back in the real world, Kabuto slumped to the ground behind the gurney, smacking his head on the concrete floor with a dull thud.Itachi was angry. Kabuto had remained silent for the duration of the genjutsu, never once revealing the pain or the suffering he must have been feeling. Itachi was exhausted just orchestrating the ordeal. Even if he couldn’t admit it aloud, Itachi was impressed that Kabuto had managed to hang on for so long.A lightning bolt of pain shot through Itachi’s eye, stinging and blurring his vision. He covered his eye with his palm and grimaced. The dangers of using his Mangekyou were not unknown to him, but he supposed that if these were going to be his final days then he could play around with his powers in spite of the heavy consequences.Itachi didn’t plan on using the Tsukuyomi on Sasuke during their final battle. This would probably be the last time he used it at all. And it had been a wasted effort.Still annoyed, Itachi approached Kabuto’s limp body and kicked him over onto his back with his foot. His glasses had broken during the fall and had nicked his face, which was now streaked with blood. Itachi grimaced and heaved the man up onto his shoulder.He didn’t need Kabuto’s help to track down Sasuke. He could do that on his own. But he didn’t want to leave Kabuto to his own devices either. He had come too close to Sakura (and therefore also Yamato and Sachi, Itachi reasoned) for Itachi’s comfort. Whatever else Kabuto was planning, Itachi would put an end to right now.“Kabuto-sama!”Itachi turned to face the door he entered from. A girl was standing in the doorway looking flushed and nervous. Itachi detected a small chakra signature in her – she was not a shinobi, he deduced, but she could probably use chakra to some degree.“What are you doing with him?” she shrieked, her voice several octaves higher than what it probably should have been.“Who are you?” Itachi asked. She did not appear to be a patient of Kabuto’s.She took a step backwards, over the threshold of the door. Itachi deactivated his Sharingan. He couldn’t use it in his current state anyway, and he wouldn’t need it to deal with the girl.“Who are you?” he repeated when she didn’t answer.“M-my name is Kira,” she stuttered.Kira. The nurse. The girl Kabuto had sent to spy on Sakura. So this girl had been the one who betrayed the pink-haired woman.“You work for Kabuto.”“Yes.”“Did you work for Orochimaru, too?”“I don’t know who that is.” Itachi dropped Kabuto’s body, letting it fall back to the ground without ceremony. Maybe Kira had the answers that Kabuto failed to give to him.“I have some questions to ask you.”She glanced nervously between Itachi and Kabuto’s body crumpled up at this feet. Itachi may not have been an inherently cruel man, but he appreciated that she showed an appropriate apprehensiveness about dealing with him. He had been pleased when Sakura had shown the same nervousness, if he was honest with himself.But he wasn’t going to hurt her, and telling her that would likely only make her more cooperative.“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said. He could see that she didn’t believe him. “I just want some answers regarding Kabuto’s prior business.”“Prior business?” she asked, clutching onto the doorframe like maybe it could save her if she dug her fingernails into hard enough.“He was working for a man named Orochimaru,” Itachi said, “And there was another man – Sasuke. Do you know where Sasuke is?”“I don’t know who either of those people are,” she insisted, “Please believe me – I only just started working with Kabuto recently.”Itachi narrowed his eyes at her. It wasn’t her fault that she didn’t have answers. He could tell that she wasn’t lying to him. Still, it was just another annoyance. It meant he would have to track Sasuke without any help.“You no longer work for Kabuto, understand?” Itachi said, “Go back to wherever you came from and forget about Kabuto.”He watched as the fear on her face shifted to something darker, something more determined and fierce.“You can’t tell me what to do.”Her stubbornness reminded him of Sakura and he felt the corners of him mouth twitch up into a smile. He could be stubborn, too.“Leave now, or I will kill Kabuto and you won’t have a choice.”It was cold, even by Itachi’s standards. He didn’t really have any intention to kill Kabuto, but Kira didn’t need to know that.She dropped her gaze back down to Kabuto. He looked pretty rough with blood streaking down his face. He would undoubtedly be unconscious for a least a week after spending so long in the Tsukuyomi.“Leave,” Itachi repeated, his tone brooking no arguments. Just for good measure, he activated his Sharingan again and fixed her with his ominous red glare.She wilted under his gaze, looking as though she were about to faint. Itachi considered whether it would be worth it to catch her before she fell in order to prevent her from hitting her head and seriously injuring herself. He thought about how the girl betrayed Sakura and decided otherwise.The girl collapsed and slumped to the floor. Itachi felt it was a little melodramatic because he wasn’t that scary. At least Sakura hadn’t fainted at the sight of his Sharingan and Sachi had even let him use it on her.More than a little irritated, Itachi sighed and rubbed his brow with the back of his hand. He had his work cut out for him now..Many hours later, Itachi was still inside Kabuto’s bunker. He had tied up both Kabuto and Kira in the room with the gurney, using chakra binds to ensure that they wouldn’t be able to escape. Kabuto might have been able to worm his way free, so Itachi made sure that his ties were extra secure.After a few minutes of exploring, it was clear to Itachi that this bunker was not one that Orochimaru had used. He couldn’t sense any trace of Orochimaru or Sasuke anywhere within the bunker.Instead, Itachi opted to search through Kabuto’s laboratory that seemed to also function as his office. It was remarkably similar to the office that Sakura had set up for herself in Toyeiki except this one contained far more unsavory things – like jars filled with detached body parts, forbidden jutsus rolled up into scrolls, and rows and rows of poisons. Itachi took special note of the poisons because it seemed that there were far too many for it to be a passing interest. There were shelves upon shelves of different colored poisons. Itachi wasn’t all that familiar with poisons, but he was curious about these.Inside Kabuto’s desk drawer, Itachi found a poisons guide – or what he assumed was a poisons guide. It appeared to have been written with some type of code. Itachi was familiar with codes, so he tucked the guide away in his cloak for further inspection later.Also in Kabuto’s office, Itachi found the patient files for all of the people that had been in the cells Itachi passed when he first entered. The files detailed all of the gruesome experiments that Kabuto had been doing and Itachi found most of them difficult to stomach. Thinking about Orochimaru’s experiments always left Itachi feeling bitter. Sasuke had essentially become one prior to Orochimaru’s death and it didn’t sit right with Itachi.Itachi knew of Sasuke’s curse mark. He even knew of Juugo, whose blood helped create the curse mark. Itachi also knew that Sasuke didn’t need such a thing to become powerful. He was an Uchiha – it was in his blood to be great. He had the Sharingan at his disposal, and a natural talent for fire style and taijustu.It was unimaginable to Itachi that Sasuke would have found himself lacking power – or at least lacking the ability to gain it without Orochimaru’s aid. But, Itachi wasn’t so proud that he couldn’t admit when he’d made a mistake.The more he thought about it, the sicker to his stomach he felt. He had pushed Sasuke in this direction. He had nudged him right into Orochimaru’s waiting arms. How could he blame Sasuke for doing exactly what he told him to do?Itachi had only been thirteen when he left Konoha. Sure, many thought he possessed intelligence on par with a much older, more experienced man, but still – he had only been a kid, barely older than Yamato. He wouldn’t have trusted Yamato with some of the decisions he had made back then. Yamato wouldn’t have been capable of making such decisions without help. So why did Itachi feel so guilty for making mistakes at his age?Sasuke suffered as a result of those mistakes, and would likely suffer for the rest of his life. There was nothing Itachi could do now but let his plan come to fruition. Sasuke would kill him and find his peace. It was the best that anyone could hope for. No one would miss Itachi. Sasuke would have his revenge. Hopefully he would return to Konoha, which would make Sakura happy, too. A win for everyone.But it didn’t feel much like a win for Itachi.He searched the rest of Kabuto’s office, finding nothing else of use anywhere. There was no more information about Sasuke that could be gathered at this location..After leaving Kabuto’s bunker, Itachi found himself at a loss for what to do. Going back to Rain, back to Akatsuki didn’t seem like such a good idea anymore. He never wanted to be there in the first place.Sasuke would come find him when he was ready. That had always been the plan. But Itachi didn’t feel like waiting anymore. He was growing more and more desperate as time passed, hoping to just end things now – as quickly as possible.He knew that “quick” was just a pipedream. Sasuke would want to fight him at his full strength – and Itachi wanted to confirm that Sasuke was truly powerful enough to protect himself and Konoha. It would be painful. He would have to lose, and he hated to lose. He hoped that he wouldn’t have to let Sasuke win, but if it came to that, he wouldn’t hesitate to do it.That line of reasoning led him to Sound. It was Sasuke’s last known location – Orochimaru’s base. It meant he would have to travel directly through Fire Country (a risk he didn’t want to take), or skirt the country around the perimeter. It would take weeks to go around, but Itachi didn’t mind. All he had was time.That was how he found himself in a tavern near the border of River Country. He was technically still in Fire Country, but he knew that Konoha’s attention would be directed elsewhere – probably north toward Sound, or maybe they had finally discovered the location of Akatsuki’s base and would focus their attention on Rain. Either way, Itachi was comfortable with his cloak inside out and his collar pulled up high. He wouldn’t be recognized here.He was nursing a cup of sake – not something he would usually do. In fact, he could count on one hand the number of times he’d consumed alcohol of any kind. It dulled the mind, slowed down reflexes, and loosened tongues. He was smart enough to stay away from it on a regular basis.But he, in a fragile state of mind now, knew that it would all be over soon. If he was going to go out, he might as well go out with a bang, right? Maybe now was his chance to enjoy all the things he had deprived himself of for so many years. He could drink what he wanted, eat dango until his stomach hurt, and spend the remainder of his money on books to consume while he waited for his end to come.“Hey, sweetie, you looking to have a good time?”Itachi had felt her approach him from behind. He’d seen her in the corner and he knew that she was a prostitute. She’d worked the richer looking men in the tavern and for whatever reason they had not wanted her.He turned to look at her, giving her nothing more than a side-glance. She was pretty, probably in her twenties. She had that golden hair that most men seemed to like, a full pout that was darkened by whatever red hue she’d stained it with. Itachi was a man and could admit that she was very beautiful.And wasn’t he going to go out with a bang?She placed a coy hand on his shoulder, rubbing the knots there with her slender fingers. She didn’t do much to relieve any tension, but it felt nice to have someone’s hands there. She sidled up next to him, forgoing the barstool next to him and asserting herself into his lap instead.Itachi swallowed hard because he did not like it at all. Or maybe he liked it too much. A wave of nausea swept over him and he gripped the counter in front of him too tightly.“I haven’t seen you around here before,” she said, encouraged by his lack of response. She twisted her hips in his lap, creating a delicious and sickening friction.“Stop,” Itachi whispered hoarsely.She tilted her head back and laughed – a fake, and yet utterly pleasing sound. Itachi felt a heat rise up in his cheeks and other places, too.“It’s okay, baby,” she cooed, bringing her face closer to his. Her lips were mere centimeters away from his. He could lean forward, fold his body closer to hers, and he would be kissing her.But instead he gripped her elbows in his hands and halted her movements, forcibly holding her down. Her thighs tightened around his.Itachi wasn’t the kind of man that sought out physical pleasure. He hadn’t given it any thought at all after he’d left Konoha. There had been a girl – an Uchiha. He forced himself never to think of her, but now images of her flooded back to him. She could have been his wife – the new Uchiha matriarch. She was beautiful and full of spirit and would have loved him until her last breath.And he had killed her.The girl continued to wriggle in his lap, seemingly enjoying being held down. It made Itachi feel sick.Izumi. That had been her name. He would have married her. He knew it. They had been so young when the massacre happened. Sex was hardly on either of their minds. But now, with a prostitute grinding on his lap, he imagined what sex with her might have been like.Nothing like this, he thought.“Get off of me,” he said, still clutching her arms.She cocked her head to the side and leaned her body closer to his. “Come on now, baby,” she said, “I can show you a real good time.”He pushed her off him, toward the empty barstool on his left. She shrieked indignantly and stumbled, obviously more than a little intoxicated. Annoyed by the guilt that he felt for pushing her so roughly, Itachi reached out and caught her arm, holding onto her until she was steady on her feet.“I’m not interested,” Itachi said.She pouted and crossed her arms over her ample chest, pushing them up and into Itachi’s view. He hoped that she would miss the way his eyes dipped down for a fraction of a second to view what she had put on display for him.“You seem pretty interested,” she said, nodding her head toward Itachi’s lap, where an uncomfortable physical manifestation of Itachi’s arousal was in plain view.Itachi activated his Sharingan and fixed her with his most intimidating glare. “I’m not interested,” he repeated.That seemed to do the trick. She didn’t wilt like Kira had done, or shrink away from him like Sakura had, but she wasn’t stupid and could sense the danger behind those eyes.“Fine,” she said, jutting her hip out with a sass that reminded him of Sakura, “You could have just said no to begin with.”Itachi turned away from her, back to the bar. He had told her to stop, but he didn’t need to make his point to her. He just wanted her to leave. He adjusted his cloak to cover the embarrassing situation in his lap and took another sip of his sake.His head was swimming from the sake and the sensation of being aroused. If Sasuke walked in right now ready to fight him, Itachi would be mortified. Maybe he should stay on the straight and narrow instead of letting loose. It was a luxury he couldn’t afford. He remembered why he didn’t drink. He remembered why he hadn’t let himself think of Izumi.Itachi was not cut out for a hedonistic lifestyle. Sex, alcohol, the simplest of life’s pleasures had never been attainable for him. There was no reason that should change now just because death was looming over him.But maybe he could just finish this one drink. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Yamato was determined to be a good ninja. Sakura, true to her word, had picked up Yamato from her parents home and taken him to the academy for his first day. He was older than the other kids. His eyes were duller than theirs, accustomed to loss and depravity in a way that the other students wouldn’t be for quite some time.But he worked hard and studied. He piled his books high in his arms and held onto them as if they meant the world to him. Sakura offered to help carry them when she had come to pick him up later that day, but he had refused.“If I’m not strong enough to carry my own books,” he’d said, “I can never be a ninja.”Sakura was pleasantly surprised by the way the children had adapted to life in Konoha. After a couple of weeks, they had fallen into a comfortable routine. Every day, Sakura left her apartment extra early in the morning to pick up Yamato and drop him off at the academy on her way to the hospital.She got to know him on those early morning walks. She learned about his father, the shady merchant who was always yelling or drinking or both. She learned about his mother – a woman who had encouraged him to dream big and escape from the life that she had been chained to.Sakura was no stranger to sob stories, but she found herself pitying Yamato and Sachi in a way that she hadn’t with Sasuke. She questioned her own motives for this. Yamato and Sachi were in her care now (well, sort of) and Sasuke had never been anyone other than her teammate and crush.After about a month, Sakura realized that she loved those kids. She loved them like they were her own flesh and blood.Sachi, too, had grown accustomed to life in Konoha. She had formed a strong bond with Kizashi in much the same way she had with Itachi. The two were hardly ever separated from one another. Sakura would catch glimpses of the two of them, Kizashi holding Sachi close to his chest, smoothing her hair down with his palm. It reminded Sakura so much of Itachi that it almost hurt to look at.On her off days, Sakura would take Sachi to Ino’s flower shop and show her some of the flower arranging tricks that Ino had taught her. Or she would take her to Naruto’s apartment.Naruto was over the moon when Sakura had shown up on his doorstep two days after returning to Konoha with two orphans at her side. He ushered them inside, apologizing for the mess. He grinned widely at the kids and played games with them. He used shadow clones to play hide and seek. He took them to the training grounds and impressed them with his Rasengan. He loved them almost as much as Sakura did.They had taken to calling him Uncle Naruto and came to expect certain things from him during their visits. Big bowls of ramen were not unheard of, nor where sneakily passed handfuls of candy. Sakura pretended not to notice when he gave Yamato shuriken and kunai, or Sachi an extra lollipop even though she hadn’t had her supper yet.If anything, Naruto needed those kids. They provided him with a distraction from Sasuke. With Yamato and Sachi around, Naruto was the happiest Sakura had ever seen him.It was odd to think that it was all because of Itachi and his inability to leave a couple of orphans to their natural fate.Sakura hadn’t forgotten about Itachi. She was still confused by his behavior, and curious about whatever unknown factor was keeping her from really understanding him. She thought about him more than she wanted to admit.It was the reason why she had snuck back into the hospital long after her shift was over to peruse through the Uchiha medical files. Yamato and Sachi were safe in bed at her parents’ house. Tsunade was long gone for the day and Naruto was likely passed out on his sofa by now.Shizune was her only concern now, and Sakura had ways of dealing with Shizune. She had seen the way Genma and Shizune looked at each other when they thought others weren’t looking. Sakura wasn’t one for meddling, but she found this to be an appropriate occasion for such behavior.She had written a note signed by Genma for Shizune to come out to the training grounds after dark. Genma had been harder to lure out there, but the day prior, Sakura had made sure to mention several times in passing that Shizune was going to blow off some steam at the training grounds while she patched up his wounds. She hoped that Genma would catch the hint. She didn’t want Shizune to be disappointed.But either way, it achieved the same effect. Sakura was alone at the hospital, save for the night nurses and a few lower rank medics.Sakura went straight for the back offices where she knew all of the medical files were kept. She didn’t know exactly what she would find in Itachi’s medical file – if anything at all. But it seemed as good a place as any to start.Starting in the U’s had left her empty-handed. Sasuke’s file was the only one still in the rows of current patients (and Sakura felt that it probably should have been added to the rest of the Uchiha pile by now), but that only meant that she would have to go through the patient archives.The archives were deep underneath the hospital, stacked in cardboard boxes in the musty basement. It wasn’t a pleasant locale, but Sakura didn’t have any complaints. She sifted through the boxes until she came to one labeled “Uchiha.”She flipped over the files of the names she didn’t know – those who had been unfortunately enough to have been killed by one of their own. She passed Mikoto and Fugaku and released the breath that caught in her throat before she could think too hard about it.When she finally came to Itachi’s file it felt far too heavy in her hands. It occurred to her that she was violating Itachi’s privacy by doing this – that this information wasn’t meant for her to see. It was why it was kept down in the basement, after all.But, as always, curiosity got the better of her.She skimmed over the basic information in his file. His name, birthday, height, weight, and a small picture of him in the corner. She found herself staring at the picture. He was wearing his ANBU uniform, his mask pushed up to the top of his head. He looked so young, too young to have done what he did. He looked so tired, so beaten down. Sakura thought of Yamato, who was sharper and duller than his classmates at the same time.She tore her gaze away from the picture and flipped to the next page. She could see that the hospital staff had known his autoimmune disease, even if others had not been aware of it. He had been treated for it and cleared for duty in spite of the fact that now Konoha didn’t allow someone with such a condition to be active on the roster. The adjacent page detailed what was known about his eyes. He had awakened his Sharingan at age eight, far sooner than Sasuke had awakened his. Sakura also knew that he had awakened his Mangekyou, but the file did not mention that.His file was brief and contained nothing that Sakura found useful. However, she slid the file into her pack anyway. No one would miss it here, and it might come in handy some day.She pushed all of the cardboard boxes back to their rightful places and headed home for the night. She still had a lot of investigating to do..“Hey, Forehead, hurry up already!”Sakura groaned as she pulled on her shoes and finger combed her hair. It was getting long now, falling just past her shoulders. Quickly and messily, she piled it up on top of her head and twisted it into a bun.“I’m coming,” she shouted to Ino who was leaning against the other side of her bedroom door.Sakura flung the door open, knowing full well that it would smack Ino in the face. The blonde staggered backwards and sent an annoyed glare to Sakura, who feigned innocence without any real validity.“You couldn’t have bothered with your hair?” Ino demanded, flicking her own perfectly coiffed bangs out of her eyes.“I just got home from work, Ino,” Sakura muttered, “Besides, it’s just me and you.”“But what if there are cute boys there?”“There are never cute boys there.”Ino huffed and Sakura giggled. Ino wasn’t really as boy crazy as she seemed, but she certainly liked to talk about it often. It was a safe subject for the two of them now that Sasuke was gone and they were both kind of over him anyway.Sakura really wanted to confide in Ino about Itachi. She felt the urge almost every day to tell someone about him – not just because he had helped her and was a freaking angel with Yamato and Sachi, but because it was a huge secret to be keeping to herself.But Ino was terrible with secrets and it was hard enough to worry about Yamato and Sachi spilling the beans all the time. She didn’t need to be worried about Ino, too.It was Ino’s turn to pick the restaurant and she had picked the swankiest place in Konoha. They might as well have been on a date with the romantic candles and dim lighting.They were led to a small booth in the very back of the restaurant where they had a complete view of every patron.It all felt very fishy to Sakura.“Are you planning something?” Sakura asked as she took her seat. Ino had gone straight for the bench facing the rest of the restaurant, leaving Sakura to have her back turned to everyone.“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”Sakura pursed her lips and gave Ino a knowing look.“Okay, fine,” Ino conceded, “Temari is in town.”“So?”“So, I think there’s something going on between her and Shikamaru.”“Does that bother you?”“Of course not,” Ino said flippantly. Sakura believed her, but she still felt uneasy about the whole situation. “I’d be happy if they were together. They make such a cute couple.”“Then why are we spying on them?”Ino shushed Sakura and ducked her head down behind her menu. She pointed to the front of the restaurant where Temari and Shikamaru had just entered.“I knew it!” Ino whispered excitedly.Sakura rolled her eyes. “You’re wasting our time together on this.”“It’s not wasted.”“But there’s a lot of stuff I really wanted to talk about, Ino.”Ino was suddenly all ears. She dropped her menu down to the table and folded her arms, leaning in close to Sakura. “Like what?” she asked.“Like…”What did she want to talk about? Itachi’s name circled around her mind, begging to be mentioned. She stifled that urge and took a different direction.“Like Yamato and Sachi.”“You know, Sakura, I still don’t really understand where they came from,” Ino said, still glancing at Shikamaru and Temari out of the corner of her eye. “Some random shinobi shows up, and then two orphans are suddenly involved. You found the cure without my help, even though I found the entire reason for the existence of the infection. I think you’re hiding something about the mission.”Sakura dropped her eyes to her lap.“Does Tsunade know?”Sakura shook her head.“So there is something that you’re hiding?”Sakura nodded.“Well, what is it? Tell me.” Ino demanded.Sakura shifted in her seat. The waiter approached the table and set down their drinks in front of them before disappearing into the back of the restaurant.“It’s complicated, Ino,” Sakura finally said, “And I’m not sure if it’s safe to tell you.”“Safe?” Ino asked, “What the hell does that mean? Are you in danger? Does it have something to do with Yamato and Sachi?”“Okay, listen,” Sakura said, her voice taking on a lower decibel, “I will tell you everything, but you have to promise to keep this quiet. I’m serious, if you tell anyone I could get into serious trouble.”Ino’s eyes were wide and she leaned closer to Sakura over the table, Shikamaru and Temari completely gone from her mind.“The man – the shinobi – that came to Toyeiki, it was Itachi,” Sakura whispered, “He brought Yamato and Sachi with him.”“What?” Ino shrieked. Her voice was loud and stark in the comforting din of the restaurant. Every pair of eyes turned to look at her.Shikamaru and Temari, who had just been seated, turned to look at Ino, too. Shikamaru rolled his eyes and turned back to the table, but Temari grabbed him by the ear and dragged him back to Sakura and Ino’s table.“What are you guys doing here?” Temari asked with a smirk, “Are you on a date?”Shikamaru stuffed his hands into his pockets and sighed.“Uh, no,” Sakura stammered, “We were just having a nice dinner together – you know, to catch up. It’s been a while and I’m just filling Ino in on all the juicy gossip.”Sakura snuck a glance over at Ino, who was still gaping at her. She could see the cogs whirling behind her eyes. This was dangerous information and Ino was bound to spill it any second now if she couldn’t get herself together.“What’s the gossip?” Temari asked, “It must be good to have Ino drooling on herself like that.”Ino snapped her mouth shut.“Maybe we should go…” Sakura said.“You haven’t gotten your food yet,” Shikamaru pointed out.Sakura ignored him and yanked Ino out of her seat. They couldn’t stay here now. They shouldn’t have even been there to begin with.“Bye-bye, then,” Temari called after them with a jubilant wave as they stalked back to the restaurant entrance.Sakura regretted ever opening her mouth..“Itachi?” Ino squealed, “Itachi? Are you serious? Itachi Uchiha, older brother of Sasuke, the man we both committed our love to? That Itachi?”“Shh, Ino, keep your voice down,” Sakura urged.They were back in Sakura’s apartment. All the lights were dimmed, creating an atmosphere very similar to the one in the restaurant. Sakura poured Ino a glass of red wine. It might have been risky, but Sakura knew that the wine would dull her senses a bit and leave her more relaxed. And she definitely needed Ino to be relaxed right now.“Yes, Ino, that Itachi.”Ino chugged half of her glass and slammed the remainder onto the coffee table. “And he didn’t try to kill you? I know you didn’t fight him. There’s no way you’d come out of that alive.”Sakura ignored the jab. “We made a deal,” she offered, “He was sick and he had Yamato and Sachi with him. Fighting me wouldn’t have been in either of our best interest.”“What was the deal?”“He was infected and I really needed to see how his body reacted to the bacteria, so I offered to heal him if he let me study him,” Sakura explained.“And he agreed to that?”Sakura nodded.“What about Yamato and Sachi?” Ino asked, “Where did they fit into this?”“I’m not sure exactly how he came to find them,” Sakura said. She felt nervous all of sudden, baring all her secrets for Ino to scrutinize. What would Ino have done differently had she been in Sakura’s position? Would she have struck a deal with Itachi or would she have tried to fight him?“Do you think it was something… untoward?” Ino asked.“I don’t know. Probably,” Sakura answered, “But he was asking about an orphanage. There used to be one in Toyeiki. That’s why he was there.”“Let me get this straight,” Ino said, “Itachi was taking two orphans (who he probably had a hand in orphaning) to Toyeiki so that he could drop them off somewhere they would be safe.”“Exactly.”“What a sweetheart,” Ino said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. It made Sakura’s heart clench up painfully. “So how did you end up with Yamato and Sachi?”“I told him that I’d take them back to Konoha with me if he promised not to hurt me or anyone else in Toyeiki,” Sakura said.“He promised not to hurt you…”Sakura nodded.“And that’s why you didn’t tell anyone?”Sakura furrowed her brow. She hadn’t told anyone because she thought she might get into trouble. It never occurred to her that calling for backup like Ino had would have been the right thing to do. She could have studied the infection in the days that she waited for backup.She felt sick to her stomach thinking about possibly betraying Itachi. He had done nothing to hurt her – just as he had promised. He had been far more accommodating than she expected him to be.And that was the problem, wasn’t it? That was the reason this secret felt so overwhelming. She couldn’t explain Itachi’s behavior.“Itachi was… not at all like you’d expect,” Sakura said.Ino crossed her arms, waiting for a better explanation.“You should have seen him with Sachi, Ino,” Sakura gushed, “He was so sweet and tender with her. It was so weird seeing him like that. He read books to her and he held her when she cried.”Ino’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.“And he was nice to me, too,” Sakura continued, “I was openly hostile toward him. I said things that should have provoked him, but he was never anything less than cordial. He even made our meals for us for those few days we were together. He was everything that Sasuke should be but isn’t.”“Wow,” Ino said, “You’ve got the hots for him, huh?”“More like I wish Sasuke acted more like his brother,” Sakura muttered, only slightly annoyed.“He really cooked for you?”“Yeah, and the kids,” Sakura answered, “He was very attentive to their needs.”“Any decent guy would be, Sakura,” Ino said after downing the last remnants of wine from her glass.“Exactly!” Sakura exclaimed, “He’s fucking decent. Can you believe that? He should have been acting like a monster because that’s what he is. He shouldn’t be going well out of his way to take care of orphans. He shouldn’t have been cooking meals for me. He even offered to stay and help me take care of Kabuto after you left!”“He did?”“Yeah!” Sakura was excited now, curling and uncurling herself up on her couch in an effort to dispel some of the weird energy that vibrated in her body. It felt so relieving to be finally telling someone about Itachi.Ino pursed her lips, staring at the bottom of her empty wine glass. “I think we should tell Tsunade about this.”“No,” Sakura said, “Absolutely not.” It was exactly what she had been afraid of. Telling the Hokage would only get her into trouble. No harm was done and everyone had gone their separate ways. Why should the Hokage need to know?“But don’t you think something weird is up with Itachi?” Ino asked, “He is a monster, after all. Why would he act that way unless there was something weird going on? Don’t you want to know what it is?”“I do,” Sakura said, “But I don’t think we should tell Tsunade. I don’t want to get into trouble.”Ino rolled her eyes.“She’s not your mentor, Ino,” Sakura snapped, “I don’t want to be on her bad side. I don’t want to risk her dropping me as her apprentice.”“Then I guess we’ll just have to figure this out without her help.”.Ino was around far more often in the weeks after their dinner. She had always been a constant presence in Sakura’s life from the time they were small children, but sharing the secret about Itachi seemed to solidify and strengthen their relationship somewhat.Sakura’s initial thought was that Ino was happy that Sakura had trusted her with such sensitive information, but the more she was around the blonde, the more she understood that Ino had really just missed her.Ino was loud and abrasive. Her personality was polarizing. She had friends, of course. She wasn’t unfriendly. But Sakura and Ino had a different kind of friendship. It almost felt like they were sisters sometimes.After a particularly grueling day at the hospital, Sakura swung by the academy to pick up Yamato. Sachi was still at her parents’ house, and Sakura wished that she could spend more time with her. She was still so young, and she seemed to prefer Kizashi’s company anyway.But Yamato and Sakura had grown close over the past months, and Ino had been a big part of that. When Sakura arrived at her apartment with Yamato in tow, Ino was there baking sweets for them.“Ino, what are you doing here?” Sakura demanded. She sounded angry, but she wasn’t. Not really, anyway.“Oh, I’m just exercising the key you gave me,” Ino said with a grin, swirling her batter-covered spatula around in the air, “just to make sure you didn’t change the locks on me.”“Why would I give you a key and then change the lock?”“Because I annoy you.”Sakura had no argument for that.“And how was your day, Yamato?” Ino asked, “What’d you learn at the academy?”Yamato launched into a rant about his classmates while Ino listened eagerly, actually entertained by the story instead of bored like Sakura was. Sakura watched them with amusement. Yamato seemed to really like Ino, which was perfect because lately, Sakura and Ino had been splitting orphan duty.Four days last week, Sakura had to rely on Ino to pick up Yamato while she worked late at the hospital. The week before that Sachi had wanted to attend a play (something about a Princess Coco) that Sakura couldn’t take her to because she was busy working on a poison antidote. Ino had been the one to take her.Sakura’s parents would gladly have done those things for her – for the kids, but Sakura didn’t want to rely on them too much. It was already bad enough that she had burdened them with a couple of young kids just after their first one was grown and out of the house.Whatever disappointment she felt in herself for relying on other people so much was overshadowed by the happiness that radiated off Yamato and Sachi. They adjusted well to their lives in Konoha. They were surrounded by people that loved and cared for them. It was exactly what Itachi would have wanted for them.When Ino had finished baking and placed her confections on the table for Yamato, she fixed Sakura with her most intimidating stare (which really wasn’t all that intimidating while she was covered in flour).“Uh, what’s wrong, Ino?” Sakura asked, pilfering a treat from the tray.“I have something I’d like to discuss with you,” she said matter-of-factly, “And Yamato, too.”Yamato, who was happily munching on said treats, perked his ears up at the mention of his name. Warily, Sakura joined him at the table and looked at Ino expectantly.“Sakura, I know your secret had been on your mind lately,” Ino started. Yamato glanced over at Sakura with curiosity. “I think it’s time we address it.”“With Yamato?” Sakura asked. She didn’t like the sound of that at all. Yamato was too young to be involved in matters like this. Not to mention that his status as a Konoha citizen was still in question until all of the paperwork was complete. The paperwork would likely not be completely anytime soon, since Yamato’s parentage was an unknown. Tsunade’s generosity spurred the whole process, and Sakura didn’t want to do anything that would mess that up.“Yes, with Yamato,” Ino said, “He’s kind of a crucial part of this.”“Part of what?” Yamato asked.“Yeah, part of what?” Sakura echoed.“We’ve got a mystery on our hands, people!” Ino exclaimed, “And the only two (three, I guess, if we include Sachi) people who can help are you guys!”Sakura sighed and narrowed her eyes.“I’m talking about Itachi, obviously,” Ino said, unimpressed by the minute reactions from her two audience members.Yamato gasped. “You know about Itachi?” he asked, “Sakura-san said I wasn’t allowed to say his name out loud.”“You aren’t,” Sakura said.“Right, right,” Ino said, “I know about him, yes. Sakura told me about him bringing you and your sister to Toyeiki.”Yamato looked at Sakura, his face pained.“What’s wrong?” Sakura asked him.“I thought that was a secret,” he said, “I thought you would get into trouble.”“It still is a secret,” Sakura insisted, “And I will get into trouble if Ino doesn’t shut her huge mouth.” She sent a harsh glare in the blonde’s direction.Ino was unperturbed.“She didn’t mean to upset you, Yamato,” Ino said in her most consoling tone, “It’s just that Itachi is pretty well known around here, and it’s very strange that he brought you to Toyeiki.”“Why is it so strange?” Yamato asked, “He helped me and my sister. He was nice to us.”“Yeah, that’s what’s so weird,” Ino said, “Itachi is kind of a bad guy.”Sakura slammed her fist on the table, knocking over several of Ino’s baked goods. “Ino, stop,” she demanded, “Why are you saying all of this to him?”“Itachi-san is not a bad guy!” Yamato exclaimed.Ino help her hands up in front of her chest defensively, “Okay, okay,” she said, “I just thought that maybe Yamato would have some of the answers you’re looking for. Aren’t you still curious?”“I don’t want to bring Yamato into this,” Sakura said, crossing her arms over her chest, “It isn’t fair to him.”“Bring me into what?” Yamato asked.“We want to get to the bottom of Itachi’s behavior,” Ino supplied.“Ino!”“Sorry,” the blonde muttered, “It makes perfect sense, though. Why wouldn’t you ask the one person who’d be able to tell you more about Itachi?”“Is he really the one person?” Sakura demanded.“Who else knows him?” Ino asked.The room fell silent. The three people at the table glanced between one another with apprehension.“I’ll tell you whatever you want to know,” Yamato finally spoke, his voice weak. “I don’t know why it has to be such a big secret, or why everyone thinks Itachi-san is so bad, but I’d like to talk about him.”Sakura threw a nervous glance at Ino before letting her eyes settle back on Yamato.“Tell us everything, Yamato,” Ino said. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Itachi woke the next morning with a headache. He was no stranger to headaches, or pain in general, but he vehemently regretted the cup of sake he’d had last night (and the six beers he’d had after).It had been all too easy to let himself keep drinking. The way it helped him just not care was so enticing. He should care. He shouldn’t be drinking, either.And the hangover that made his head swim and his body wobble was further proof of that (as if he needed any).Luckily the inn he was staying in was quiet at this hour. The sun had just begun to peek up over the horizon and a calm stillness permeated the air. Perfect conditions to recuperate from a hangover.Itachi fished a canteen of water from his pack beside the bed and sucked at it greedily. He knew he should eat some food, too, but he couldn’t stomach that at the moment. In fact, he couldn’t stomach much of anything. Even the thought of standing up felt like too much.He wondered if Sakura was able to fix a hangover – if she could eliminate the source of his nausea and his headache with some type of medical ninjutsu.He cursed himself for not heeding her advice. She had told him to avoid getting sick, which he had done so far, but not intentionally. Letting a prostitute grind on him probably wasn’t conducive to remaining healthy.He had ruined her good work in others way, too. She had stripped him of all his pain, fixed him up until he felt brand new. He wasted that fleeting feeling of being completely pain-free by getting drunk and being hung over.He wanted to apologize to her. It was silly, and he knew that. But still, the urge to tell her that he was sorry for wasting the precious gift she had given him rose up in his chest and bloomed until he sat up and sucked in a deep breath.The heaviness, the pressure that was in his chest died down some, but nausea swept over him and he felt bile inching its way up the back of his throat. He took another sip from his canteen and let his body fall back against his pillow.If Sakura could see him now she would definitely have something sassy to say.He wondered if she stayed in contact with Yamato and Sachi or if she found a home for them and then moved on. He wouldn’t blame her for doing that – for letting someone else take the reigns. It’s not like she was in a position to be raising children. But his heart ached at the thought of Yamato and Sachi in the care of complete strangers.It was a harrowing thought, because Itachi didn’t have any real ties to those kids. He shouldn’t have cared about them so much. He shouldn’t have cared, even in the minute way that he did, about Sakura either.He chalked those feelings up to essentially being on his deathbed. And the sooner death came; the sooner he could finally have some peace..Itachi had fallen asleep again, and when he woke a few hours later he felt much better. His headache had dulled and his nausea was gone. His stomach gurgled and he knew he needed to get some food in his system.He also knew that he needed to be back on the road soon.With a groan, Itachi pulled himself to his feet and made his way back out into the open air. The fresh air felt nice in his lungs, and he had a better sense of purpose while he was traveling.He ran at a leisurely pace – not the usual full speed he regularly made with Kisame. He hadn’t thought about the shark-nin since they parted after the completion of their mission. It startled him that he actually missed the man. They were friends in the loosest translation of the word. It was hard not to be when they spent so much time together.Kisame had probably covered for him as long as he could. It wasn’t a guarantee, of course. Kisame was a man obsessed with his own agency, in spite of being affiliated with Akatsuki. He wouldn’t have put forth any real effort to keep Itachi out of trouble, but he might have used his influence to lessen the severity of whatever his “punishment” might be.Would anyone come after him? They hadn’t been in the middle of any plan as far as Itachi knew. The collection of the biju had been temporarily halted and Itachi had no idea when they would start back up again.Itachi didn’t want any part of that anymore. He never really wanted any part of it in the first place. Naruto was the son of the Yondaime – he didn’t want to hurt Naruto any more than he wanted to hurt Sasuke, or anyone else in Konoha. It was his duty, even after defecting, to protect them.But if any members of Akatsuki came after him, he wasn’t so sure that he could handle it. Not alone, anyway. Not while he was waiting for Sasuke.Itachi ran for two days straight, only stopping briefly to eat and catch his breath. It had been months since his trip to Toyeiki, months since he had seen Yamato and Sachi. He felt so far removed from all of the people he cared about. It had been well over a month since he had last seen Kisame or Sakura (and he didn’t quite know why Sakura kept popping into his mind).He didn’t want to think about him, but Shisui also crept his way into Itachi’s mind. It had been many years since Shisui’s death, yet it still felt so fresh and vivid in his mind.It was hard not to picture Shisui in his final moments – blood running down his face, both eyes ripped from their sockets. It shouldn’t have shocked him – or any Uchiha – an eye-related injury. They were common where doujutsu was concerned. But still, Itachi felt sickened knowing that Danzo had taken his eye – just tore it out of Shisui’s head like it was nothing more than a grape on a vine.But Itachi didn’t want to remember Shisui that way. Shisui was a hero and a good man. His part in preventing the potential civil war had been just as significant as Itachi’s – maybe even more so because he had literally given up his life for it.He always remembered the Shisui that would sneak him dango after supper when Fugaku wasn’t looking. The Shisui who had given him his very first set of shuriken. The Shisui who taught him everything he knew about what it means to be a shinobi.Itachi clenched his fists, a burgeoning anger nascent in his chest. Danzo had taken Shisui’s eye. It was on Danzo’s order that Itachi had massacred his family. Danzo was the man pulling the strings from behind the curtain, not caring about the lives he destroyed, the people he hurt. It was all for the sake of Konoha, he’d said. And that might have been true.But Danzo didn’t possess the will of fire that Hiruzen had. He lacked the compassion that all of the Hokages had. He was too much like Tobirama, whom Itachi had studied enough to know that he hated the Uchihas as much as they fascinated him.Danzo made a choice – one that Itachi was forced to live with. It was a possibility that he never would have considered. It would be out of the question.And yet, when the plan was presented to him, Itachi agreed. It was the best option. It was the safest way to protect the village. It was the easiest way to handle the growing threat of rebellion.Had Danzo been in the wrong to suggest such a thing? Hiruzen would never have suggested something so heinous. Hiruzen had always been on Itachi’s side. Hiruzen was soft and warm in all of the places where Danzo was cold and calculating. Maybe that was what made them such a good team.If only Itachi and Shisui had been as good a team. Maybe they could have saved the Uchiha clan.The smell of smoke and ash halted Itachi in his tracks. He was far enough north now that he was fairly close to Rain. If there was something unsavory going on, it might have something to do with the Akatsuki, and Itachi couldn’t risk being caught. But the smell was strong. It had to be a massive fire.Itachi came to a stop on a tall tree branch and gazed off in the direction of the smell. In the distance he could see smoke rising up high above the trees. It was definitely a big fire.He probably shouldn’t get involved. He had no idea what was happening or who was involved. It could be Akatsuki. It could be Konoha-nin. Either way, it was a huge risk.But it could also be Sasuke.Itachi set off toward the fire before he’d even finished the thought. It could be Sasuke.He sprinted, careful to mask his chakra, and reached a clearing where the smoke was thickest. It would hide him from sight – not from Sasuke, of course, but from anyone else.Itachi climbed the tree closest to him until he reached the highest point he could comfortably stand on. The smoke was still incredibly thick, even at this height. He wanted to activate his Sharingan so he could see down into the clearing at whatever was happening, but he didn’t want to reveal his presence just yet and he needed to keep his chakra masked.Instead, he waited and listened. Below him he could hear three distinct voices. And one of them definitely belonged to Sasuke. Itachi’s heart jumped in his chest and he found it difficult to breath for a moment. Taking slow, deep breaths, Itachi calmed himself down and listened closer.“That was cool and all,” said a male voice, “But what the hell did you do that for?”“I wanted to see how much chakra I needed to make a fireball that big,” Sasuke said. Itachi squeezed his eyes shut against the pain that constricted in his chest. It had been so long since he’d heard his little brother’s voice.“Planning to use it against your brother, huh?” the first voice asked. Itachi’s fingers tightened into the bark of the tree.“Maybe.”There was a rustle of movement below Itachi. The group had started moving.“So where are we headed next?” a third voice asked.“We need a medic,” Sasuke answered, “We’re going to Konoha.”“Isn’t that a little risky?”“I know just the girl for the job,” Sasuke replied, “She would never say no to me. I’ll sneak in and ask her to come with me. Then we can get the hell out of here.”He must have been talking about Sakura. There was no other medic. Would Sakura follow him as easily as he said? Itachi didn’t like the idea of Sakura fighting against him. He had told her that she was not his enemy – never would be. Could he keep that promise if she joined his brother?Itachi swallowed hard and followed Sasuke and his group out of the clearing, careful to stay just far enough behind that they wouldn’t notice him..For the first time in a very long time, Itachi felt a sickening fear bubble up in his chest. It wasn’t like the fear he’d felt when he first saw Sakura. It was all consuming, a suffocating presence that blurred his vision and made his skin cold and clammy.This wasn’t the Sasuke that he knew. This couldn’t be his little brother.He’d followed Sasuke and his makeshift team to Konoha, against Itachi’s better judgment. He didn’t like being so close to the village – it felt too risky. He didn’t want to have to fight any ANBU that might be close – or, God forbid that the Hokage send any teams out to hunt him down should his presence be discovered.It didn’t seem fair that Sasuke would always be welcomed back into Konoha with open arms, in spite of abandoning the village of his own volition. Not that Itachi wasn’t happy to know that Sasuke always had a home… But it would be nice if Itachi could call Konoha home again, too.Itachi had learned the names of Sasuke’s teammate – Suigetsu, and of course he already knew who Juugo was. He noticed that Suigetsu had the Executioner’s Blade – one he recognized to belong to one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. He’d heard far more about that than he’d been interested in from Kisame. Now he wished he’d listened a little closer.The other, Juugo, was a wildcard. He could tell nothing about his fighting style based on his appearance alone. He only knew of the curse mark.The shinobi in him was thrilled at the idea of an interesting fight. He could admit that he was curious about their talents and their abilities. He even wanted to see them work as a team with Sasuke.When it came down to their final battle, Itachi wasn’t interested in taking on an entire team instead of just Sasuke. He would make sure that their fight was just between the two of them. Maybe he would tell him parts of the truth – the ones that wouldn’t hurt him so much.Either way, he knew he would need to take out Suigetsu and Juugo first, so he paid close attention to them as they ran, hoping to observe some of their weaknesses.As for what was soon to be the fourth member of Sasuke’s team, Itachi was unsure. He knew relatively little about Sakura’s fighting abilities. He certainly hadn’t thought to ask her about them in the time they’d shared together.She was being brought on as the medic, so she would probably stay back anyway, but Itachi didn’t plan on losing to Suigetsu or Juugo. She would likely tend to them while he fought Sasuke. That would be best-case scenario, he decided.He could incapacitate Sakura if she attacked him. He hoped it wouldn’t come to that. He hoped she wouldn’t try to attack him.He tried not to let his thoughts linger on what Sakura might be thinking. Did she feel the same camaraderie with him that he felt with her? Would she be reluctant to fight against him, or would she revel in being a part of the takedown of the infamous Uchiha murderer?Sakura didn’t seem like one to revel in killing, but Itachi didn’t know her. Not enough to be able to make such an assertion.The sun was just beginning to set when Sasuke’s team arrived in the clearing that Itachi remembered to be an ANBU rendezvous point. He hoped that no ANBU would show up – it would mean unnecessary lives lost.“Are we going to wait until dark?” Suigetsu asked.Itachi sidled up close to the trunk of the tree he was perched in and jumped silently down to the branch below so he could listen closer.“Yes,” Sasuke answered, “I need to get to Sakura while she’s alone. She’s the Hokage’s apprentice – I’m sure she won’t be alone during the day.”“Wait,” Suigetsu said, casually leaning against the trunk of a tree. Itachi thought he seemed far too nonchalant for a shinobi, especially one who was currently being spied on. “We’re kidnapping the Hokage’s apprentice? I thought we were trying to lay low.”“We’re not kidnapping her,” Sasuke insisted, “She’ll want to come with us.”“How do you know?”Through the rustling leaves, Itachi saw Sasuke shoot an irritated look toward to Mist-nin. “She’s basically obsessed with me,” he answered.Itachi wondered about the truth of that statement. Sakura clearly loved Sasuke. He had gathered that information easily from her. But was she obsessed? She indicated that she wished Sasuke was more like him. She took issue with his behavior. He wasn’t perfect, in her opinion. Could she be obsessed with him?But then again, Itachi didn’t think Sasuke was perfect either, and one could argue that he was obsessed with him – for an entirely different reason, of course.“So we’re just going to wait here until it’s dark?” Suigetsu asked.“That’s the plan.”.Itachi didn’t want to stay. He couldn’t. He had enough information – he could leave and wait for Sasuke somewhere. He didn’t feel safe so close to Konoha. He didn’t want to risk being seen, and he couldn’t have Sasuke coming across him while they were still in Fire Country. It would attract too much attention and Konoha might interfere.Leaving, however, was almost as painful as staying. He had been so close to him. He had been close enough to speak his name and have him turn around. It was sobering knowing that Sasuke was so close, that he was safe, and that the time had almost come for him to get his vengeance.He fled north, not caring that he was traveling directly through Fire Country. No one was looking for him. If any ANBU teams were making their rounds, they’d have found Sasuke and his team first. Itachi wasn’t worried that Sasuke would be discovered – he trusted in his little brother’s abilities.He had thought about going to the Uchiha Hideout. It would have been a fitting place for them to have their final battle. But it was deep in Fire Country. Instead Itachi went straight for Sound. With Orochimaru gone, Sound would be the safest place for them to fight without any interference.It wouldn’t be hard for Sasuke to track Itachi’s scent. He purposefully left behind vestiges that would help Sasuke find him quicker. He didn’t want to prolong the inevitable.He also didn’t want to admit to himself how much he was looking forward to his own death. It seemed immoral in some way, to be so content with dying. Had Shisui felt that way, too, when he threw himself into the river? Had he been looking forward to dying?Itachi had always felt that Shisui’s death had been avoidable. He didn’t need to kill himself to get away from Danzo. He could have gone into hiding. They could have taken Danzo and ROOT together.Realistically, Itachi knew that Shisui was giving Itachi a gift by dying – the Mangekyou. It seemed cruel to Itachi. He could never have done that to Sasuke. Or maybe he could… He’d done much worse, after all. And he appreciated what his cousin had done for him, even if the method was less than desirable.For months after Shisui’s death, Itachi woke from ghoulish nightmares where Shisui’s eyeless face followed him around the Uchiha compound during the massacre. That was not what Shisui would have wanted. If he had still been alive, he would have talked Itachi out of it and Itachi would have listened. Shisui probably could have come up with a better alternative.But there was no use in thinking about that now. The massacre had happened. Itachi had made his bed. Now was the time for him to pay his penance..Itachi found himself a quiet corner of Sound to rest in. He scouted the area, looking for a suitable location for his upcoming battle. He wanted to find somewhere with ample space, somewhere where no innocent bystander would get hurt. That wasn’t a particularly hard request to fill in Sound, where there were no more people and space was everywhere.It was weird how dark and quiet Sound was – so contrary to its name. It might have been a beautiful place at one time, but Orochimaru seemed to have sucked the very life out of the land.Within the wasteland that was Sound, Itachi found a suitable clearing. It was wide enough in circumference that the battle would not have to be moved if Itachi chose to use Susanno. There were plenty of trees along the perimeter that could be used for cover if necessary. In the southeastern most corner of the clearing was a large rock formation that hid the mouth of a cave from view.Itachi settled himself down at the mouth of the cave, resting his back against the stone. The air was a bit chilly, but Itachi preferred it that way. Beneath him, the grass was soft and lush, almost as comfortable as his bed back in Rain. Darkness had settled around him and he could hear the first sounds of night crescendo. Crickets chirped nearby. A flock of birds took flight somewhere behind him.It was the most at peace he had felt in years. Soon everything would be over. All of the pieces of his plan were falling into place. He did not need to orchestrate anymore. He didn’t need to pretend to be something he wasn’t. He didn’t have to play the villain or hurt anyone else.He let his head fall back against the cool stone and shut his eyes. The wind blew his hair into his face and he let it, unbothered by the tickling sensation. He drew in a deep breath of the chilly air and held it in for one, two, three seconds before he released it in the same cadence.He should be meditating, he thought. He should be spending his last moments free of thought, free of emotion. It would make the impending battle easier. It would cut some of the sting out of what he was about to do to Sasuke.But he couldn’t clear his head. In spite of the calmness that had settled around him, Itachi’s mind was racing. Itachi never believed that a person’s life flashed before their eyes before their death. He was a shinobi – he had been close to death countless times. Never had his life flashed before his eyes. He had even confirmed with Kisame that no such thing had ever occurred for the shark-nin either.Yet now, all of Itachi’s fondest memories came flooding back to him. He remembered eating breakfast with Sasuke before heading out to go on missions. He remembered his mother taking him to the market when he’d been just barely old enough to walk. He remembered Shisui teaching him complicated shuriken jutsus.He remembered Sakura and her pink hair and the way her chakra felt so cool and soothing as it calmed the inflammation in his heart and lungs. He remembered the way she had gaped at him when he offered to help with her patients, and the shock on her face when he had pulled her into an impromptu hug.He remembered Yamato and his determination to be a ninja, the way he was constantly twirling that one kunai in his hands. He wondered if Yamato was better at it now that he’d been at the academy for a few months.And he remembered Sachi and the way she sought comfort from him in a way that no other person had done before. He remembered reading those books to her, and the way she smiled at him so warmly, so unlike any other smile anyone had ever given to him.The weight of the memories was crushing him, causing his chest to tighten and his breath to become shallow. He wished that Sakura was with him so that she could relieve some of the pain that had returned since their meeting.He reached into his pocket and pulled out the orange pill bottle that she had given him. The pills were long gone. He had taken each one according to her instruction, but after consuming the last one he found himself unable to throw the empty bottle away.He gripped the bottle in his hand and wondered why his life had flashed before his eyes so far away from his death. Why had those memories come back to suffocate him so long before death would release him from that pain?Itachi took a shuddering breath and let the pill bottle go. It fell into the grass and rolled a couple of inches away from him. He could stretch his arm out and pick it back up, and he wanted to. But for some reason, he couldn’t get his arm to move. His fingers were frozen in place.He coiled and uncoiled his fingers, testing his ability to make a fist. He interlocked his fingers in front of him and stretched his arms forward.He reached out for the pill bottle again and his fingers froze, hovering over the translucent plastic. He huffed and scowled because it shouldn’t be so hard, and it was just a pill bottle. It didn’t mean anything. How could picking it up be any harder than the other atrocities he’d committed?But in the end he left it there in the grass because it was too hard and he didn’t want it to mean anything. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- “So Itachi and Kisame came to kill your father,” Ino said, mulling over the words slowly so that Yamato could interject if she was incorrect, “Kisame did the killing while Itachi took you and Sachi away from them.”Yamato nodded, seemingly unperturbed by Ino’s casual mention of his father’s death.“And then he took you with him to Toyeiki while Kisame took off in a different direction?” Ino finished.“That’s right,” Yamato confirmed.“Do you know where Kisame went?” Sakura asked. She assumed that he probably headed back toward Akatsuki’s base, which would be useful information to have.“I don’t know,” Yamato said.“Well, it’s not as helpful as I would have liked,” Ino said, tapping her lips with an expertly manicured finger.“Thank you for telling us, Yamato,” Sakura said in her most appeasing tone, “Now let’s get you home.”Sakura glanced at Ino who was watching them both. Her mind seemed to be elsewhere. She made no effort to hide her annoyance at having no luck with gathering new information. Sakura felt that it was rude and unnecessary – Yamato had done exactly what she’d asked him to do.But she also understood the blonde’s frustration. They were at a dead end again. It seemed that information about Itachi was not readily available. Who’d have thought?Ino had suggested that she use her Mind Transfer jutsu on Yamato, much to Sakura’s dismay. She was outraged that Ino would even suggest such a thing – like Yamato hadn’t willingly offered up all of the information he had anyway. Even though Yamato didn’t know much about Itachi’s life in Konoha, he wanted to learn more about him just as much as Sakura and Ino did.Sakura was careful not to let Yamato and Sachi know about Itachi’s crimes. She didn’t want to demonize him in their eyes until she had learned the truth about him – if there even was a truth. She was beginning to suspect that it was all her imagination and that nothing suspicious was going on at all.Sakura dutifully walked Yamato home and left without greeting Sachi or saying anything to her parents. It was unlike her, so her parents probably chalked it up to being in a bad mood. She hoped that Sachi wouldn’t be too offended, but all she wanted was to go home and crawl into bed.“God, why are you still here?” Sakura asked when she walked back into her apartment, spotting Ino devouring the rest of her baked goods at the table.“I have a plan,” Ino said, licking sugar from her fingers. “Well, I have the first inkling of a plan.”Sakura gave her a skeptical look. Ino’s plans were notoriously half-baked, and if even she recognized that this one wasn’t up to par, then it must have been a bad plan.“Look, Ino, I’m exhausted and I can’t deal with this right now,” Sakura said, “Can we do this later?”“Yeah, yeah,” Ino said, pushing herself away from the table and meandering to Sakura’ front door, “You’re off tomorrow. Meet me at the training grounds at noon. I’ll have the plan worked out by then.”Sakura didn’t argue..The next day, Sakura woke up early to go to her parents’ house. She wanted to apologize for her brusqueness before and spend some time with Sachi before she met with Ino.“Are you having trouble at work, Sakura?” her mother asked. Sakura was sitting with Sachi in her lap as the girl flipped through the pages of a book.Sakura stared at her mother for a long time before an answer came to her. Mebuki was perceptive, always noticing Sakura’s foul moods before Sakura even realized she was in one. She was grateful to have a mother so understanding and patient with her. She was the perfect foil of Sakura’s father, who was notoriously oblivious to her moods.“No,” Sakura said, “I’ve just got a lot on my mind right now.”“Is it Sasuke?” Mebuki asked.“Yes,” she lied. It didn’t feel like a lie because Itachi was really the one who was bothering her. To some extent, Sasuke was bothering her, too.“I wish I knew how to help you,” Mebuki said. Sakura was refreshed by her candor. Everyone was constantly trying to reassure her that everything would be alright and that Sasuke would come back. It was a ridiculous thing to say, especially to a shinobi. And even if Sasuke did come back, Sakura was certain that things wouldn’t just go back to normal, if they could ever have been considered normal in the first place.“It’s okay, mom,” Sakura said, squeezing Sachi a little bit tighter, “You’ve always been really supportive of me and I appreciate that.”“I just want you to be happy.”Sakura resisted the urge to sigh. She didn’t think it was possible for a shinobi to be truly happy. There would always be conflict and fear – if not for her own life then certainly for the lives of her comrades.“Yamato and Sachi make me really happy, mom,” Sakura said.“They make us happy, too,” Mebuki said with a wide grin. Sakura grinned back, unable to resist. Maybe that was enough. Maybe fleeting moments of happiness were enough to outweigh the cloud of fear and danger that loomed over every shinobi..When Sakura arrived at the training grounds, she was surprised to see that Sai was sitting beside Ino. They both smiled at her as she approached.“Sakura!” Ino said, waving her over.“Did you finalize that plan?” Sakura asked, making sure her tone conveyed that she did not believe that Ino would have finalized the plan.“Sort of,” Ino replied, earning an annoyed and yet somehow also pleased look from Sakura. “I asked Sai for help.”Sakura turned to Sai and gave him her brightest smile. It had been a while since she’d seen him and she’d forgotten how much she had grown to love his company. It had been awkward at first, but his intentions were good and she let his little social blunders slide.“My father told me about an underground base that the ROOT members used,” Ino said, “I think we might find some information down there regarding Itachi’s missions.”Sakura sent a warning look to Ino.“Don’t worry, I already told Sai everything,” Ino said.Sakura growled. “I knew I couldn’t trust you with a secret.”“I’ve got it under control, Sakura,” Ino said, the smile never leaving her face. “After I left your place last night I went back to the Hokage tower to look through all of the old mission dossiers.”“You went sleuthing without me?”“You said you were tired.”Sakura glared at her, crossing her arms over her chest. She hadn’t been expecting Ino to be so interested in Itachi. She had only told her about him because she wanted to get the secret off her chest. Now she was regretting that decision.“Aren’t you interested in what I found?”“What did you find?”“All of the information about Itachi’s prior missions was still there, with a few bits of redacted information. His final mission was completely redacted. There wasn’t a single thing that was left in the file,” Ino explained.“How is that helpful?” Sakura demanded.“If I may,” Sai interjected, “Much of the redacted information from the archives is kept in ROOT’s underground base.”“So that’s why we need Sai,” Sakura said.Ino grinned even wider, “Exactly!”“I won’t be able to sneak either of you down there with me,” Sai said, “But I’m confident that I can get inside and find the information you’re looking for.”“Why would you do this for us, Sai?” Sakura asked, concerned, “It seems like a pretty huge risk for you. Aren’t you already in hot water with ROOT?”“You’re my friends,” Sai said, his grin matching Ino’s, “And you need help.”Sakura bit her lip and looked down at her feet. They didn’t really need his help because they didn’t really need to know about Itachi. She felt very selfish for wanting Sai to help (which she most definitely did). If what Ino had said was true, then the redacted information from Itachi’s file was exactly what she was looking for.“Please be careful, Sai,” Sakura pleaded, “I don’t want to lose you, too.”“Do not worry, Sakura,” Sai said, “You will not lose me.”.Ino and Sakura went back to Sakura’s apartment. Sakura had to hand it to Ino – she had found more about Itachi than Sakura had, and her plan was fairly substantial. If Sai could get Itachi’s mission file, they’d be golden.Sakura didn’t like the idea of Sai going in alone, but there wasn’t much she could do about it. He was right. Taking Sakura and Ino with him would slow him down and make them significantly easier to catch – especially since they knew nothing about ROOT’s headquarters.Waiting for him to come back was agonizing. She assumed it would be over quickly. Sai would simply go in, take what he needed, and leave. Lingering around too long meant risking getting caught.But after an hour, Sakura and Ino both grew restless.“We could spar to pass the time,” Ino suggested.Sakura didn’t think she was in the best frame of mind to be sparring. She was distracted and didn’t want to let Ino get her with her Mind Transfer jutsu. There were all kinds of conflicting thoughts in her head right now and she certainly didn’t want Ino to be privy to any of them. She’d lost a little bit of her faith in the blonde after she’d told Sai her secret.“Actually, I think we should help Yamato with his training instead,” Sakura countered, “I want to see what he can do now. I heard from his academy instructors that he’s got impeccable aim.”“Alright, let’s do it,” Ino said with a little too much enthusiasm.Together, Ino and Sakura collected Yamato from his home and walked with him to the training grounds. Sakura enjoyed the amicable silence that filled the air around them as they walked. It was rare to be with Ino and not be bombarded with constant chatter.Yamato’s eagerness showed in his perpetual grin. Sakura could tell that he was excited to show off what he could do.When they arrived at the training grounds, Yamato surprised Sakura and Ino by immediately launching an attack at them. Four shuriken flew at them, flung from his tiny hands. They dodged them and glanced at each other with amusement.“We need to lay some ground rules first, Yamato,” Sakura chided, but she was smiling.He shrugged indifferently.“Let’s start with taijutsu,” Sakura said, “Sound good?”“Are you going to use your chakra enhanced strength?” Yamato asked.“No chakra,” she answered. That would hardly be fair.The trio sparred for several hours, Sakura and Ino against Yamato. Sakura noted that Yamato favored shuriken and kunai over hand-to-hand combat, and that his aim was indeed spectacular for someone his age. He was a far cry from the boy that had attacked her with a single kunai outside Toyeiki.He had even learned how to bend and redirect his weapons with a skill that surpassed Sakura’s. She wasn’t necessarily the best with that particular skill, but it was impressive nonetheless that he was able to best her at it.When they finished and had collapsed near the outer perimeter of the training grounds, panting and sweaty, Sakura beamed with pride. It was obvious that Yamato had been putting great effort into his training. She couldn’t have been more proud of him, and with a pang of sorrow, she thought Itachi would have been proud, too.“You’re good, Yamato,” Ino said, “Better than we were at your age.”“I’m going to be the best shinobi,” Yamato said, his face set with determination, “No one will be stronger than me.”“Aim high,” Ino said, grinning like an idiot.“Maybe Naruto could teach you some cool jutsu,” Sakura said, slumping down against a thick tree trunk to catch her breath. “Or maybe Kakashi-sensei could. He knows so many.”“Iruka-sensei said not to worry about learning that stuff until I become a genin,” Yamato said, “He said there’s too much going on in the village right now for me to be pestering people about it.”Sakura hummed in response because that was probably true. Still, she could probably get Naruto or Kakashi to do her a solid and teach him something cool. She wished she had something she could teach him, but he probably wasn’t interested in learning medical ninjutsu.They sat in companionable silence for several minutes, watching the sun as it slowly dipped down below the horizon. The air seemed to still, but it was oddly calming and Sakura felt herself relax into the grass.It had been a while since she had sparred with anyone. It was regrettable, of course, because she was a shinobi and she needed to stay sharp, but her duties at the hospital had always taken precedent. It didn’t help that nearly every mission she was assigned to was medical in nature. She wasn’t complaining about it – she knew what her strengths were. She just hoped that in the future she would have more time to devote to her fighting skills.“I’m getting hungry,” Ino said just as her stomach grumbled loudly.“Yeah, we should get going,” Sakura said, “Sai must be done by done.”Sakura and Ino walked Yamato back home, making sure to stop inside and spend a few minutes with Sachi while they were there.When they arrived back at Sakura’s apartment, they weren’t surprised to find Sai sitting on her stoop. He stood to greet them, and instead of his usual impassive face, he wore a somber expression. It worried Sakura.“Sai?” Sakura asked.“We should go inside,” he said.Once they were inside and seated around Sakura’s table, Sai pulled a file out of his pouch and placed it in the center of the table.“This file details Itachi’s last mission,” Sai said, “All of the redacted information is there.”Greedily, Sakura snatched the filed from the table and opened it. Ino hovered over her shoulder to get a closer look. Sakura was careful to read every word, not skimming over anything. She noticed the date – the day of the massacre, who gave the order – Danzo (wasn’t he one of the elders? she thought).With each word, more dread pooled in Sakura’s stomach.“Oh my God,” Ino whispered.Sakura couldn’t agree more. Oh my God. Her fingers trembled; her heart was thudding in her ears. For a moment, she felt dizzy and her vision tunneled.It explained nearly everything – Itachi’s behavior, the reason for the massacre. Sakura felt a pulsing anger at the Konoha elders for even suggesting a mission like this to Itachi. The Third that she knew would never have agreed to this. Or would he? She didn’t know anymore. And how could Itachi have accepted such a mission? Sakura knew that she would never have been able to do what he had done. Maybe that was why he was a better shinobi than she was.“Why would he have accepted a mission like this?” Ino said, her voice barely above a whisper.“To protect Sasuke,” Sai provided, “If Itachi had refused the mission, it would have fallen to ROOT. They would not have left Sasuke alive.”Nausea worked its way up in Sakura’s throat and she rushed to the kitchen sink, knocking over her chair in the process. She retched, dry heaving into the sink. It hurt and she couldn’t breathe.“He killed his parents,” Ino said, her voice distant, “His friends and family. All to protect Konoha from a civil war.”“He saved us,” Sakura said, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.“He had no choice,” Sai said.Sakura came back to the table and righted her chair. Instead of sitting, she gripped the back of it with white knuckles and leaned against it.“I don’t understand,” Sakura said, “Why did he torture Sasuke the way he did? Why did he join Akatsuki? If he was always interested in protecting Konoha, then why go after Naruto?”“There’s something else I need to tell you,” Sai said.Sakura and Ino watched him expectantly.“Tsunade gave Team 7 a mission,” he said.Sakura furrowed her brow. “Why was I not informed of this?” she demanded.“You were not included,” he answered, “It’s meant for me, Kakashi, Yamato, and Naruto. We were instructed to find Itachi. We received intel that Sasuke was on the move again. He assembled a team to kill his brother and is actively searching for him now. If we get to Itachi first, we can stop Sasuke and bring him back to Konoha.”The nausea returned, but Sakura bit back against it, squeezing her eyes shut.“You weren’t told to kill him, were you?” Ino asked.“Our instructions are to capture him alive.”That was good, Sakura thought. If her team got to Itachi first, things could work out fine. Itachi wouldn’t attempt to kill anyone – only incapacitate them. If he was captured alive, Sakura could tell Tsunade the truth and make an argument for his release. They couldn’t possibly hold him accountable for his criminal actions after knowing the reason he committed them.The only problem left would be Sasuke. How would Sasuke react to the truth?“When do you leave?” Sakura asked.“Two days from now,” Sai answered.“What are we going to do?” Ino asked.Sakura sucked in a deep breath and sat down in the chair. She really wanted to go to Tsunade and ask her for advice. She would know exactly what to do. But while Itachi was still technically a criminal, she couldn’t risk the trouble she might get in for cavorting with him. Tsunade didn’t play favorites and she wouldn’t give Sakura any special treatment if she found herself in trouble.“We should keep this information to ourselves for now,” Sakura said.“I agree,” Sai said.“We’ll hope that your mission will be successful. Then we can worry about Itachi later. Right now we should focus on getting Sasuke back home,” Sakura said.Sai and Ino hummed their agreement. They sat in silence for a minute, nobody quite sure of what to say in such a delicate situation.“I should get home,” Ino said, breaking the silence.“I’ll walk you home,” Sai offered. Ino gave him a small smile and they both made their way to the front door.“Try to get some rest, Sakura,” Ino said, turning back to look at the pink haired woman who sat still at the table, her head bowed, “I’ll come visit you at the hospital tomorrow, if you aren’t too busy.”“Okay,” Sakura said, her voice small and strained. She knew that sleep wasn’t going to come easy tonight.When Sai and Ino had gone, Sakura made her way up to her bedroom and curled up into her bed. She couldn’t get Itachi’s face out of her mind. She tried to recall every time he had made himself present.The first time he’d come back to Konoha after the massacre he approached Naruto with the intent of capturing. But he didn’t. From what she knew of the man, he was more than capable of tackling a genin. He had also faced Kakashi, Asuma, Guy, and Kurenai. He could have killed them – Kakashi had told her so. But he let them live.And he let them live again when he came across them during Gaara’s rescue mission. He hadn’t even hurt any of them. Not substantially, anyway.Hot tears prickled at the back of her eyes. The unfairness of it all struck a painful chord in Sakura’s chest. Itachi was a shinobi taking orders just like everyone else. He had been dealt the worst hand and accepted it with such tact. Even when the village hated and rebuked him, he still chose to protect them.And Sasuke. When he had asked her about Sasuke back in Toyeiki, she had been angry. What right did he have to ask about the brother he abandoned and tortured? But he had accepted the mission solely to protect him. From their conversation, it seemed like Itachi still cared very deeply about Sasuke. If that was true, how did he feel knowing that Sasuke’s one goal was to kill him?Sakura stared up at the ceiling, willing herself to fall asleep. Her heart was still racing and the tightness in her chest was distracting. She could never fall asleep like this.A tap at her window jolted her back to reality. The only person who ever came to her window was Naruto.With a groan, Sakura got to her feet and wrapped her robe around herself. Maybe talking to Naruto would help put things into perspective for her. He had always been good with sticky things like this.But when she reached her window, it wasn’t Naruto’s face staring back at her.It was Sasuke’s.She yelped and took a step back away from the window. For a moment, she imagined that it was Itachi there instead, but she knew Itachi’s face. It was recent and fresh in her mind. Sasuke’s face, however, was more like a mythical figure. It had been so long since she had seen him. It didn’t seem real. Why would he be here?“Let me in, Sakura,” he demanded, tapping on the glass again.Sakura swallowed hard and unlatched the window.“Sasuke-kun,” she breathed.He hopped through the window and stood in front of her. He was tall and imposing and looked far more villainous than Itachi had when she first stumbled across him outside Toyeiki. His eyes were red, the tomoe of his Sharingan stark against the uncharacteristic brightness there.She couldn’t look away from him, but seeing the active Sharingan in his eyes made her drop her gaze to his mouth instead. It was set in a hard, determined line.“What are you doing here?” she asked.“I need you to come with me.”She nearly choked. Almost four years ago Sakura had pleaded with Sasuke to take her with him. She’d have gone anywhere with him as long as he wanted her to.Now, though, she wasn’t sure.“Why?”“Does it matter?”A little of her boldness returning, she glared at him. “Yes, it does,” she said, “I have a job, you know. I work at the hospital. People depend on me.”“I’m depending on you now,” he said.“For what?”He pressed his lips tighter together, and Sakura remembered this as one of the things that indicated that he was annoyed. And if Sakura remembered correctly, Sasuke had called her annoying on more than one occasion.“I need a medic,” he said, his voice carefully controlled like he was trying to prevent himself from snapping at her.Sakura inhaled sharply. Kabuto had told her that Sasuke was assembling a team to kill his brother. Was he asking her to be part of that team?“Why?”“You know why, Sakura.”Now it was Sakura’s turn to press her lips together. Sasuke had made it clear that he did not want anything to do with her. He admitted that he thought she was weak and annoying. Now he wanted to come back and demand her help? She couldn’t blame him for wanting her as his medic. She was the best, after all. But he had no right to demand her help. And she didn’t want to give it to him.“I’m not going to help you kill Itachi,” she said.He laughed, a dark and ominous chuckle. It sent a tingling vibration coursing through Sakura’s chest. “Don’t be ridiculous,” he said “You won’t have anything to do with the killing part.”“Either way,” she said, “I’m not going to help you. Find another medic.”“I don’t want another medic,” he said, his brows knit together in a confused glare.“I don’t want to help you.”Sakura considered telling Sasuke the truth right then and there. Itachi’s mission file was still downstairs on her kitchen table. It was undeniable proof of what he had done. He would reconsider his plan for revenge, surely. How could he still hate his brother even after knowing the lengths he’d gone to in order to protect him?But this wasn’t Sakura’s secret to tell. She didn’t know what Itachi’s plan was, but he had to have one, right? He knew Sasuke wanted to kill him.Sakura gasped. He knew that Sasuke wanted to kill him. He was going to let Sasuke kill him. That had to be his plan. He would never kill Sasuke – that much Sakura knew. He was going to let Sasuke find peace this way, by letting him get his revenge.The realization hit Sakura sharply, and she didn’t even try to stop the tears that fell. She wished that it had been Itachi at her window instead of Sasuke, so that she could talk some sense into him and make him reconsider. He didn’t need to die. He could tell Sasuke the truth.But maybe he wanted to die, Sakura though. Maybe he wanted to be put out of his misery. The thought made Sakura’s tears flow harder, dripping onto the floor at her feet.“Why are you crying?” Sasuke demanded, a scowl deepening the lines on his face – too many lines for a teenager.“Get out of here, Sasuke,” she said angrily, “I’m not going to help you. You do what you have to do, but I’m not going to be a part of it. I’ll be waiting for you here in Konoha when you’ve returned to your senses.”Sasuke’s eyes narrowed and the tomoe in his eyes began to spin. That was the last thing Sakura remembered before darkness filled her vision and consciousness left her. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- tachi felt Sasuke approaching. His chakra signature was strong and was accompanied by three others – one of whose he recognized to be Sakura’s. He got to his feet and brushed the dirt from his cloak. This was it.He had been waiting almost eight years for this moment and it was finally here. He wished that Sasuke had come alone. He wished that he wouldn’t have to waste his energy on Suigetsu and Juugo first. And he wished that Sakura wouldn’t be here to witness his death.But none of that could be helped, and within a matter of hours none of it would matter.He stood in the center of the clearing, his Sharingan activated.Within minutes he heard their soft footsteps in the trees and a second later, Sasuke’s trio had landed meters away from him. Sasuke looked haggard, his eyes surrounded by purple shadows and the lines on his face deeper than Itachi remember. His face was hardened, his mouth pressed into a thin line, his eyes narrowed.“Sasuke,” Itachi said. The name felt foreign on his tongue, like it wasn’t his right to speak it.“Itachi,” Sasuke growled.“Sasuke, wait!” Sakura yelled. Itachi noticed her then – she was slung across Suigetsu’s back. Had she not come here willingly?Itachi let his eyes stay on her as she struggled to free herself from Suigetsu’s grip. She landed a punch square between his shoulder blades and Itachi nearly winced at the crack the echoed through the trees.Suigetsu dropped her.“What the fuck,” he cursed, “You’re supposed to be our medic – not hurt us.”“I never agreed to be your medic,” Sakura snapped, but as soon as the words left her mouth she turned her focus to Sasuke who was several feet in front of her with his back turned to her.“Sasuke, please,” she begged, “Just wait.”Sasuke had not taken his eyes off of Itachi. “Suigetsu,” Sasuke said, his tone cold and commanding, “Keep her under control.”Sakura clenched her fists at her side and for the first time looked at Itachi. Itachi was surprised when she met his gaze. She had seemed so afraid to look into his Sharingan before, yet now she was staring at him, hardly blinking.Suigetsu collapsed to the ground, groaning in pain. Itachi mentally thanked Sakura for taking out one enemy for him.“Sasuke-“ Sakura started, but she was cut off by Sasuke’s firm grasp on her jaw. His palm covered her mouth and Itachi saw his fingers squeeze tightly around her face.“Sakura,” Sasuke said, “I brought you here for one purpose. If you can’t do that then I’m going to have to kill you.”Itachi felt sick and blinked rapidly against the confusion he felt. Could this be his little brother? Was Sasuke capable of killing his own teammate, someone who loved him so dearly?He took a step forward, intending to intervene on Sakura’s behalf. He hadn’t planned on getting involved with their affairs, but he couldn’t stand by idly while Sasuke killed her.But she was one step ahead of him and dug her heel sharply into the ground beneath her, kicking up the earth and forcing Sasuke to jump back away from her. Seeming to realize that her reasoning tactic was not going to work, Sakura launched herself directly toward Itachi.Itachi watched in confusion, unsure of what she planned to do. She didn’t look like she was going to attack him.“I’m not going to let you do this,” she said when she was close enough that only he could hear her. She grabbed his wrist and yanked hard with her chakra-enhanced strength and dragged him along behind as she darted back into the woods.“Sakura, what are you doing?” Sasuke yelled from behind them.Itachi was at a loss. In his right mind he knew that he should stay and fight Sasuke. This was the moment he’d been looking forward to for far too long.And yet with Sakura’s cool fingers around his wrist and the promise that going with her meant staying with the living for just a little while longer, he was hard pressed to free himself from her grasp and stay.“Sakura, what are you doing?” Itachi demanded. He kept up his pace behind her. Sasuke was in pursuit, but it looked like Juugo had stayed with Suigetsu.“I’m not going to let him kill you,” Sakura said, “I’m not going to let you die.”Itachi, frustrated by their slow pace and the way Sasuke was quickly gaining on them, scooped Sakura up like he’d done so many times with Sachi and surged forward, quickening his pace.Well, now he definitely had to postpone his battle with Sasuke until he could get some better answers from Sakura.She clung to his chest, his fingernails digging into the exposed skin near his collarbone. She was probably annoyed that he had picked her up, judging by the look on her face, but she didn’t complain.“Can you lose him?” Sakura asked.Itachi didn’t answer, but when he landed on the next branch he turned on his heel and fled in the opposite direction. The distance between them and Sasuke was growing, but with Itachi heading right back toward him again, they would pass each other in a matter of seconds.He saw his brother approaching, a more livid expression on his face than he had ever seen their before. Using a one-handed sign, Itachi cast a genjutsu. Immediately, Sasuke paused in his movements and froze, rooted to the ground.“He’ll break out of that easily enough,” Itachi said, “But now we can lose him.”He set her back down on her feet and grabbed her wrist this time. Together, they flew back to the trees, trying to gain as much distance as possible.Several minutes later, they had found a small alcove created by a thick bunch of trees. Itachi cast another genjustu around them to prevent anyone from seeing them and turned to face Sakura with his arms crossed.“Well, what’s this all about?” he asked. All at once, he was amused, concerned, and a little bit frightened.She was staring into his eyes again and he was fully aware that he had not yet deactivated his Sharingan.“You’re looking in my eyes,” he pointed out.“I’m not afraid of you anymore.”“I take it this means we’re back to being temporary allies.”“You were never my enemy, were you, Itachi?”He furrowed his brow and swallowed. In Toyeiki she seemed quite determined to learn the truth about him. Had she been successful?“How much do you know?” he asked.“I know about your final mission as a Konoha-nin,” she replied, “I know you aren’t the monster you led us all to believe you were.”He couldn’t believe that she had found out such a well-hidden secret. Either he had underestimated her, or the secret wasn’t as well kept as he thought.“I’m still a monster, Sakura,” he said and he wished his voice didn’t sound so weak, “I committed a terrible crime.”“You are as much a victim of it as the people you killed,” she whispered, “You were trying to protect us – the village I mean. And Sasuke. If anyone here is a monster, it’s the elder who gave the order.”Itachi’s breath felt shallow and pain curled up in his throat. It was such a relief to know that someone else finally knew the truth, so why did it hurt so much? He sucked in a ragged breath and released it shakily.Sakura pressed her hands to his chest, alight with chakra before they contacted his body. “Are you alright?” she asked.No, he wasn’t. It was too late to ever be alright again.“Sakura,” he murmured. Her chakra was flowing through him now, reaching every bit of pain and tension in his body and soothing it. He wished he could have had her around long ago. He couldn’t fathom a better sensation than her cooling chakra.“You’re planning to let him kill you, aren’t you?” she asked.He nodded, because she had already figured it out and there was no use in lying to her – not after all she had done for him, was doing for him now.“I think you should tell him the truth,” she stated. He nearly rolled his eyes. Of course she would think that.“I can’t do that,” he said.“What the hell is wrong with you?” Sakura demanded, removing her hands from his chest. He almost reached out and grabbed her wrists to place them back there, but he refrained. “Why do you torture Sasuke like this? Don’t you love him?”“It’s complicated,” he said. He didn’t feel the need to explain himself to her.“It’s not complicated,” she insisted, “You’re just an idiot. And I can’t really blame you for that because you were only thirteen when you left. But honestly, what the hell were you thinking? Why on earth would you set Sasuke down this path? He’s consumed by rage and the need for revenge. He’s nothing like the little brother you used to know. You killed that part of him – not when you killed your clan, but when you urged him to ‘foster his hatred.’ What a ridiculous thing to tell a child.”Itachi listened to her rant, his eyes widening with every word. He knew she was right. He had known these things without her telling him. He made mistakes. He wasn’t perfect.He had wanted to shield Sasuke from the corruption of the village leaders. He wanted to preserve his love for the village and keep him safe. In doing so he had inadvertently pushed him in the complete opposite direction and now the best thing he could do for him was to let him get his revenge.“Killing me will help him find peace,” Itachi countered.“What if he learns the truth?” Sakura demanded, “Do you think he’ll be at peace still, knowing that he killed the brother he adored so much, the brother that loved him?”“He won’t find out the truth,” Itachi said, sending her a warning glare. He could not prevent her from telling him after he was dead, but he could make sure that she knew he didn’t want that.“You know,” Sakura said, cocking out her hip, “I don’t know much about clan politics, but I think you’re giving Sasuke too little credit. He might have been able to help you. You wouldn’t have had to do it all alone.”That gave him pause. He had never considered telling Sasuke the truth about the clan’s premeditated coup. He was far too young to be swept up in such things. Yet, Itachi had been only four when he experienced war for the first time. Maybe Sakura was right. Maybe he had not given Sasuke enough credit.“He would never believe me,” Itachi said.“I’ll back you up,” she said, “I have proof.”Proof?“Besides,” Sakura continued before he could ask, “The Sasuke who loves you is still in there. That Sasuke would never believe you capable of the things you did. He’d believe you because it makes perfect sense.”Itachi inhaled and held his breath in, thinking hard. Everything Sakura said was true. And if he could get Sasuke back on his side (or rather, if he could be back on Sasuke’s side), then they could take out Akatsuki and Madara together. Sasuke was strong – he’d seen how powerful his little brother had become. They could be a team, like he’d always wanted.“You’re right,” Itachi said.“Obviously.”Itachi laughed. Running into Sakura in Toyeiki had been the last thing he wanted. Now he was so glad he’d found her.“I didn’t believe you’d find out the truth,” Itachi admitted, “I was certain you were going to either betray me or forget about me completely.”“It’s your own fault that didn’t happen,” Sakura told him, “Your behavior really struck a chord with me. I couldn’t stop thinking about you once I got back to Konoha.”“I thought about you, too,” he said.Her brow furrowed and she cocked her head to the side. Itachi had a feeling that he should have kept that information to himself.But before she could say anything else a branch snapped in the distance. Itachi realized how close they were standing and took a step back away from her.“Sasuke’s coming,” Itachi said, “You should get out of here. Go back and heal Suigetsu’s back.”She opened her mouth to protest, but then closed it. He couldn’t stop staring at her and how out of place she seemed in the darkness of the woods. She was bright and pink and beautiful and it was with a reluctant hope that he realized that she had come here to save him from death.“Please don’t die, okay?” she said.He reached out to grab her hand, to confirm for her that he wouldn’t die – if only so he could see her again, but he caught himself and let his arm fall back down to his side.He wanted to blame these new feelings on the fact that she knew the truth – and was the only person who did. But he wasn’t foolish enough to lie to himself. He had thought of her far too often after leaving Toyeiki.He watched her turn to leave the alcove. “Itachi,” she said, turning to face him one more time. He met her eyes. “Thank you for what you did for the village. I can’t imagine how difficult that was for you, and to have everyone hate you for it… You really deserved better.”A second later she was gone. Itachi was grateful to be alone again so that no one could see how his face screwed up into a pained grimace. No one had ever thanked him for what he had done before. He wasn’t sure that he agreed with her – that he deserved better, but hearing the words come from her felt almost as good as her chakra in his chest.Shaking the emotion from his face, Itachi released the genjutu that had been hiding them and steeled himself for Sasuke’s appearance. He could think about Sakura later, but right now he had something more important to deal with.“Itachi.”Itachi looked up to find Sasuke standing on a branch above him. He hopped down and landed in front of Itachi, close enough that he could reach out and place his hand on his shoulder if he wanted to.“I wasn’t interested in speaking with you,” Sasuke said, “I was going to kill you on sight. But now I’m curious. What were you doing with my medic?”Itachi tried not to bristle at the way he referred to Sakura – not by her name, but like she was a possession. He deliberated on whether he should telling Sasuke about their time in Toyeiki together. What would he think of that?“She wanted you to know something,” Itachi said, “And she thought that you should hear it from me.”Sasuke scoffed. “Really?” he asked, “What could that be?”“The true reason for the massacre.”Sasuke’s eyes widened and he froze in place. The air around them was still and quiet. The sun was beginning to rise and the light in the woods was eerie and dim.“To test your ability, right?” Sasuke spat, his eyes darkening with anger.“I’m sorry, Sasuke. I did not trust you with the truth. I wanted to protect you from it. You meant the world to me – you still do. I thought if I lied to you that I could save you from the same fate I had,” Itachi said. The words flowed out of him unexpectedly. He never imagined it would be so easy just to talk to Sasuke instead of finding more creative ways to manipulate him.Sasuke remained silent, a pained expression remarkably similar to the one Itachi wore on his face.“I would like to show you the whole truth,” Itachi continued, “If you will let me.”Some of the rage that burned in Sasuke’s eyes had subsided. His hands unclenched at his sides and his shoulders dropped. The man who had come to kill his older brother had somehow morphed back into the one who had adored him.“Okay,” Sasuke said, “Show me.”.Itachi showed him everything. He showed him his meetings with the Hokage and the clan leaders. He showed him Shisui and their original plan. He showed him Shisui’s suicide, the tearful deaths of their parents, and the way he let Sasuke go. He showed him how he received orders from Danzo, how he asked Madara for help, and how he chose to join Akatsuki in order to keep an eye on Konoha to make sure that Sasuke was safe.When Itachi released Sasuke from the memories, Sasuke fell to his knees, tears brimming in his eyes. His face was contorted with so many emotions – ones that Itachi had been processing for years and that Sasuke was experiencing all in the matter of seconds.“Sasuke…” Itachi crouched down next to his brother and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. He half expected his hand to be violently pushed away. He almost expected Sasuke to accuse him of lying again, to deny that what he had just seen was the truth. But Sakura was right. When Sasuke looked back up at him, his eyes the same coal black as his own, Itachi could see the boy he had left behind. The boy who wanted nothing more than to train with his older brother.“Why didn’t you tell me before?” Sasuke asked in a whisper. “Why did you want me to kill you?”“I made mistakes, Sasuke,” Itachi answered, “I’m not perfect and I know that. I understand if you won’t forgive me. I wronged you in more ways than one. I thought I was doing what was best for you, but I was wrong.”Itachi shifted so that they were face to face.“I see now that I should have trusted you with the truth,” Itachi said, “I was constantly pushing you away, trying to prevent you from becoming like me. I wanted you to be free from the burdens of being an Uchiha, free from the kind of life I lived.”Itachi paused and took in a shaky breath. His hands were trembling and he felt tears prick at the back of his eyes, but he somehow held them in.“I didn’t give you enough credit,” Itachi continued, “Maybe if I had trusted you with the truth things might have turned out differently. Maybe you could have succeeded where I failed.”Sasuke’s hand drifted to his shoulder and settled over Itachi’s.“I never stopped loving you, Sasuke, even when you hated me. I will never stop loving you,” Itachi said.Sasuke leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Itachi. Itachi couldn’t stop the tears then as he returned his little brother’s hug. Why had he ever thought that letting Sasuke kill him was a good idea? His mind raced through all the mistakes he made, all the pain and suffering he dragged Sasuke through.“I’m so sorry, Sasuke.”A flash of pink in the distance caught Itachi’s eye. He gazed over Sasuke’s shoulder and saw Sakura standing between Kakashi and Tenzo with Naruto standing in front of them.He quickly got to his feet, pulling Sasuke up with him. He couldn’t be sure that they wouldn’t attack him. He was, after all, still a criminal – even if Sakura and Sasuke now knew the truth.As soon as they were standing upright, Naruto barreled toward them. Itachi, having the good sense not to get involved in whatever was about to happen, leapt backward, away from Sasuke, away from his former teammates.Naruto landed a punch square in Sasuke’s face, knocking him back to the ground. Itachi assumed he deserved it, but coming down from his emotional high, it felt like he had been the one punched.“You put us through all that shit,” Naruto said, seething, “You talked and talked about your one goal and how you couldn’t come back to Konoha until it was finished.”Sasuke sat up, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand.“And you’re not even going to kill him!”Sasuke got back to his feet, glaring at the blonde man in front of him. “How did you know that?” he asked.From his back pocket, Naruto produced a file that had been folded in half.“After you kidnapped Sakura,” Naruto began. Itachi glanced over at the pink haired woman in question, who sheepishly looked toward the ground. “We went to her apartment to look for her when she didn’t show up for work and found this on her kitchen table.”Naruto thrust the file into Sasuke’s chest. Sasuke glanced warily at Naruto and then Sakura before opening the file.It must have been the proof Sakura had mentioned, Itachi thought. But where could she have gotten such a thing?“So everyone knows, then?” Sasuke said, skimming the file with his Sharingan.“Just Team 7 and the Godaime,” Kakashi supplied as he approached them. His one visible eye drifted to Itachi. It was an intense flurry of uncertainty that caused butterflies to swirl in Itachi’s stomach. Kakashi and Tenzo had been his teammates once, and he had fought against them as an enemy. Standing before them now that they knew the truth left Itachi feeling like he was standing in a vacuum.“Sakura informed us that Sai was the one who retrieved this information from ROOT’s underground base,” Tenzo said, “Sai is now missing. He did not show up to our rendezvous point for this mission.”Sasuke growled and clenched his fists. “Danzo is the one behind all of this,” he said.“Sasuke, I know you’re angry and you want revenge, but we need to take a step back and think about what we’re going to do next,” Sakura said.“There is no we,” Sasuke snapped, swirling around to face her, “This is a matter for me and Itachi.”“Sakura is right,” Itachi spoke. His voice seemed to make that vacuum real. Everyone looked at him. No one spoke.“Akatsuki is the biggest threat to the village right now,” Itachi continued, “We should be focusing on that.”Itachi tried not to feel intimidated by the way everyone continued to look at him. They were right to be cautious and he felt too much like an intruder, like he didn’t belong with them. Technically, he was not their ally.“Have you defected from Akatsuki, Uchiha-san?” Kakashi asked.Itachi blinked at the formality. “Not officially,” he said, “But I’m sure they are wondering where I am right now.”“We should go back to Konoha,” Sakura said, “We should be discussing all of this with Tsunade-sama.”Kakashi nodded in agreement. “Will you cooperate with us, Itachi-san?” he asked, “We could use any information you have on Akatsuki.”Itachi closed his eyes, feeling a dizziness prickle in his head. He must have been dreaming. Not even an hour ago he had been resigned to his fate, accepting the death that would release him from the hell he created for himself.And now he was standing among his former teammates who were asking him for help. His brother was standing by his side. It was the opposite of what he expected. In a strange way, it made him feel like he was home.A cooling sensation whipped through his chest and straight up to his brain. He realized that Sakura’s hands were on his chest again, pumping her healing chakra into him.He locked his fingers around her wrist and pulled them an inch away from his chest, just so that they were not touching him. He was sure she could feel the way his heart was hammering in his chest, even without touching him.“I’m fine,” he said to her, “It’s just overexertion from my Sharingan.”She took a step back away from him, pulling her wrists out of his grasp. He was both amused and mortified to see the pink tinge in her cheeks and the bashful way she stared at her feet. If anyone else noticed, they had the tact to disregard it.“I will cooperate,” Itachi said, “I’m happy to share any intel you need.”“Wait,” Naruto said, “So Itachi is on our side now?”Five pairs of eyes settled on Itachi again, waiting for an answer. Itachi looked at Sasuke to gauge his reaction. Sasuke had defected from Konoha. Did he want to come back now that Itachi’s reputation could potentially be cleared? Did he want to go back home with his teammates now that his quest for revenge had been stayed?Sasuke’s face was as impassive as ever, giving him no indication of what thoughts were behind those familiar and yet somehow still foreign eyes.Itachi wanted to look at Sakura to see what she thought. He could nearly always read her from her facial expression. But he knew that if he looked at her he would find it too difficult to look away.“He’s under no obligation to go back to Konoha,” Sasuke finally said, “And neither am I.”“I want to go back,” Itachi said, surprising himself with the determination in his voice, “I want to help get rid of the Akatsuki threat.”Risking a glance at Sakura, Itachi saw that a wide grin had spread across her features. It was infectious enough that he felt the corners of his mouth tilt upward as well.“Great,” Kakashi said, “Let’s get back to the Hokage tower.”“Well, Sasuke?” Itachi asked. “Are you coming with us?”Sasuke begrudgingly nodded and the six of them set off toward Konoha. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Back at the Hokage tower, six people stood before Tsunade’s desk, silent and waiting. The air was thick and still, a tension Sakura hadn’t felt since Sasuke left the village.“This is a lot of information to handle at one time,” Tsunade said, her eyes roving over the faces before her. “I’m not sure where to begin.”“Tsunade-shishou,” Sakura said, clearing her throat, “I think we should start with Sai. He didn’t come to the rendezvous point and he can’t be found anywhere. It isn’t like him to skip a mission.”“When was the last time anyone saw him?” Tsunade asked.Sakura’s hands were trembling so she stuffed them into her pockets. The last time she had seen Sai was before he left her apartment the night he infiltrated ROOT’s base.“Two nights ago,” Sakura answered. “He was with me and Ino. It was the night he found the file.”Silence fell in the room again, everyone’s thoughts on ROOT and Danzo. No one had the courage to say aloud what it seemed like everyone was thinking.Except Sasuke.“Danzo must be responsible,” he said, “Sai figured out the truth and Danzo took matters into his own hands.”“I hate Danzo as much as the next guy,” Tsunade said, “But I can’t accuse him of anything without proof. This matter needs to be fully investigated. Yamato. Kakashi. Can I trust you with this?”Both men gave an affirmative nod.“Look into this immediately,” she said, “You are dismissed, but I want you to report back here as soon as you find anything.”They nodded again and were gone within seconds.“Sasuke,” Tsunade said.Sakura felt a nervous lump form in her throat. Sasuke had made it clear that it was not his intention to come back to Konoha – he had only done so for his brother’s sake. If Tsunade said the wrong thing, Sasuke could flee again.“Naruto went to a great deal of trouble to bring you back here. Sakura, too. You are lucky to have friends like them. They are the reason I won’t be punishing you for what you’ve done,” she said.Sasuke shifted on his feet, a bored expression on his face. Sakura imagined he must have still been reeling from the conversation he’d had with his brother. He probably wasn’t interested in anything Tsunade had to say.“And it’s difficult for me not to show you any favoritism since it seems that your brother is actually a hero.”Out of the corner of her eye, Sakura saw Itachi stiffen.“I’m willing to reinstate you as a Konoha shinobi, Itachi,” Tsunade continued, “If you are willing. It will be difficult for our citizens to accept you, but in time they will. You have agreed to help us with Akatsuki, but I’m sure you are aware that you owe us nothing else and I wouldn’t dream of asking anything else of you.”Sakura stole a glance at him from the corner of her eye and saw his mouth turned down in a tense frown and his brows knit together.“Your clan was treated unfairly,” Tsunade said when Itachi did not respond, “You were treated unfairly. I cannot blame you – or Sasuke – for the things you have done. So I have to ask. Itachi, what do you want? What can we do to make reparations for the Uchiha clan?”Sakura felt the tension rolling off of him in thick waves. She wasn’t shy this time about turning to look at him, waiting to see what he would say. She noticed that he was trembling slightly and that his breath looked uneven and ragged. She moved to put her hands on him and push her chakra into him as she’d done so many times before, but he put his hand up to stop her.“Hokage-sama,” he began, “I appreciate your offer. I cannot speak for my brother, and I do not know how he feels about all this. But I would like to be reinstated as a shinobi. And I would like the opportunity to restore my clan. I am well aware of the poor treatment of the Uchihas in the past, but I believe that the cause of the bad blood is gone now. I believe that restoring my clan can be a good asset for Konoha.”Stealing a glance at Sasuke, Sakura held her breath. Sasuke’s face was as impassive as ever, but she noticed the way that his breathing was also uneven and shallow.“I agree,” Tsunade said, “You will be reinstated as a shinobi effective immediately. Your clan’s funds have been frozen, but I will cede control of them back to you. You are rightfully the clan head.”Sakura saw the relief on both of their faces, and contentment that she had never seen on Sasuke’s before.“Alright, then, that’s settled,” Tsunade said, “Unless either of you have any objections, you are welcome to go back to living in the Uchiha compound.”“What about Akatsuki?” Naruto asked. Sakura was honestly surprised that the loud-mouthed blonde hadn’t spoken up yet.“We’ll worry about that some other time,” Tsunade replied, “Sakura, take Sasuke and Itachi to the hospital and do a full work up on the both of them. Report back to me when you’re done. We have something we need to discuss.”Sakura felt heat flame up in her cheeks and ducked her head. She had a good idea of what Tsunade wanted to talk to her about.“You three are dismissed,” Tsunade said the Sakura and the Uchihas.Sakura turned to leave and the two brothers followed her with no argument, leaving Naruto alone with Tsunade..“You must be feeling very emotional right now.”Sasuke made no response, grimacing slightly when Sakura stabbed his arm with a needle. It was customary for foreigners or shinobi who had been away from the village for over a year to receive a full medical exam, but Sakura didn’t feel like it was really necessary. Kabuto seemed to have taken good care of Sasuke during his absence, and Sakura knew from experience that Itachi had also received top-notch medical care within the last few months.“I’m glad you’re back,” Sakura said, giving Sasuke a small smile. She was truly glad that he was back. It was what she had wanted for the last four years. Yet it felt so bittersweet. He was still the same, cold Sasuke.Sasuke gave her an annoyed look and remained silent. Sensing that Sasuke was not going to be talkative or friendly, Sakura said nothing else and finished his exam as quickly as possible.When his chart had been filled out completely and his work up was done, Sakura gave a curt nod to the door. “You’re all done, Sasuke-kun, you can go.”Wordlessly, Sasuke hopped from the table, rustling the sanitary paper.“Send your brother in, please,” she said to him as he walked through the door. He didn’t respond to her, but a minute later Itachi walked into the room.She smiled warmly at him and indicated that he should take a seat on the table. He obliged and gave her a small smile.“I know this seems a bit unnecessary,” she said, picking up a new chart to create for him, “But your old medical file was archived so I have to create a new one for you. If you’d fill this out for me, I’d appreciate it.”She passed the chart to him. He took it without saying a word and began to fill in his information. She took the opportunity to give him his shots and to use her chakra to run a quick diagnostic check on him, even though she was fairly certain she knew everything she needed to confirm.The silence wasn’t tense or uncomfortable, but Sakura felt uneasy. She wanted to say something to him, but she couldn’t figure out anything appropriate to say. He must have felt very strange to be back in Konoha – to be in everyone’s good graces again.But his face was as impassive as Sasuke’s and Sakura didn’t feel like it was any of her business to ask.He passed the finished chart back to her. She set it on the nearby cart and took a step back away from the table. “You’re all set, Itachi-san,” she said. “You’re free to go now.”He folded his hands in his lap and watched her as she marked things down in his chart. “That was quick,” he said.“Yes, I already had a good sense of your state of health,” she said, “There wasn’t much for me to discover. However, your autoimmune disease… I guess I still owe you a fix for that. I apologize for not holding up my end of the bargain.”“Sakura,” he said, rolling each syllable of her name over his tongue like honey, “I am only here because of you. You do not owe me anything.”She chortled and felt the corners of her mouth quirk up into a grin. “Still, she said, “If you’re going back to active duty, I’d like to eradicate it completely. It’s for your own safety.”“It’s been a while since anyone was concerned about my safety,” Itachi said, returning her smile, “If I am honest, I feel overwhelmed by all of this.”“I can’t even imagine what this must feel like for you,” Sakura said, “And for Sasuke as well.”“I’m glad to be home.”“We’re glad to have you back,” she answered, “Now we’ll have to coordinate weekly appointments to take care of your autoimmune disease. The front desk can help you schedule those. This is beyond the purview of my orders, but I can also take a look at your eyes if you’ll let me. I know that your vision is deteriorating and that there is probably a lot of damage in the nerves. I’ve only ever worked on Kakashi’s before, obviously, but I have a pretty good grasp on how to correct most of that for you.”“That would be fine.”He remained seated on the table and Sakura didn’t know what to say. He was free to leave, but he stayed and fixed his gaze on her, watching her with a mixture of curiosity and disbelief.“Will you be staying in the Uchiha compound?” she asked, not knowing what else to say, “There’s a really nice tea house that just opened up close to there.”He quirked an eyebrow at her and she realized that it sounded like she was asking him to go there with her. Her cheeks heated up, but she kept her gaze on him confidently.“I’m not sure how comfortable I feel staying in the compound,” he said quietly, “Maybe at some point in the future, though.”“Oh. Where will you stay?”“I don’t know,” he answered, “I thought I might find some place to live with Sasuke.”Sakura smiled brightly. “That would be nice, wouldn’t it? I’m sure he’s so pleased to have his big brother back.”Itachi smiled back.“Oh!” Sakura exclaimed, “And I know a couple of kids who’d be pleased to see you, too. They’ve been very good about not talking about you, but I can tell they miss you. They’ll be so excited to see you again.”Itachi’s focus seemed to sharpen at the mention of the children, his eyes widening a little. “Have you remained in contact with them? I assumed you’d find another home for them.”“Well,” Sakura started, “I didn’t want to leave them with a stranger, and I care about them so much. My parents are actually the ones who adopted them, but I’ve been doing what I can to help them out. I take Yamato to and from the academy every day when I’m not on missions and I support them financially. I didn’t feel right burdening my parents with that.”Sakura had never seen Itachi look surprised before, and she was confused to see something akin to sadness in his eyes as well.“Your parents?”“They’re civilians and they had an empty nest,” she answered with a flippant wave of her hand, “Honestly, I think they’re over the moon to have kids around again. Especially my father.”“I should have offered you something in return,” Itachi said, his voice oddly somber.“What do you mean?”“You offered to take Yamato and Sachi here in exchange for me not hurting you,” he said, “I never had any intention of hurting you. And you kept them far closer than I expected you would. I should have given you something more.”Sakura laughed. It was ridiculous for him to think that he owed her something after everything he’d done for Konoha.“Don’t be silly – it wouldn’t have been good for your villainous image to have offered me more,” she said, “Besides, I care about them as much as you do. I wanted them to have a good home. And they do.”“I’d like to see them.”“Now?”“If possible.”Sakura inwardly winced. She couldn’t take Itachi to her parents’ house without having to do a lot of explaining that she really wasn’t in the mood for. They were well aware of who Itachi was. She also was hesitant to let Itachi meet her parents. It seemed too weird and almost intimate.“I have to report back to the Hokage after this,” she answered, “But I can meet you at the park with them in a couple of hours, if that’s okay.”Sakura was pleased to see his lips quirk up into a smile. “That would be perfect.”.Tsunade was angry and Sakura could tell.“Is there something you need to tell me, Sakura?”Sakura entertained the idea of telling her the truth – that she had worked with an s-class criminal and then lied about it. Or that she had recruited her teammate to infiltrate ROOT’s base – the epicenter of Konoha’s darkest secrets.But she shook her head instead.“Your teammate is missing,” Tsunade said, her voice almost mocking, “Now really isn’t the time for you to be withholding pertinent information from me. Don’t you want to find Sai?”Sakura sighed and twisted her fingers together nervously. Of course she wanted to find Sai. She couldn’t help but feel like it was her fault that he was missing.“If you are afraid of the consequences, you should be,” Tsunade said, “But you are a shinobi and your duty is to the village and to me. I can’t help you if you don’t help me. I know you are hiding something.”“Okay,” Sakura said. There wasn’t any point to lying anymore since Tsunade obviously knew that something was up. She supposed she could tell the truth if it meant that they could find Sai faster. She was an adult and she could accept her punishment.“The shinobi I met in Toyeiki was Itachi,” Sakura said. She waited to see Tsunade’s response, but the blonde woman merely watched Sakura through narrow eyes, waiting for her to continue.“Yamato and Sachi were with him. He was the reason they had been orphaned. He had gotten sick from their father, I think,” Sakura said, “When I found him I knew I wouldn’t be able to fight him, but then I found out that he was sick and I made a deal with him. I told him that if he helped me find a cure – let me study him – then I’d heal him.”Tsunade steepled her hands in front if her face, hiding her mouth, which Sakura knew was set in a hard line. She was angry.“He offered not to hurt me or anyone else in Toyeiki in exchange for my taking Yamato and Sachi back to Konoha with me,” she continued.“You lied to me,” Tsunade said, “And you willingly engaged in mutually beneficial activities with a missing-nin. You realize that you’ve committed treason, don’t you?”Sakura apologized in a whisper and let her head hang down in shame.“So after you left Toyeiki, you came home with the kids and had Sai do some research on Itachi for you?” Tsunade asked?“That’s the short of it, I suppose,” Sakura mumbled.“If you had come to me first I could have helped you,” she said, her tone much softer, “You should have told me as soon as possible.”“I know, Tsunade-shishou,” Sakura said, “I’m sorry.”Tsunade inhaled deeply through her nose and let her hands fall to her desk. “I have to punish you, you know.”“I know.”“What do you think your punishment should be?”“A slap on the wrist?” Sakura joked.To her chagrin, Tsunade cracked a smile. “I’m not angry at you for what you did, Sakura. I’m angry that you kept the truth from me.”“I know,” Sakura said, “I should have told you. I was afraid I’d get into trouble, but I was desperate for a cure because you trusted me and I was failing.”Tsunade shook her head, not wanting to hear it. “I have a punishment for you,” she said, “You’re going to spar with me tomorrow. I’m going to kick your ass.”Sakura felt the blood drain from her face, “A spar?”“All this Uchiha business is frustrating me,” Tsunade said, “The council is not happy about this, but at this point I’m not going to condemn Itachi for what he did. I can’t even blame Sasuke for anything either. Right now, you are the only person I can feasibly hold responsible for anything, so tomorrow when your shift at the hospital ends, I’m going to take out all my frustrations on you. Be prepared.”Sakura winced, and curled her hands up into loose fists. It was a lighter punishment than she had expected. Suspension from work, no missions for a while, possibly even a demotion. But a spar? It had been a long time since she had sparred with anyone other than Yamato.“Yes, Tsunade-shishou,” Sakura said.“You’re dismissed.”.“Why are we in such a hurry, Sakura-san?” Yamato asked, “We’re just going to the park.”“Because there’s a surprise for you,” Sakura said, unsuccessfully trying to hold back a grin. She had all but forgotten her punishment for now. She’d worry about that tomorrow. Sachi was perched on her back, her tiny legs wrapped around Sakura’s waist. Yamato was two steps ahead of her, leading the way.It had been quite a challenge to convince Yamato to come to the park. He had said that he was too old for things like that and that he was a ninja now and ninja didn’t play at the park.But he eventually relented when Sakura informed him that Sachi needed to spend more quality time with her older brother and that he was supposed to take care of her. Even though they fought a lot, Sakura could tell that Yamato had an enormous soft spot for his little sisterWhen they arrived at the park, Sakura noticed that Itachi had masked his chakra. She spotted him sitting on a bench near the swings before Yamato and Sachi did and she gave him a little wave.Yamato noticed him first.“Itachi-san!” he exclaimed, barreling toward the bench. Sachi kicked her legs and begged to be put down. Sakura set her on the ground and she was off as soon as her feet touched the grass.Itachi crouched low in the grass and smiled more warmly than she’d ever seen him. He wrapped his arms around the both of them and pulled them into a hug.Yamato pulled back away from him first and spun toward Sakura, pointing an accusatory finger. “You said Itachi-san couldn’t come here and that we should never talk about him!”Itachi grabbed Yamato’s hand and pulled it back down to his side. “It’s rude to point fingers, Yamato,” Itachi said, “Sakura was only trying to protect me. She’s the reason I’m here now, so you should be thanking her.”Sakura watched them for a while as they got reacquainted with one another. It seemed odd to Sakura that Yamato and Sachi had grown so fond of Itachi in the short amount of time that they’d spend with each other, but then again, she had also grown somewhat fond of him. Or at least not hostile toward him, which was odd enough.Itachi pushed Sachi on the swing set while he listened to Yamato tell him everything about his time at the academy so far. Sakura stayed near the edge of the park, not wanted to intrude on Itachi’s time with them.Tsunade had mentioned that the council was not happy about her decision to allow Itachi back into the village. It made her sick to her stomach to think that the same man who ordered him to kill his own family was now denying him entry to his own home again. The truth was out and it was too late. Itachi belonged here.Intuitively, Sakura had a feeling that whatever had happened to Sai was connected to Danzo. It made her nervous. Her eyes flicked over to Itachi, who was smiling as Yamato showed him how he could make three shadow clones. It almost felt like she had traded Sai for Itachi.She had the sudden urge to find Ino and talk to her. She hadn’t seen the blonde since the night they’d read Itachi’s file.When the sun had begun to set, Sakura decided that the time had come for them to leave because she had to work in the morning and Yamato had to go to the academy. Not to mention, Sakura had a spar to prepare for.“Do we have to leave already?” Yamato asked. Sachi had attached herself firmly to Itachi’s leg and refused to let go.“Yes, you can see Itachi-san another time,” Sakura said, prying Sachi away from Itachi, “He lives here now.”Eventually, they both relented and allowed Sakura to take them home, but they both complained the entire way there..When Sakura arrived home that night, Ino was sitting at her kitchen table. He eyes were red-rimmed and puffy and her face was coated with a sheen of fresh tears.“Ino, what’s wrong?” Sakura breathed, rushing to comfort her. She placed a soothing hand on her back and rubbed circles into the tense muscles there.“Sai is missing, Sakura,” Ino sobbed, “And it’s our fault.”Sakura pressed her lips together and pulled Ino into her chest, stroking her hair. It had never occurred to her to be this upset about it because she had full faith in Sai’s abilities. But maybe Ino was right. Maybe something really bad had happened to him.“It will be okay, Ino,” Sakura whispered, “We’ll find him. Kakashi-sensei and Yamato are investigating right now. They’ll find him.”“But what if it’s too late?”“Don’t say things like that,” Sakura said, “It’s not too late.”Ino said nothing, but continued to sob. Sakura felt her tears leak through her shirt, making her feel hot and sticky. When her sobs had finally subsided, Sakura pulled back away from her, giving her a questioning look.“I didn’t know you and Sai were so close,” Sakura said, the unasked question hanging in the air.Ino flicked her bangs away from her face and bit back against a wave of fresh tears. “He’s a really good friend,” she said, her voice sounding much more defensive than Sakura felt it should, “He’s surprisingly easy to talk to. And he’s always there for me when I need him.”“Do you…”“Do I what?”“Do you love him?”Ino shrugged her shoulders, but it wasn’t quite as indifferent as she might have wanted it to be. “I don’t know.”“I had no idea,” Sakura said.“That’s because you were always busy thinking about Sasuke,” Ino pointed out, but it wasn’t accusatory.“Why didn’t you tell me?”“There wasn’t anything to tell,” Ino said, “At least, not yet anyway.”“Oh, Ino.”Ino shoved her chair away from the table and stood up angrily. “I’m going to get to the bottom of this. If this is Danzo’s fault, I swear to God I’ll kill him.”“Ino, calm down, don’t say things like that,” Sakura said, rising to her feet as well.“After all he’s done to Itachi and now Sai,” Ino began, “He’s a blight on the village. He’s disgusting and should be removed from the council.”“Shh, Ino, stop it,” Sakura chided, “I agree, but that kind of talk isn’t helpful right now. We should focus on finding Sai first. Danzo can wait. He is still on the council and we can’t talk openly about this kind of stuff.”Ino’s eyes were brimming again, and Sakura felt there should be tears in her own eyes, too. She couldn’t bring herself to cry. She couldn’t bring herself to feel anything other than numb.“Tsunade knows about Danzo,” Sakura said, “She’ll help us figure this out. She told me the council is upset that Itachi had been allowed back into the village. They’re going to try to get rid of him, I’m sure of it. We’ve got a lot on our plate right now, so we need to stay calm and sharp.”Ino sat back down and heaved a sigh.“You can stay here for the night,” Sakura said, “It’s going to be okay. Sai is going to be okay. We’ll get all of this worked out.”“Okay.” ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Being back in Konoha was like coming up for air after being underwater for so long, only to find that the air was stale and stuffy.For years Itachi had accepted that the citizens of Konoha hated him – as they were well within their rights to do. He didn’t necessarily blame them for feeling the way they did, but he had to admit that the glares and the whispers behind his back did get to him.He had been in Konoha for three days now, but it felt like much longer. Sasuke had been determined to go back to living in the Uchiha compound, and Itachi had followed, not wanting to be too far from him.It was a nightmare being back in his old home. He saw vivid flashbacks, blood spatter, the soulless eyes of the family he slaughtered there. Sasuke seemed unperturbed by it, but Itachi had trouble sleeping at night.Luckily, Sasuke was there to dull some of that pain. The brothers had been nearly inseparable since returning to the village. They spent their time catching up with one another, sparring, and just enjoying one another’s company. Itachi was glad to finally spend time with Sasuke instead of keeping him at arm’s length as he had always done in the past.Sasuke still had an aloofness in his manner that Itachi found insufferable, but he supposed that he carried a bit of the same standoffishness in his own demeanor. Maybe it was an Uchiha thing – their father seemed to have it, too.Neither one of them left the compound very often – only to get food. Itachi hadn’t seen Yamato or Sachi since his first day in the village, and he had already begun to miss them. He argued with himself that it wasn’t his place to see them. They were not his kids and he did not have visitation rights. He should leave them alone and let them be happy with Sakura’s parents, but he couldn’t help how often he thought of them.To a lesser extent, he thought of Sakura, too. The day she had brought Yamato and Sachi to the park she had seemed terribly distracted, upset almost. He had wanted to ask her what was wrong, but she kept her distance from him while he was with the children. In fact, she had hardly said two words to him.That was why it was so surprising when she showed up at his door with a basket in her hand and a hesitant grin on her face.“Good morning, Itachi-san,” she said brightly, though he could see that it didn’t reach her eyes, “Is Sasuke-kun around?”He ushered her inside. “I think he’s in the kitchen,” he answered, unsure of how to respond to having her in his home. She followed him into the kitchen where they found Sasuke riffling through the refrigerator. “Sasuke-kun,” she greeted, placing her basket on the table, “I brought some things for you.” She pulled several containers of homemade food, a jar of what looked like food pills, a couple of wrapped packages and a potted cactus from the basket and arranged them on the table.Sasuke turned to look at her, raking his eyes over her in a way that Itachi found completely distasteful, and returned to riffling through the refrigerator.“I thought some of this stuff might help you get acclimated to being in the village again,” she said, ignoring the way he ignored her, “I also had some more of your shirts with your clan symbol on the back made. You’ve grown a lot since you left!”He grunted in response.She turned to Itachi and gave him a smile, “I had some made for you, too, Itachi-san. I just guessed your measurements, so hopefully they will fit.”Itachi was touched by the gesture, and annoyed that Sasuke didn’t seem to be.“Thank you, Sakura,” Itachi said smiling with extra warmth to make up for his brother’s lack of gratitude, “You didn’t have to do that.”She began to fidget nervously, and Itachi cocked his head to the side in curiosity.“Sasuke-kun,” she said, “Naruto and I are going to Ichiraku tonight. Do you want to come with us? It’s been so long since we’ve all been…”“I’m not interested.”She faltered a bit, but seemed to expect that response from him. “Okay, but if you change your mind, we’ll be there.”“I won’t change my mind.”“Sasuke,” Itachi snapped, “Don’t be so cold. It’s rude.”He shot a glare at his older brother, but said nothing else.“It’s okay,” Sakura said, “I should get going.”Itachi walked her to the door, unsure of whether or not he should apologize on his brother’s behalf. It was unthinkable that he could be so rude to her after she’d gone out of her way to be nice to him.The words were nearly out of his mouth when he changed his mind. Whatever happened between Sakura and Sasuke was none of his business. “Goodbye, Sakura-san. Thank you for the shirts,” he said.“Of course,” she said, “And I’ll see you tomorrow for your appointment. Don’t be late!”He waved her off and shut the door softly.“Why are you so mean to her?” Itachi asked when he walked back into the kitchen.“She’s annoying.”“She loves you.”“Yeah, and it’s annoying. I didn’t ask her to do that,” Sasuke answered.“She wanted to do something nice for you.”Sasuke grunted.“You know she’s the reason I’m here,” Itachi pointed out, “She’s the one who convinced me to tell you the truth. I was planning on letting you kill me.”Sasuke scoffed.“I’m serious,” Itachi continued, “She cares a lot about you. She wants you to be happy.”“I am happy,” he said grumpily, “And I don’t need her help.”“You’ll have to marry someone if you intend on restoring the clan, you know,” Itachi pointed out, “You can’t have babies by yourself.”“Are you suggesting I marry Sakura?” Sasuke asked. Itachi didn’t want to suggest that, because the idea of Sakura and Sasuke sent a flash of something hot and painful through his chest, something he decided was not jealousy. If they were both happy, then he couldn’t complain.“Is there another girl who would be willing to put up with you?”“Please,” Sasuke said, “There are probably girls lined up to be the mother of my children.”Itachi smirked and joined Sasuke at the table as he dived into the food Sakura had brought them.“What about you?” Sasuke asked between mouthfuls, “You’re the heir. You have to pick the next Uchiha matriarch.”Itachi plucked a slice of mango from one of the containers and munched it thoughtfully. His thoughts drifted to Izumi and then to the prostitute from the bar. Itachi had never considered taking a wife after leaving Konoha. It had never been a possibility. But Sasuke was right – his wife would be the Uchiha matriarch.Unbidden, and image of Sakura carrying Sachi on her back came to mind. He couldn’t deny an attraction to her, but she was Sasuke’s teammate. And she loved Sasuke – she had told him that back in Toyeiki. Sasuke was the one she wanted.Still, it wasn’t hard to imagine her raising his children. They’d receive the best medical care in the world. They might inherit her perfect chakra control. They’d have a tender and loving mother who would do anything for them. With a grimace, Itachi imagined that they might also inherit her pink hair.“I suppose I’ll have to meet some women before I can marry one,” Itachi said jokingly.Sasuke chortled..The next day, Itachi left the compound to go meet Sakura at the hospital for his appointment. He had begun to grow a little stir crazy being cooped up inside the compound, but he wasn’t comfortable walking around the village yet.“Have a seat, please,” Sakura said when Itachi entered her in-patient room. She was cordial, but clinical – none of the friendliness he had come to expect from her present in her tone.He did as he was told and waited in silence while she busied herself with what he presumed was his chart. When she finished, she set his chart down beside his lap and placed her hands in their usual place between his ribs.After his conversation with Sasuke, Itachi had found it hard to shake Sakura from his thoughts. He was in no hurry to find a wife – he had all the time in the world for that. It could wait until after Danzo had been handled, after Madara had been taken care of.And Sakura really wasn’t the best option for him, anyway. She was Sasuke’s teammate, the Godaime’s apprentice, and beloved by the Konoha’s citizens. A girl like her shouldn’t be with a guy like him. She was bright and warm in all the ways that he was swallowed by darkness.If he had any sense, he would put her as far away from his mind as possible. He had other things he needed to focus on. As soon as Sakura cleared him as medically fit, he could start taking missions again. He should be thinking about that instead.But she was very close to him now – close enough that he could smell her vanilla scented shampoo and see each individual pink eyelash. Her eyes were closed as she channeled her chakra through him and he took the opportunity to study her face up close. Her skin was smooth and pale, her cheeks slightly flushed – maybe from the heat in the room. Her lips were parted slightly, and occasionally she would catch the tip of her tongue with her teeth before pulling it back into her mouth.Her brow furrowed in concentration and her breathing was steady. Itachi imagined her standing this close to all her other patients, her hands on their chests, their eyes on her face. It made him uncomfortable all of a sudden.He looked up at her eyelids, the translucent skin there twitching slightly. Her lashes… He couldn’t fathom how lashes could be so long and so pink.And then her eyes flew open and she stared at him, locking their gazes. She didn’t flinch away from him as he expected she might, having been slightly surprised to find him looking at her so intently. He wanted to look away from her, to drag his eyes to literally anything else in the room because it was embarrassing having been caught staring at her.But he couldn’t look away, and he didn’t want to. It appeared that Sakura didn’t want to either, because she stared back at him with as much intensity.“You’re staring,” she whispered, and he could feel her breath on his face.He wanted to point out that she was staring too, but it somehow seemed inappropriate to do.“Your lashes are pink,” he said instead, because the observation was harmless enough and explained his staring a little bit.She blinked rapidly, causing them to flutter. He wondered if she did that on purpose. The idea that she might have made his heart seem to stop for a moment.“My hair is naturally pink,” she explained. She didn’t need to because he already knew that, but he smiled anyway, happy just to hear her speak. Tentatively, he reached up to catch a lock of said pink hair between his thumb and forefinger, inspecting it as if he didn’t believe her. Though it probably was a bad idea, he activated his Sharingan to get a better look at it – to get a better look at her.“I see,” he said, tucking the strand behind her ear and letting his thumb graze across her cheekbone. It was a mistake – he knew that as soon as their skin touched. It sent a jolt of electricity through him and he pulled his hand away as if he’d been shocked. He should have been too embarrassed to look at her, but with his Sharingan activated he could see her pulse beating wildly in her neck and the flush of red that filled her cheeks. Her breathing had become shallower, and if he had cared to observe himself more closely, he’d have noticed that his had, too.He couldn’t help but be pleased that just a small touch had elicited such a reaction from her. It felt good to know that he affected her the same way she affected him. He chanced a look up into her eyes and saw confusion there.She stepped away from him, turning to face the cart beside her. Her face was intensely red and clashed horribly with her hair. Itachi couldn’t help himself and he grinned, not at her, but just because he felt so happy and so free here with her. He was completely lost in the moment, feeling the rush of what he knew were endorphins.“Why are you smiling like that?” she snapped.“Interactions like these,” he began, “People take them for granted.”She gained the confidence to look at him again, and fixed him with a curious gaze. With his Sharingan still activated, he didn’t miss the way her eyes dipped down to his mouth before snapping back up to his eyes. Again, he felt a pulse in his heart, like it had skipped a beat (which he knew was only a myth). He looked down to her mouth, openly staring at her parted pink lips.“I’m not sure what you mean,” she said, but he had a feeling that she knew exactly what he meant. He longed to pull her back close to him and kiss her, but he knew he couldn’t do that.“It’s just nice to be close to someone,” he answered, “That’s all I meant.” It was a lot to have meant, though, and he knew that. Being close to her was as big a deal as it felt. He knew that she had pined after Sasuke. He also knew that Sasuke would never have touched her like that, or wanted to be this close to her.He imagined that there were probably other men who did want to be this close to her. He couldn’t blame them. She probably had millions of opportunities to be with millions of other men.“If you were Naruto I’d have punched you by now,” she said, glaring at him.He smirked, aware that she had a temper and had likely punched many men who’d touched her like that without permission.“I’m glad I’m not Naruto, then.”“Doesn’t mean I won’t punch you if you touch me again.”He laughed loudly, surprised by the threat, “I apologize, Sakura,” he said, “I’ll keep my hands to myself.”She accepted his apology and took a step closer to him, “Now if you’ll let me finish I can get you out of here and back on the mission roster.”She put her hands back on his chest, and he refrained from touching her for the remainder of his appointment..“What are you so happy about?” Sasuke demanded.Itachi smiled just as he’d been doing all day since his appointment with Sakura. After he left the hospital he had gone to he Hokage tower to speak with Tsunade about taking potential missions soon. She had informed him that as soon as his autoimmune disease had been taken care of that he could go back to active duty, either as an ANBU, or just a jonin, if he chose.Taking missions again, and getting away from the compound was too good to be true. He was beginning to feel like a Konoha citizen again and he couldn’t feel better about it.He gazed fondly at his little brother and shook his head slightly, “I’m just happy to be here, that’s all,” he said.He didn’t want to think too much about it, but he knew that his elation was due entirely to his interaction with Sakura earlier, and the thought gave him pause. How could Sasuke find her annoying? How could he not see what a beautiful and talented kunoichi she was?“Well knock it off,” Sasuke said, “It’s weird.”“Weird that I’m happy?”“Yeah.”Itachi huffed, but it was more out of amusement than irritation. “It wouldn’t kill you to try to be a little happier, you know,” Itachi said.Sasuke shrugged noncommittally.“You should go spend some time with your friends,” Itachi said, “You’re lucky to have friends at all with that attitude.”“I have you,” Sasuke said, “What do I need friends for?”Itachi loved his brother, he really did. But Sasuke was starting to get on his nerves. He had two unbelievably faithful friends who still loved him in spite of the way he’d treated them. Itachi would have given anything to have Shisui back, and here Sasuke was, shunning the people who loved him.“I’ll go with you, then,” Itachi offered, “Naruto and Sakura want you to get ramen with them. They’re just going to keep asking until you do it. And you might be surprised by how much you enjoy it.”“Fine,” Sasuke conceded, “If they ask me again, I’ll go. But only if you come, too.”.True to his word, Sasuke agreed to go to Ichiraku the next time Sakura asked him. He had come home from the training grounds where he’d been sparring with Kakashi and informed Itachi that they would be going that night.Itachi was pleased that his bother had finally made social plans that didn’t include sparring or fighting, so when they arrived at Ichiraku’s, Itachi promised himself that he would fade into the background and not intrude too much on Sasuke’s time with his friends. After all, agreeing to go at all had only been a ruse to get him to accept the invitation.But what he hadn’t expected was to see Sakura wearing a dress and make-up. She looked oddly out of place sitting in the ramen stand dressed so nicely. Naruto and Sasuke had both opted to wear their standard shinobi clothing, as had Itachi. With a pang of jealousy, Itachi realized that she must have dressed up to impress Sasuke – the man she actually wanted to be with.“Sasuke!” Naruto bellowed when he caught sight of them, “You brought your brother.”“Is that a problem?” Sasuke droned.“Of course not,” Naruto said, grinning and patting the seat the next to him, “Hey, Itachi, how’s it going?”Itachi smiled in response, a genuine one, he was surprised to find. For whatever reason, Itachi found Naruto’s enthusiasm to be infectious. Sasuke took the seat on Naruto’s left, leaving only one open – the one on Sakura’s right.It was a bad idea. He was only there to support his little brother. He couldn’t do that if he was flirting with his teammate – not that he was experienced in the art of flirting enough to be good at it. But she looked so nice in that dress. The dress she was wearing for Sasuke, he reminded himself.But it was too late now. He couldn’t leave. He glanced over at Sasuke, who was actually paying attention to whatever Naruto was saying to him. In fact, it almost looked like he was enjoying himself.He took the seat next to Sakura and gave her a half smile. She was probably still upset with him for touching her. He hoped she would be. Maybe it would be easier to be near her if she gave him the cold shoulder.“Good evening, Itachi-san,” she said with an infectious smile of her own. So much for that idea.“Sakura-san,” Itachi said, keeping his tone as neutral as possible, “You look nice.”“Oh,” she said as if she just remembered that she did look nice. The thought made Itachi grin a little wider, “Ino and I had this whole thing planned. We were going to go dancing, but then Sasuke actually agreed to come tonight, so I bailed on her. She understood, of course. This is the first time he’s agreed to come.”He hummed in response, resting his forearms on the counter. So she hadn’t dressed up for Sasuke’s sake.“Dancing,” he said, testing the word out. He definitely would like to see Sakura dance. Kunoichi were notoriously graceful – he was sure Sakura was no exception.“Yeah, it’s kind of silly, but it’s a good way to relieve stress,” Sakura said, “And men just love to watch Ino dance. She loves the attention, which is good because she’s upset that Sai is missing.”He hummed again and let his eyes wander down to her mouth. It was increasingly hard to keep his eyes away from parts of her that were sinfully displayed in that dress – parts of her that he should not be looking at. Izumi had been too young to have those curves, and Itachi had been too young to be thinking about them. He wondered now what she might have looked like all grown up.He let his eyes wander, not bothering to hide his roving glances because she was sure to notice them anyway. When he found himself looking into her eyes again, he was amused to see her looking flushed and angry.He tried unsuccessfully to hide a grin. It probably looked more like a smirk, which only seemed to make her angrier.If he’d had his Sharingan activated, he would have seen the slap coming. He was far too distracted by other parts of her to notice her hand. But when the palm of her hand meet his cheek it felt nothing like the way he’d touched her at the hospital. It stung.Naruto and Sasuke abruptly stopped talking, both of them gaping at Sakura. The silence was thick and tense, but Itachi wasn’t angry. She hadn’t hurt him. He didn’t even feel humiliated like he should have. He felt mirth bubble up in his chest until laughter spilled out of him. She had slapped him!It was something she would have done to Naruto if he had been looking at her that way. It was like they were friends.“Pervert,” she muttered.“You can hardly blame me for noticing how nice you look, Sakura-san,” he said, giving her an amused grin.“Well you don’t have to stare at me like that!”“I’m sorry, Sakura-san,” Itachi said, “It won’t happen again.”“Sakura…” Naruto muttered. Itachi glanced over Sakura’s shoulder to see him staring at her in disbelief.“See?” Sasuke said, “I told you she was annoying.”Itachi saw Sakura ball her hands in fists, her jaw tightening as she clenched her teeth. He felt guilty for inducing her anger like that and causing Sasuke to say such a thing in front of her.“She isn’t annoying,” Itachi defended, “I was being rude. It was my fault.”“It was your fault that she slapped you?” Sasuke demanded.“Guys, let’s talk about something else,” Naruto said, the nervousness apparent in his voice.“No, she’s always doing shit like this,” Sasuke continued, “How many times has she punched you, Naruto? She’s got too much of a temper. She shouldn’t be taking it out on my brother. Itachi did nothing wrong.”Itachi resisted the urge to face palm. This had not been how he wanted this social excursion to go.“It’s fine, Sasuke—”“No, he’s right, Itachi-san,” Sakura interrupted, “I shouldn’t have slapped you. I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve that.”He snapped his gaze to her and saw that her eyes were glassy – she looked like she was about to cry. He agreed that he didn’t deserve it, but he didn’t want her to apologize – not for something so silly and small. In spite of the rudeness of the gesture, it made him feel like her friend, like he was an actually part of the village again instead of an outsider.He reached out to grab her hand from the counter, but thought better of it. He shouldn’t do that in front of his brother and Naruto. He settled instead for a pleading look – one he hoped she would recognize as consoling.“You don’t have to apologize to me, Sakura,” Itachi said.“I get it, Sasuke,” Sakura said, fully ignoring Itachi, “You think I’m annoying and loud. You think I’m useless – you always have. But I’m not the girl you knocked out and left on a bench four years ago.”He scoffed, unmoved by her speech.“I tried to be your friend because I thought you needed one,” she continued, ignoring the way he ignored her, “But the only two people you ever cared about are Naruto and Itachi, so I’m not going to annoy you anymore by trying.”She stood up, slamming some money on the counter for food that she had hardly touched, and stormed away. The three men left in the stand watched her receding form.“Sasuke, you ruin everything,” Naruto grumbled, “We could have had a nice night out as a team.”“It will be better now that she’s gone.”Itachi disagreed, but he didn’t say anything.“I’ll go check on her,” Naruto said, starting to stand up. Itachi stopped him with a firm hand on his shoulder.“No,” Itachi said. If Naruto left, Sasuke and Itachi would be alone again. It would be no different than being back at the compound. The whole point of coming out tonight was so Sasuke could spend time with his friends. “I’ll go. You stay here with Sasuke.”Naruto gave him a skeptical look, but returned to his seat. Maybe Sasuke would be in a better mood now that Sakura was gone. It wasn’t too late for him to enjoy some time with Naruto.Itachi found Sakura leaning over the railing of a bridge, staring at her reflection in the stream below.“Sakura,” he said as he approached. She glanced at him from the corner of her eye before looking back down at the water. He came to stand next to her, resting his arms on the railing next to hers, letting their arms touch. She didn’t pull away from him, which he found to be an encouraging sign. They were silent for a while, listening to the distant chatter from the streets and the occasional chirping of a bird or buzzing of an insect.“I’m sorry I slapped you.”“I’m sorry for staring at you.”She almost laughed, making a sound that was more like a sigh. “You’re a real piece of work, you know that, Itachi-san?”He said nothing, waiting for her to continue. He looked at her hands hanging over the railing – pretty and delicate, no scars or callouses. A benefit of being a medic-nin, he assumed.“Your behavior is so bizarre. I just don’t know what to think of you,” she said, “Back at the hospital, you touched my hair, my face. And tonight you were staring at me like a pervert. Am I missing something?”“I think you’re pretty,” he answered honestly. The admission made his skin feel tingly. He knew he probably shouldn’t have said that to her. But if she wanted to know the truth then he wouldn’t hide that from her. She was pretty, and she should know it.Her skin flushed and she refused to meet his eye.“Do you slap everyone who thinks you’re pretty?” he joked.“No,” she said, “Naruto is the only person I’ve done that to. He knew I was interested in someone else, so he was aware the advances were unwanted.”“My brother, you mean,” Itachi clarified.She nodded, causing her hair to dislodge from behind her ear and create a curtain between them. Her face was hidden from view, but Itachi could see from her reflection in the water that she was blushing.“I can’t imagine why he finds you annoying,” Itachi said, “You are a lot of things, but annoying is not one of them.”“You didn’t know me when I was younger,” she said, “I pined after him relentlessly. I can understand why he thought I was annoying then. I just wish he could see that I’ve changed.”Itachi felt jealousy burning hotly in his chest. The unfairness of all of it struck him hard. She loved his brother, who wanted nothing to do with her, while he wanted nothing more than to kiss her and earned a slap from her instead.“I don’t want to be with him,” she said, tucking her hair back behind her ear. He looked closely at her face, observing the hard set of her features. “He’s mean. He obviously doesn’t want me. I could never be with someone who didn’t want me. But he’s still my teammate, and I thought he was my friend.”“He’s lucky to have a friend like you, Sakura,” Itachi said, “Even if he doesn’t realize it right now.”She didn’t look like she believed him. “I’m sorry for unloading all this on you,” she said, “And for ruining your evening.”“You didn’t ruin my evening,” he said smiling against the uncertainty he felt, “In fact, compared to all the nights I’ve been here so far, this one if by far the most entertaining.”She smiled down at the water, and Itachi swore that he felt her arm press a little more firmly into his. And then she titled her head toward him and rested it on his shoulder. He could smell the vanilla on her again, and his heart was thumping so loudly he was sure she could hear it.He could see in her reflection in the water that she was still smiling. He rested his cheek on the crown of her head and smiled, too. He enjoyed the comfortable silence, feeling more at home than he’d ever felt before – even before the massacre.“You really think I’m pretty?” she asked. He only smiled in response. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- After the incident at Ichiraku, Sakura had given both Sasuke and Itachi a wide berth. She had embarrassed herself enough by slapping Itachi and going off on Sasuke, but then the moment on the bridge afterwards left her feeling more unsettled than she wanted to admit.Her world would make a lot more sense if Itachi acted more like Sasuke and vice versa.But that was not the case, and until she sorted out the weird feelings she was having, she decided it was best just to avoid them completely.Of course, Sakura still had to treat Itachi’s condition once a week. Though she was not cold with him, Sakura remained as clinical and professional as possible with her treatments, and Itachi, seeming to sense her hesitancy and confusion over the situation, made it easy on her by refraining from touching her or calling her pretty again.Weeks went by, Sakura keeping herself busy with her work at the hospital and then with Yamato and Sachi in the evenings. Occasionally, at Itachi’s request, Sakura would take them to the park where they could spend some more time with their favorite ‘Uncle’ Itachi.If anyone noticed that Sakura and Itachi seemed to be around each other a lot, no one mentioned it. The only person who would likely have noticed such a thing would have been Sasuke, the only other person Itachi seemed inclined to spend any time with.Sakura thought it was sweet that the two brothers spent so much time together and seemed to be getting along, but she could see that Sasuke in particular was growing restless.The need for revenge had been burned so deeply into his psyche that Sakura was sure that he was gearing up for his future attack on Danzo.Honestly, Sakura was all for it. Kakashi and Yamato had spent weeks searching for Sai and had come up empty-handed.That is, until Sakura was called from her shift to report immediately to the Hokage’s office. Sakura was nervous, of course. Tsunade wouldn’t have interrupted her shift unless it had been something very important.When she arrived at her mentor’s office, she found herself standing huddled together with Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi, and Yamato.“There is no easy way to say this,” Tsunade began. Sakura’s heart sank. “Sai’s body has been recovered. He was found dead by a team of ANBU in the woods just outside the village. He was hidden with a genjutsu.”Sakura’s vision swam and she leaned her body against Naruto’s for support. He held onto her arm tightly, but she could feel that he was also trembling.“Cause of death?” Kakashi asked.“Looks like induced coma,” Tsunade said, a note of warning in her voice, though Sakura didn’t understand what it was for.Induced coma? How could someone have induced a coma without access to the drugs at the hospital? There was no way anyone would have been able to sneak any out of the pharmacy. She would have to check to logs to make sure, but she was certain that there weren’t any missing.“By what means?” Sakura asked, her voice cracking.“The autopsy report shows a genjutsu that put his mind to sleep,” Tsunade explained.“The only genjutsu I’ve heard of that’s capable of doing such a thing is produced by the Sharingan,” Kakashi speculated. Five pairs of eyes locked onto Sasuke.“I didn’t do it,” Sasuke defended.“I know you didn’t do it,” Tsunade said.Sakura swallowed hard, thinking of the only other Sharingan user she knew of. Itachi wouldn’t have done something like this… Would he? He was capable of gruesome things, certainly, but he hadn’t been the one to do this one. She was sure he wouldn’t have done it.And hadn’t he warned Yamato and Sachi about another Sharingan user when they had been in Toyeiki? Was he talking about whoever had been responsible for this?“I believe Danzo is responsible for this,” Tsunade said, “I need proof of it in order to condemn him for the crime and have him removed from the council. That’s where you guys come in.”Sakura’s brow furrowed. How could Danzo be responsible?“I’m assigning this mission to Team 7. Find me proof that Danzo did this,” Tsunade continued, “Or find me proof that someone else did.” Sakura closed her eyes and pictured Ino. She would be crushed. She couldn’t believe it – Sai was gone. It didn’t seem fair. Just when she’d gotten one teammate back she lost another. Hot tears burned at the back of her eyes, but she took a deep breath and held them back.“You’re all dismissed.”Sakura didn’t wait for anything else – she ran. She was gone before anyone could stop her, running, running.She let her feet take her where they would. She didn’t think, she ran. She wanted to find Ino, to seek comfort from her best friend, but she couldn’t talk to Ino until she calmed down. She couldn’t tell her the truth while she was so wrecked.Instead, she found herself at the Uchiha compound, banging frantically on the door. She couldn’t see straight through the tears that had streamed down her face, her neck, and into her shirt. Between knocks, she wiped furiously at her eyes. She was sure she looked like a red, wet mess.She didn’t care, though, because she knew that Itachi had answers. He knew the person with the Sharingan. He knew who had done this to Sai. And this time she wouldn’t let him get away with keeping it a secret from her.But when he swung the door open and looked down at her, his eyes were too concerned. “Sakura…” he said, his voice low. She didn’t miss the worry in his tone. He should be worried, she thought. He reached out for her, placing a hand on her shoulder and pulling her toward him.She let go – lost the will to resist him, to demand answers from him. She let him pull her against him. Her forehead collided with his collarbone. Her arms were crushed between his body and hers, so she fisted her hands in the fabric of his shirt. His hand came down on the top of her hand, holding her against him. The other found its way to her back and rubbed soothing circles there.“What happened?” he whispered.She couldn’t answer right away because she was sobbing too hard, not caring that she sounded like a wailing child, not caring that her tears were soaking into his shirt (a shirt that she distantly noticed was one of the ones she had bought for him). He rested his chin on her head and let her cry. She didn’t know how long she stayed there, taking comfort from him like he existed just to give it to her.“What’s wrong?” he tried again, forcibly pushing her shoulders back so that he could see her face.She wrenched her body away from his and stabbed an accusing finger into his chest. “You told me in Toyeiki that there was another Sharingan user,” she said, her voice trembling and angry, “Who was it? Tell me who you were talking about.”“Sakura, calm down first,” he said, taking hold of her finger and curling back into her hand, “Tell me what happened.”“Sai is dead!” she exclaimed, yanking her hand away from his, “And whoever is at fault used Sharingan to do it.”Gently, he took her hand in his and led her through the door. She followed him into the kitchen, her chest still heaving and anger still burning in her chest. She was borderline hysterical, but she couldn’t seem to calm down.“Sit,” he commanded, pointing to the kitchen table. She did as she was told and then collapsed herself on the table, burying her face in her arms. She stayed there, entrenched in her darkness, sobbing again into the table. Sai was gone. Sai was dead. And it was her fault.“Drink this,” Itachi said. Sakura pulled her head up and felt him press a warm mug into her hands. She took a sip – peppermint tea.“I’m sorry about your friend,” he said when it appeared that she was finished crying. She gave him an incredulous look, baffled that had both the gall to say that to her and the patience to deal with her. But she realized that he was serious. He knew what she was going through.And it wasn’t like she hadn’t been prepared for a loss like this. She was a shinobi. Her friends were all shinobi. Sooner or later, they all would die. And shinobi always tended to die sooner rather than later.She took another sip of her tea. He sat down across from her.“Before the massacre,” Itachi began, and immediately he had Sakura’s full attention, “My cousin, Shisui, and I were aware that our clan was planning the coup. We were going to try to stop it. He had an ability he could use with his Mangekyou – Kotoamatsukami. He was planning to use it to convince our clan not to go through with the coup. But before he could do it, Danzo intercepted him. Danzo didn’t want him to try to use his genjutsu. He didn’t think it was a permanent solution.”Sakura inched closer to Itachi, listening intently. She had read the mission file and she knew the general idea of what had happened, but the details were lost. Itachi was the only one who knew them. And Danzo, too, she thought.“He tried to kill Shisui. He took his right eye and would have taken the left had I not come back to save him,” Itachi explained. “You were talking about Danzo…” Sakura said in disbelief. “Danzo has a Sharingan. That’s why he keeps his eye covered…”Itachi nodded.“We need to tell Tsunade,” Sakura said, “She assigned a mission to Team 7. We’re supposed to find proof that Danzo killed Sai. This is the proof we need.”Sakura stood up, knocking her chair over in the process.“Hold on, Sakura,” Itachi said, wrapping his fingers around her wrist, “That isn’t enough proof. Danzo will never admit to having a Sharingan. He will pin the blame for Sai’s death on either me or Sasuke.”“But—”“The village would easily accept that I did this, Sakura,” Itachi said, “They don’t trust me. They would believe I did this, even if Tsunade doesn’t.”Itachi stood up, too, and released Sakura’s arm. She crossed her arms across her chest and shivered, though she didn’t feel cold. It was too much information to process.“Sakura, if Danzo killed Sai it was because he was snooping around for information,” Itachi said, “He’s the one who found my mission file, right?”Sakura nodded, and blinked away the fresh wave of tears that brimmed in her eyes. This is my fault.“He won’t hesitate to kill you, either,” Itachi said. Her heart squeezed painfully in her chest. “Or anyone else on Team 7.”“We have to stop him.”“Sakura, please,” Itachi begged, and Sakura was surprised by the pleading tone in his voice, “Please do not go after him. I know what your orders are, but please let me take care of this. I will handle it.”“But—”“I don’t want you to get hurt.”She sighed deeply and pursed her lips together. She felt for him, she really did. He had lost his family – killed them with his own hands, in fact. She couldn’t imagine how painful it must have been. And now he was afraid of losing her, too, and it broke her heart that he felt that way.But he had accepted the mission knowing what he would have to do in order to protect the village and to protect Sasuke. Now she was facing a decision, too, albeit a much less terrifying one.“I’m not going to defy my orders.”“At least let me help you.”She couldn’t say no to that. “Okay.”“Let’s go find Sasuke.”.But they didn’t have to look too far for him. Just as they’d set out to leave, the rest of Team 7 showed up at the Uchihas’ doorstep.What the hell, Sakura,” Naruto demanded, pushing his way into the house, “You just ran away!”“I’m sorry, Naruto—”“I know you’re upset, but that’s what we’re here for,” Naruto continued, cutting her off, “He was our teammate, too. Didn’t it occur to you that I’m also sad? I mean, come on, that’s just inconsiderate.”“That’s not why I ran away, Naruto,” Sakura said impatiently. Of course she realized that Naruto was sad, too. She knew how precious Naruto’s friends were to him. “I came to find Itachi because I knew he had critical information.”It was mostly the truth.“You should have waited for us,” Kakashi said, but he didn’t seem upset.“What information?” Sasuke asked.“Danzo has a Sharingan,” Sakura answered.Everyone turned to look at Itachi.“He stole it from Shisui just before he killed himself.”Silence descended in the room. Sakura was surprised to see Sasuke’s eyes slightly glazed over. His fists were clenched tightly at his sides.“So what are we going to do?” Sakura asked.“Diplomacy will not work this time,” Itachi said, “The Sandaime and Danzo were friends, in spite of their difference of opinion when it came to protecting Konoha, but Danzo doesn’t trust Tsunade-sama, especially after choosing to allow me back into the village. There will be no peaceful negotiations.”“So you’re saying that we will have to fight him?” Yamato asked.“I’m saying that it doesn’t matter if we find proof or not,” Itachi argued, “Danzo thinks he knows how to keep Konoha protected. His methods are… cruel. Tsunade wants to remove him from the council, but that will not be enough. He will still try to control things from the shadows. He has the means to do so.”“That’s true,” Yamato agreed.“So we have to kill him,” Sasuke said.“Our orders are to find proof of his crimes,” Kakashi said, “Nothing more. Killing him is treason.”“If he attacks first, it’s self-defense,” Sakura argued.“We can try to reason with him for appearances’ sake,” Itachi said, “But we will have to be prepared to fight him. He is not going to see things our way.”Silence fell again. Sakura could hear her heartbeat thudding in her ears. This would be the second time she hid something from Tsunade. It didn’t sit well with her, but just like the first time, Sakura had no choice.“So what’s the plan?” Naruto asked.“There’s a council meeting two days from now,” Sakura answered, “We should confront him after the meeting.”“We’ll need to intercept him before he goes back down to ROOT’s base,” Itachi said, “We can’t fight too many ROOT members at once.”“We can ambush him once he’s outside the gates,” Yamato suggested, “We can split into Team Ro and Team 7. One team can follow him after the meeting in case he catches on and tries to escape and the other can be waiting to ambush him.”“Team Ro?” Naruto asked.“Me, Kakashi, and Itachi,” Yamato answered.“Tenzo,” Itachi said, “You and I can tail him. Team Kakashi can be waiting to ambush him. Sakura can wait farther outside the gates to keep watch for ROOT members coming to back him up and to provide medical support where necessary.”Sakura pursed her lips in annoyance, but she didn’t argue. It was a sound plan that played to all of their strengths.“Tenzo?” Naruto asked.“Yamato is a code name,” he answered, “Tenzo is my real name.”“So we should call you Tenzo now?” Naruto asked, “That sounds weird.”“Call me whatever you like, Naruto,” Yamato said. Sakura didn’t think she could get used to calling him a different name now, but she wasn’t thinking too hard about it. Instead, her eyes drifted to Sasuke who was staring at his brother with confusion.“You three were on a team together?” he asked Itachi.“Yes,” Itachi answered, but he offered no more information.“Alright,” Kakashi said, his tone firmly ending the conversation, “We will reconvene two days from now. We’ll meet back here when the meeting starts.”.Later that night when Sakura arrived home, she wasn’t surprised to find Ino sitting at her kitchen table. She was pouting and had poured herself a glass of wine.“Forehead,” she greeted.“Pig.”“I came by the hospital to see you today,” she said, swirling the wine around in the glass, “One of the nurses said you’d been called to the Hokage’s office.”Sakura felt hot tears building up in the corners of her eyes. She was dreading having this conversation, but if she was in Ino’s position she would want to know the truth. It couldn’t be easy on her not knowing what happened to Sai. Sakura had felt the same way when Sasuke’s was the one missing.Except Sasuke wasn’t dead.“Sakura,” Ino said, standing up and grabbing her by the shoulders, “Why are you crying? What happened?”Sakura shook her head and steeled herself against the tears. She couldn’t tell Ino the truth while she was crying. Ino began to cry, too, putting two and two together.“He’s dead, isn’t he?”Sakura nodded. Ino let out a garbled cry and fisted her hands in the sleeves of Sakura’s shirt. The blonde collapsed into Sakura, letting the weight of her body fall into her chest. Sakura held onto her with a shaky grip and eased them down to the floor.They clung to one another, both sobbing, both blaming themselves for the turn of events. Sakura wanted to choke out an explanation, an apology, anything – but the words wouldn’t come out. The only sound she could make was the hysterical weeping that she couldn’t seem to get under control.It could have been hours or it could have been merely minutes that they stayed that way, crying and leaning into one another. No words were spoken. There were none that could be said.Eventually, Sakura pulled Ino up to her feet and led her to her bedroom. She tucked Ino into her bed and the blonde allowed it, unable to resist much. Sakura didn’t want to be there anymore. She didn’t want to see Ino in her bed, already half asleep. She didn’t want to think about whatever had been happening between her and Sai. She didn’t want to think that it was cut short by their selfish actions.Leaving Ino alone in her apartment, Sakura fled for the second time that day. This time, she knew exactly who she wanted to see.Her feet carried her straight to Naruto’s apartment. She knocked softly at the door, all of the frantic worry from before gone. She waited – it felt like it was taking too long. Surely Naruto could sense that it was her. Surely he’d understand that she needed him right now, that they needed each other.When he finally opened the door, Sakura pushed herself inside, barely sparing a glance into his face.“Sakura,” he said. He sounded surprised to see her, which surprised her. Why shouldn’t she seek comfort from him now? They had both just discovered that their teammate was dead.But then she saw him. Sasuke. He was sitting in Naruto’s living room, looking wholly uninterested in everything. She glanced back at Naruto and for the first time saw that he had been crying. His eyes were puffy and red. His cheeks were glistening with shed tears.“Naruto,” Sakura mumbled, pulling him into a hug, “Are you okay?”“Where have you been, Sakura?” Naruto demanded harshly, though his arms were around her in a comforting kind of way, “I needed you.”“Ino needed me, too, Naruto,” Sakura said into his chest. She held onto him more tightly than she ever had before.“Why the hell would Ino need you more than me?” Naruto demanded, “Sai was my teammate. Our teammate.”“They were… They were together, I think,” she answered, “I’m not sure. But I’m pretty sure that it’s our fault that he’s dead.”With the statement uttered from her mouth, Sakura felt tears come back. She didn’t feel like she had any left in her. She couldn’t even feel the dampness in her eyes anymore. She choked out a sob, and wiped at her eyes with the back of her hands but found her face to be dry.“What do you mean?” Naruto asked, “How is it your fault?”“I have to tell you something…”He grabbed her arm and led her through the entryway and into the living room where Sasuke was still sitting, albeit slightly more interested than he’d been before. Sakura took a seat on the couch next to him and pulled Naruto along with her.“On my mission in Toyeiki—”“The one where you fixed that disease?”“Yeah,” she said, “I met Itachi there.”“What?” she heard Sasuke snap. Her back was slightly turned to him and she didn’t bother turning to face him.“He was sick and I healed him,” she said.“What? Why? You couldn’t possibly have known he was a good guy back then.” Naruto said.“I needed his help,” she answered, “His illness was a special case and I needed to study him in order to find a cure. I knew it was dangerous, but I was desperate. I offered him a deal. I healed him in exchange for letting me study him to find a cure. He would have died otherwise.”“So you saved his life?” Naruto asked.“I suppose so.”“I’m having a hard time understanding this,” Naruto said, “You thought he was a murderer. He made Sasuke’s life a living hell and you love Sasuke. Why wouldn’t you have sent word to Konoha that he was in Toyeiki? We would have come to help you.”“Because he…”Sakura trailed off and began to fidget nervously. Naruto was easy enough to talk to, even if he was confused and asked a lot of questions. But it was weird talking about Itachi in front of Sasuke. For all her adoration of the younger Uchiha during her childhood, Sasuke had never been easy to be around.“Because he what?” Sasuke demanded.Sakura turned to face him this time. His face was unreadable – as always.“He was nice to me,” she said, “I was openly hostile toward him. I hated him. And he was still always kind. Especially with Yamato and Sachi. He was unbelievably tender with them. It was difficult to reconcile his behavior in Toyeiki with what I knew about him. That’s why when I got back here, I had Sai do some research on him for me.”“Oh,” Naruto said.“That’s how he knew you,” Sasuke said, “The day he told me the truth. He told me he was going to let me kill him, but you stopped him.”“After I found out the truth…”“Sakura,” Sasuke said, “You healed him when he was sick. And you stopped me from killing him. You saved his life twice.”“I couldn’t let him die,” she replied, “Not the first time because I couldn’t let you lose your chance for revenge. And not the second time because I couldn’t let you lose him after all he’d done for you. And he didn’t deserve to die, even if it was what he wanted.”“Thank you.”It was the second time he had ever thanked her. The first time it had made her feel happy in spite of the direness of the situation. He had finally acknowledged her in some way and she had been over the moon about it.This time it just left her feeling empty. She always longed to have Sasuke treat her with the same respect that he gave Naruto. She never expected that it would feel so hollow.And the worst part was that she could tell he was being genuine.“Sakura,” Naruto said, “I know you want to blame yourself for Sai’s death, but it wasn’t your fault. It was Danzo’s fault.”“We will avenge him,” Sasuke said, “We’ll avenge Sai and we’ll avenge my brother. Danzo will not get away with what he put Itachi through – what he did to my clan.”She began to cry again. She leaned into Naruto who held her against his shoulder. They understood one another through those touches. They shared the pain of losing Sai together until it was manageable.She was surprised when she felt Sasuke place a comforting hand on her shoulder, too. The gesture felt strange coming from him, but Sakura found it comforting anyway.It was the push she needed to get herself moving in the right direction. Sai was gone and there was nothing that could change that. She would help take out Danzo. She would comfort Ino as best she could. And then things could go back to normal. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Itachi woke the morning of the council meeting with a nervous lump in his stomach. Before, when he had still been a missing-nin, fighting Danzo wouldn’t have been a big deal. He could have taken him down, and if not he could have fled. But he wasn’t a missing-nin anymore and this time he would have other people fighting alongside him – not as temporary partners, but as comrades. He would have Sasuke. He would have his former ANBU teammates – people he had once considered friends.And he had a couple of new friends, too. The thought terrified him. He had already lost everyone once. The thought of losing anyone else today…But he couldn’t think like that now. Not today. This was all for Konoha’s sake, for his brother’s sake. If the threat Danzo posed was not eliminated, he would never trust in the safety of the village.Sasuke was nowhere to be found – at least not in the Uchiha compound. Itachi was grateful for that because he didn’t want his brother to see him so anxious. For years he had kept on a carefully constructed mask, a persona that hid his true self from the rest of Konoha. But now that the mask had slipped, he found it increasingly difficult to hide his feelings.Their rendezvous point was the Uchiha compound so he could only sit around and wait. He spent a few hours cleaning the house, and a little bit of time outside training, but his nerves were getting the better of him and he found himself too distracted to do very much.He had resigned himself to lazing around, too unfocused to spend time being productive, when he heard a knock at the door.He wasn’t surprised to find Sakura at the door, her pink hair tied up messily on top of her head. She looked horrible. Her eyes were puffy and her clothes looked rumpled like she had slept in them.“Are you alright?” he asked.She raked her eyes over him. “I should ask you the same question,” she said.He narrowed his eyes slightly. “I apologize for not being presentable,” he said, “I wasn’t expecting company so soon.”“I’m sorry,” she said, “I shouldn’t have come by without asking. It’s just that Ino is at my apartment and I can’t bear to see her right now. I slept at Naruto’s place last night. Sasuke was there and I felt like I was intruding so I left.”He opened his door wider so she could enter. She brushed past him as she entered. He was glad she had come by, if he was honest with himself. He was glad that she found herself with him when she didn’t know where else to go. It made a strange pride swell in his chest.“Are you nervous?” he asked.She met his gaze and then quickly looked away. Her shyness was strange to him, but she nodded an affirmative.“Me too,” he said.“I’m afraid that if we fail that something really bad will happen to Konoha,” she said, “And I don’t like hiding things from Tsunade. She’s already mad enough at me for hiding the fact that I worked with you.”That was news to him.“You didn’t tell her when you got back?” he asked, “Why not?”“I didn’t want her to send anyone after you.”“I’d have been long gone by the time they got to Toyeiki.”“You weren’t long gone,” she retorted, “I know you stayed to hear what Kabuto wanted with me.”He cocked his head to the side. He had had his chakra masked carefully. He was good at hiding himself. Stealth was his forte.“How did you know?”She crossed her arms and huffed. “People always underestimate me. I’m not an idiot. I know I’m not the best member on Team 7. In fact I know I’m the worst member of Team 7. But that doesn’t mean I’m stupid.”“Sakura,” he said, his voice sounding much harsher than he had intended. “I know you aren’t stupid. I asked how you knew.”“I saw you on the roof,” she snapped, “When Kabuto mentioned Sasuke I saw you. I also know you followed him after he left.”He sighed. He hadn’t known that she had seen him. It didn’t really matter, he supposed, but he was annoyed with himself for allowing her to see him and for the fact that she knew he had lied to her.“I’m sorry,” he said.“I wasn’t upset,” she said, “I mean, you told me you wanted to stay and I basically forced you to leave. If I had known the truth back then I would have wanted you to stay. I kind of wanted you to stay anyway. I just…”“I understand,” he said.“Did you kill Kabuto?”The question surprised him. It was a valid question, he supposed, but Itachi didn’t like to kill. He figured Sakura would have known that.“No.”They stared awkwardly at one another for a moment.“I followed him because I thought he might have information about Sasuke,” he said, breaking the silence. “I was worried he might try to contact you again, but I didn’t kill him.”“Why would it worry you if he contacted me again?” she asked, “Sasuke spent a lot of time with him. He never hurt Sasuke.”“He wasn’t interested in Sasuke.”Sakura looked down at her feet. She looked uncertain, like she didn’t quite know what to say.“I never doubted that you would reject his offer,” Itachi continued, “But I wondered what it might have been like for you to have gone with him. He probably did have a lot to teach you.”“I thought about that, too,” she admitted, and for whatever reason a blush rose in her cheeks, “I mean, I would never betray Konoha, but I wondered what he could teach me. Sasuke seemed to have learned a lot from Orochimaru. And Naruto learned how to used the kyuubi. Medical ninjutsu is all I really have and Tsunade-sama – she’s a fantastic teacher, but offensive medical jutsu isn’t really something she uses.”“Do you want to learn offensive medical ninjutsu?”“Yes,” she said, “If it would put me on the same level as Naruto and Sasuke.”“I’m sure you will find a way, then,” he said and he meant it.“You have a lot of faith in me,” she replied“I saw what you’re capable of,” he answered, “You indicated that you feel useless, less important than your teammates. But you play a crucial role to them. I’m sure you’ve saved their lives many times. You’ve saved mine at least twice.”Her blush deepened and she looked down at her feet. It was strange to him that she wouldn’t be able to see her own worth. Her lack of confidence was completely unfounded – he had seen firsthand that she was capable of performing miracles. He wondered briefly if it had something to do with his brother.“Come sit down,” he said, “I’ll make you some tea.”She followed him into the kitchen and took the same seat at the table that she’d sat in before. She picked at her fingernails while he prepared her a mug of tea.“Why did you come here?” he asked.“I don’t know,” she said, sounding nervous, “I can leave if you want me to.”“No, no,” he said, “I don’t want you to leave. I was just curious.”He set a steaming mug in front of her and took the seat next to her. She gave him a small but grateful smile and her sheer proximity made his heart jump in his chest.“I didn’t know where else to go,” she said after taking a sip of her tea, “I feel calmer when I’m around you, and I’m just so anxious right now. Is that weird?”He did think it was weird. He certainly didn’t feel calmer when he was around her. If anything, he felt the opposite. Not in an unpleasant way, though, because her company was far from unpleasant.“Even back in Toyeiki when I hated you, I just felt better when you were around. Safer. I wasn’t so worried about potential enemies,” she admitted.“But you refused my help with Kabuto.”“On principal,” she said dismissively.“It is weird,” he answered, “You trusted me to protect you when I gave you no indication that I would do that.”“I guess it was instinct, then. Because you did protect me – Konoha, I mean,” she answered.She took another sip of her tea and leaned in a little closer to him. His breath became a bit more shallow. He hoped that she wouldn’t notice, but she turned to look at him, her eyes connecting with his far closer than they’d been before. He was captivated again by her pink lashes and how long they were and how prettily they framed her green eyes.Without meaning to, he let his gaze drift down to her mouth. Her lips were pressed together in a thin line until she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. He wondered if her lips would taste like her tea. She inhaled sharply, parting her lips. He looked back up at her eyes and found her watching him curiously through half-lidded eyes.“Are you going to kiss me?” she asked.He swallowed. “What?”“You look like you want to kiss me,” she said. Her tone was teasing and flirtatious, but her eyes were serious.He didn’t know how to answer that, because he definitely did want to kiss her, but he wasn’t going to. Not now. Maybe not ever. It didn’t seem like a good idea.But she was still leaning toward him, watching him with unwavering certainty like she knew that he wanted to. Like she wanted him to.“Do you want me to kiss you?” he asked, pleasantly surprised that his voice was unstrained and perfectly casual.“I have patients at the hospital all the time that are very vocal about their attractions toward me,” she said. It sounded like she was saying no. Itachi felt his heart sink a little. Not that he would have kissed her if she said yes… Or maybe he would have. He couldn’t know for sure. “Sometimes they try to steal a kiss.”She looked down into her mug, fluttering her lashes as she did so. He narrowed his eyes slightly. She seemed to be aware that he had a penchant for her lashes.“I obviously spurn their advances,” she said, “Because it’s not professional. And most of the time I don’t even know them.”She took a sip of her tea and then looked back up at him.“There has only been one time I ever considered kissing a patient.”He raised an eyebrow, not trusting himself to speak.“It was you,” she said. “The day you touched my face.”He took in a deep breath and held it. He had wanted to kiss her, too, and he’d felt bolder back then than he felt now. There were a million reasons why he shouldn’t kiss her. And even if there weren’t, he couldn’t think of a less appropriate time to kiss someone. Not before they murdered a member of the village council. Not when his brother and the rest of her teammates were due to show up at any moment.But his hand reached up again to touch her face. He let the tips of his fingers skim her cheek. He brushed the pad of his thumb across her lips. He was enraptured when her eyes slid shut and he could hear her breath catch in her throat.She reached up and grasped his hand, pulling it down away from her face and into her lap. She held it there, her fingers curled tightly around his. He could feel warmth emanating from her bare thigh. He stared down at their hands, wanting to let go and run his fingers across her leg to see if it felt as smooth as it looked.“I’ve never kissed anyone before,” she said. He looked back up at her face to find that she had turned her head away from him.“I haven’t either,” he admitted. He had hoped that such an admission would have made her feel less embarrassed, but he was horrified to see tears forming in her eyes.She didn’t make a sound as she blinked them away. When one streaked its way down her cheek anyway, he used his free hand to brush it away. He wanted to ask her why she was upset, but he didn’t really want to know the answer. He was confused and had no idea how to handle a girl crying – he would likely only make it worse.“I’m so sorry, Itachi,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.His brow furrowed and he could feel her hand trembling. Her grip on his hand loosened, but she didn’t let go.“I was saving my first kiss for Sasuke,” she said shakily, “That was a long time ago, but no one has ever wanted to kiss me before – I mean no one that I wanted to kiss back. It’s just that, well, it’s you. You’re his brother.”He gripped her hand a little tighter, not quite understanding what she meant by that. He was too fixated on the part where she wanted to kiss him back.“Do you think it would bother him?” he asked.“What? I don’t think he would care at all,” she said, “He doesn’t give me the time of day. I was worried about you.”“Me?” he asked, “Why would you be worried about me?”“I don’t want you to think that I’m just using you as a replacement for him,” she said, “That you’re just the next best thing.”He let go of her hand and pulled his away from her like he’d been burned. He hadn’t considered that before. He hadn’t imagined that she ever wanted to kiss him. If he was honest with himself, his infatuation with her was not something he planned on pursuing outside of their minute flirtations. He liked her – it was undeniable. But he had never imagined anything ever coming of it.And gauging from her reaction to him, she seemed to agree. She treated him the way she treated Naruto when he behaved the same way.Yet now she was telling him that her affections for him was similar enough to the ones she held for Sasuke that she was worried they would offend him.“Is that true?” he asked, “Do you see my brother when you look at me?”“I moved on from Sasuke a long time ago,” she said. Her lashes were wet and clumped together. “And you are nothing like him. I thought about Sasuke a lot. I thought that meant that I loved him. But when you touched my hair, my face… When you told me you thought I was pretty on the bridge… I’d never felt like that before.”“Like what?”“Like my heart was going to explode.”She gripped her mug in her hands like she was going to take another sip, but she simply held it in her cupped hands.“Like my skin was on fire.”He knew exactly what she meant.“I was afraid of how often I thought about you – especially after I learned the truth,” she said. “And I was afraid that it was because of Sasuke.”“I thought about you, too,” he said, “And I was jealous of Sasuke. That he could have had you if he wanted you. And I thought you wanted him.”“But I don’t want Sasuke.”“You told me you did,” he said, “Back in Toyeiki.”“I used to want him,” she answered, “Everyone knew that.”“And now?”“I don’t want him now.”“What do you want?” he asked.He saw her mouth quirk up into an almost smile – a smirk, but not quite. It was endearing and charming and he wanted to pick her hand back up again, or touch her face, or kiss her.“The next time you make my heart feel like it’s exploding or my skin is on fire,” she began, “I want to give in to that feeling. Instead of resisting it.”“You mean you want to kiss me,” he asked, feeling a smile forming on his own lips.She swatted his leg playfully and swiveled so that she was facing the table. “Don’t put words in my mouth.”He breathed a sigh of relief because it seemed that the awkwardness and the tenseness of the moment had passed and they could go back to being normal. And he was elated by the thought that she would let him kiss her the next time he tried. He would try to make sure that there would be a next time.They fell into a comfortable silence for a while, Sakura sipped her tea and Itachi watched her, unable to drop the smile from his face. When she started speaking again, he listened to her talk about Yamato and Sachi, and then her work at the hospital. She talked about Ino and Naruto and Tsunade and Kakashi. He listened, admittedly not paying too much attention. It was nice to hear her talk and to be near her.He hadn’t expected that seeing her would help alleviate his anxiety (even though it made him nervous in a completely different way). But after speaking with her and nearly kissing her, he felt a renewed fear that their mission would go horribly wrong. It was terrifying enough that he might lose Sasuke. Now he was worried that he could lose her too.She laughed at her own joke – something silly that Naruto had done, and touched his arm lightly. He was startled by the touch and grabbed her hand instinctively. She met his gaze again and the mood shifted.He wanted to kiss her for the millionth time, but he couldn’t.“Sakura,” he started.The sound of the front door opening jolted him out of the moment. He dropped her hand and moved away from her.“You can’t just use Rasengan on everything, Naruto,” Itachi heard Sasuke say, “It’s not going to work on someone like Danzo.”“No way,” Naruto replied, “It’s a great finishing move.”They walked into the kitchen together and Itachi saw a smile on Sasuke’s face that he hadn’t seen since they had come back to Konoha.“Sakura,” Naruto said, “What are you doing here? We thought you went home.”Sakura merely shrugged, and to her credit she looked very casual. She probably didn’t know what to say. Itachi wouldn’t have known how to answer either. But Itachi didn’t miss the way Sasuke and Naruto exchanged glances.“Do you guys want to discuss the plan?” she asked, changing the subject, “I have some ideas.”“I thought you were just supposed to be our medic,” Sasuke said, “What ideas could you possibly have?”Quicker than Itachi could see without his Sharingan activated, Sakura launched a senbon at Sasuke. Caught unaware, Sasuke brought his hand to his neck where the senbon had pierced his skin just above his collarbone.“What the hell, Sakura?” Naruto asked.Itachi laughed as Sasuke pulled the senbon from his neck, sending a glare in Sakura’s direction.“I was thinking poisoned senbon,” she said.Sasuke flicked the senbon onto the counter, “Do you really think you could hit Danzo with a senbon?”“I hit you, didn’t I?”“Danzo has a Sharingan, Sakura, and he’s going to be prepared for a fight,” Sasuke replied.“Fine,” she huffed, “I’ll just sit back and do nothing, then.”“No, that’s actually a good idea,” Itachi said, “Poisoning him. Sakura, tell us more about the poison.”She gave him a grateful smile. “There are several different types of poison I think would be useful against him,” she said, “I think the best option is to use senbon as it’ll be the easiest way to land a hit on him. I created a poison that will paralyze someone momentarily, which would enable someone to strike the final blow. I’ve also got a poison that can cause kidney failure, but it’s slow acting. That one might be useful in case he succeeds in escaping.”“Yeah, I guess that might work,” Sasuke conceded, “Why don’t you give me and Itachi a couple of your poisoned senbon and we’ll try to make it work.”Itachi saw her eyes narrow dangerously, and he was greatly amused by it. But to his surprise, she didn’t argue. She pulled a row of senbon from the pouch in her pink apron and gave half of them to Sasuke. She then turned and offered the other half to him.“I don’t need them,” he said, pushing her hand back into her chest.She shook her head. “I have plenty more,” she said, “Please take some.”Reluctantly, he pocketed the senbon. He didn’t like that Sasuke undermined her that way – not when she was already so self-conscious about her skills as a ninja. He wanted her to know that he trusted her and he didn’t doubt her abilities.In fact, he was curious to see how she’d be in a fight. He didn’t recall ever seeing her fight before, but he knew that she had killed Sasori. Taking down an Akatsuki member was a feat.“Sakura,” he said, and he delighted in the way her eyes focused sharply on him, Sasuke all but forgotten, “I’d like to spar with you. When you aren’t busy.”Her eyebrows flew up in surprise, and he noticed a twitch in her lips that indicated she was hiding a smile.“You want to spar with me?” she asked.“I’ve never seen you fight before, but I know you killed Sasori,” he said, “I’m curious to see what you’re capable of.”“Okay,” she agreed. “I’m free tomorrow after I pick up Yamato from the academy.”“Don’t get ahead of yourselves,” Sasuke said, “We don’t know what’s going to happen today.”Naruto punched him lightly in the arm, “Shut up, moron.”Itachi stared incredulously at his brother. Sasuke had always had an amazing confidence in himself and his determination for revenge indicated that he didn’t plan on losing today. It sounded like he was suggesting…His eyes drifted to Sakura who was glaring at Sasuke with a vehemence that was terrifying to him. He hoped he would never have to be on the opposite end of a look like that.“God, Sasuke,” she said, “You’re such a downer.”“I’m just being realistic,” he replied, “There could be some casualties today. We should prepare ourselves for that.”“No,” Itachi said, “There will not be any casualties.”“That’s the spirit, Itachi!” Naruto exclaimed.“You’re being awfully optimistic,” Sasuke said.It was Itachi’s turn to glare at the younger Uchiha. Itachi had always wanted his brother to become strong, to be able to defend himself against anyone who would try to hurt him. He expected that having a strength like that would lend well to him being able to protect those he loved, too.But maybe not.“I am not going to allow anyone to be killed,” Itachi said with growing confidence. He had always had pride in his abilities, but this time he had something more to prove. It wasn’t just about Sasuke.“Kakashi and Tenzo are formidable opponents,” Itachi continued, “And Sakura is the best medic-nin in the world. We have Naruto and his kyuubi. We will not fail. Not with a team like this.”Sasuke scoffed.“You wouldn’t have kidnapped me if you didn’t have at least some faith in my skill,” Sakura said.“Yeah, Sasuke, why are you being so depressing?” Naruto asked.“I’m not being depressing,” he insisted, “I just don’t understand why we need a whole damn team to do this. Danzo’s death belongs to Itachi and me. We were the ones hurt the most by his actions. It has nothing to do with you two.”“You’re being selfish,” Sakura said, “Isn’t the important thing that he’s dealt with? I mean, you can strike the final blow if it means that much to you, but is it really so crucial that only you and Itachi be the ones to fight him?”“I’m an avenger, Sakura-chan,” Sasuke said, his voice dripping with venom, “Revenge on Danzo is all I have now that you took away getting revenge on Itachi.”“You were thanking me for that last night!” Sakura exclaimed. Itachi’s eyes snapped to her. It seemed that her relationship with Sasuke was more complicated than he’d thought. “Would you have preferred that I let you kill him? Would you have preferred not to know the truth?”“That was what he planned for me,” Sasuke said tersely, “Maybe it would have brought me peace.”“Oh, come on,” Sakura snapped, “Like you don’t love having him back. He’s been a good brother to you. How could you be at peace having killed the only person on this planet that loves you?”“Hey, I love him,” Naruto chimed in.He was promptly ignored.“I wouldn’t have known the truth,” Sasuke argued, “I’d have believed I avenged my clan. That’s what Itachi wanted until you showed up.”“I knew the truth,” Sakura said, “I couldn’t let you kill him after everything he did for you. He didn’t deserve that.”“It’s not about you!” Sasuke barked, “You are the one being selfish. You think I don’t see the way you look at him? I don’t know what happened between you two on your mission, but don’t act like you were selflessly acting in my best interest.”“I never claimed to be acting in your best interest,” she replied, her face flushed.“Because obviously whatever is happening between you and my brother is your real motivator here,” Sasuke continued, “I reject you a million times and so you decide to go after my criminal brother instead.”“That’s enough, Sasuke,” Itachi said.“No,” he snapped, “She’s only using you.”Itachi felt bile rising in his throat and a flash of anger, though he was unsure at whom it was directed. “There is nothing going on between me and Sakura,” he said. He chanced a look at her, but she was staring determinedly at the floor, “She slapped me at the ramen stand, remember?”Itachi felt Kakashi and Tenzo approaching just before the knock sounded at the door. He gave his brother one last reproachful look before he answered the door.“Ready to go?” Kakashi asked.No one said a word as they made their way to the city gates. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Sakura was boiling over with rage. She had never felt so angry with Sasuke in her life. She had always admired him, even when he was cruel to her. She had always allowed him to have a place in her heart, even when he’d made it clear that he didn’t want to be there.Well, now she didn’t want him there either.She sat perched in a tall tree just outside the city gates. Sasuke and Naruto were somewhere below her, ready to ambush Danzo when he left the village. From her position she could see the path Team Ro would take as they tailed Danzo and she could see any approaching threat and communicate it to her team before they arrived. The six of them were all connected with earpieces, but radio silence was all she heard. It had been awkward enough on the way to the gates, but luckily Kakashi and Yamato were oblivious to it. Or at least smart enough not to make a comment about it.She should be sharply focused on her task – and she was. But she couldn’t get the niggling thought from her mind. Sasuke had noticed that something was going on between her and Itachi. Even she hadn’t realized that something was going on. Sure, she had felt an attraction toward the older Uchiha. She had repressed the urge to kiss him twice now. She’d let her thoughts drift to him when she found herself bored and otherwise unoccupied.But it was a far leap to assume that it meant anything. She had seen, of course, that Itachi seemed to be attracted to her as well. She wasn’t blind. And she knew what lust looked like. She hadn’t been lying about all those patients at the hospital that flirted and teased.But all of those moments between them had been in private. How could Sasuke have known? And what could he possibly have seen? They’d hardly touched each other!What was most concerning about it is that Sasuke thought she was using him. Her biggest fear about Itachi had been that he would have thought her attraction toward him was due solely to his resemblance to his younger brother. And said younger brother had called her out on it in front of him.Truthfully, Sakura didn’t know how to feel anymore. There was no way she’d ever find herself lusting after Sasuke again. He had been cruel to her countless times. He’d even kidnapped her and forced her to join him against her will. It was easy enough to admit now that her crush on Sasuke had been based on nothing more than his looks.So how could she then deny an attraction toward Itachi when they looked so much alike? She didn’t have time to think much more on the subject because a loud snapping sound in the distance caught her attention. Over the wall surrounding Konoha, Sakura could see a group dressed in all black running toward the gate.ROOT, it looked like.“Guys,” she said into the earpiece, “There’s a squad of four approaching the gates. Looks like ROOT. I don’t see Danzo anywhere.”“Team Ro,” she heard Sasuke’s voice crackle through the static, “What is your location?”“Outside the Hokage tower,” Kakashi’s voice said, “Danzo is still inside.”Sakura cursed. Had Danzo been tipped off? Why would a squad of ROOT members be heading for the gates without him?“Do not engage them,” she heard Itachi’s voice in her ear, “They may not be aware of us yet.”Sakura looked back toward the squad and saw them scale the wall, bypassing the Konoha security kiosk. They were close to her tree, probably closer to Naruto and Sasuke who were still somewhere below her.But they didn’t move. The four ROOT members had vaulted themselves over the wall like they had someplace to be, yet now they lounged about at the base of her tree. One of them was casually spinning a kunai around his fingers.“Are you sure they’re out here?” one of them asked.Sakura held her breath.“Danzo-sama said they’d be waiting out here,” one of the other ones replied, “They’re probably hiding.”“One in the tree above us, one in the bush to our right, and the other behind that tree,” said a third, a female.Damn.Their positions given away, Sakura leapt farther back away from them, deeper into the forest. She would have to trust Naruto and Sasuke to be able to handle them for now. As the medic she couldn’t risk getting hurt before Danzo even showed up.“Come on out, guys,” the first voice said, “We know you’re out here.”Sakura listened, unable to see much from her new position, but she heard nothing.“Planning to assassinate a Konoha council member,” one of the others said, “That’s treason, you know.”Sakura listened again, this time hearing a scuffle and the rustle of leaves. The sounds of blades clashing rang out through the trees. Sakura leapt into a closer tree to get a better look. Sasuke had come out from his hiding spot and was currently engaged in battle with a lean shinobi with red hair. They were both wielding katanas, both expertly slinging their blades through the air.Naruto was directly below her, trading blows with a kunoichi who seemed to be faring much better than her blonde teammate.Sakura reached into her apron and gripped her poisoned senbon. If she could hit either of her teammates’ opponents, they would be paralyzed, enabling her team to take them out.“Uh uh,” said a smug voice behind her. Cool fingers wrapped around her wrist and tugged her arm back out of her apron. Sakura spun around to face the ROOT member. He looked remarkably young – probably no older than she was, but there were crow’s feet around his eyes and a harsh frown marring his features.Using a burst of chakra, she wrenched her arm free from his grasp and leapt backwards toward the edge of the branch. She glanced back down below her and saw that the fourth member had joined in the fight against Naruto.This was not good.“Killing the Godaime’s apprentice is treason, too,” Sakura said.The man in front of her scoffed, “Team 7 has been a nuisance to village for too long. The jinchuuriki’s death will eliminate the Akatsuki threat. The Uchiha brat was destined to die along with his clan – and we’ll finish that job today. You, sweetheart, are just collateral damage.”He lunged at her with a kunai in hand, but she dodged, leaping deftly back down to the ground. She reached back for her senbon, holding one tightly in her fist. She and Naruto were now back to back, surrounded by ROOT. Several feet away from them, Sasuke was finishing off the shinobi with the katana.Naruto prattled off ten shadow clones, forcing the three shinobi around them to hop back away from them.“Naruto,” Sakura whispered, “Distract them with your shadow clones and I’ll hit them with my poison senbon. Then you can finish them off with your Rasengan.”Naruto nodded. Sakura waited as the clones and the ROOT members fought. When she saw an opening, she flung her senbon at the man who had caught her in the tree. She had aimed for his jugular, but he saw her weapon at the last second and dodged. The senbon pierced the skin of his arm before he yanked it out with a smirk and tossed it to the ground.Behind her, she saw one of the other enemies leaping up into the trees and she aimed another senbon to him, hitting him in the neck. Instantly he collapsed and crashed back down to the ground.If the senbon and the fall hadn’t killed him, the swing of Sasuke’s katana did. She glanced back to where Sasuke had stood before to see the other shinobi crumpled on the ground.Turning back around, Sakura saw that the man she had hit in the arm was on the ground, too, paralyzed by her poison. Naruto launched his Rasengan, hitting the man square in the chest.There was only one enemy left now. Seeing his squad fallen around him, the shinobi leapt back into the trees and darted back off toward the village. Naruto started after him, but Sasuke held him back with a hand on his shoulder.“Let him go, Naruto,” Sasuke said, “Danzo is our target.”“Team Ro,” Sakura said into her radio. Team 7 listened, but there was no response.“Team Ro, do you copy?” Sasuke said.“Shit,” Naruto said.Without another word, the three of them set off toward the Hokage tower..When the trio arrived at the Hokage tower, Team Ro was nowhere to be found. Sakura could sense Danzo and the rest of the elders still inside. It appeared that they were still in their meeting.“Do you think another ROOT squad got to them?” Sakura asked.Naruto shrugged.“We took out the ones that came after us pretty easily,” Sasuke said, “I don’t think that they’d pose much trouble for my brother.”“What should we do?” Sakura asked.Just then, the doors of the tower burst open. Tsunade and Danzo walked out side by side. Sakura stifled a shriek and pulled Sasuke and Naruto back behind the building and out of sight.“What are you doing?” Sasuke demanded, shrugged her hands off him. “Now is our chance.”“Not with Tsunade-sama there,” Sakura said.“Yeah,” Naruto agreed, “And not in the middle of the village. We don’t want to hurt anyone else.”“We should regroup with the rest of the team first,” Sakura said, “There must be a good reason for why they aren’t here.”Naruto peered around the edge of the building, hoping to hear what Tsunade and Danzo were saying. He pulled back, shaking his head.A crackle of static in their earpieces startled the trio.“Kakashi-sensei?” Sakura asked into her radio.“Abort mission,” they heard their sensei say, “Repeat: abort mission.”Sakura glanced between Naruto and Sasuke. Wherever the rest of Team Ro was, they had failed their mission.“Let’s go back to the rendezvous point,” Sasuke suggested, “We’ll figure out what to do from there.”.Team Ro was waiting for them when they arrived back at the Uchiha compound. Sakura was surprised to see that each of them sported some cuts and bruises.“What happened?” she demanded.She roved her eyes over the three, checking to see whose injuries were the worst. Determining that it was Kakashi, she quickly pressed her hands to his chest and began to run her diagnostic chakra through him.“Danzo knew we what we were planning,” Yamato said, “We were attacked by a ROOT squad shortly after you saw one approaching your location.”“But we saw him come out of the Hokage tower,” Naruto said.“We were attacked by eighteen ROOT members,” Itachi said, “We didn’t even see Danzo.”Sasuke hissed. “Eighteen?” he asked, “And he didn’t even show his face? He just sent his minions out to do his dirty work.”“He had to have informed Tsunade-sama of what we were planning,” Sakura said with a groan. “He already thinks the worst of us. A planned assassination attempt isn’t going to go over well with the rest of the council.”“Fuck the council,” Sasuke countered, “We will take him out and then we will appoint a new council.”“Who’s we?” Sakura retorted. Kakashi winced as she prodded a particular deep wound in his shoulder.“Tsunade has been on our side so far,” Itachi interjected, “I have no doubt she will cooperate in overthrowing the council and appointing a new one. They are too old-fashioned for her.”“Sure,” Kakashi said, “But it’s going to be no easy task to get rid of them. Not without raising suspicion among the villagers.”“So what’s the new plan?” Naruto asked.“I have a feeling we’re about to be called into the Hokage’s office,” Yamato said. “I’m sure she has a plan for us.”The group looked warily between one another. Everything about this mission had gone horribly wrong. Sakura was bound to be in a heap of trouble with Tsunade now. There was definitive proof of her treason on two separate occasions now. Not only that, but she had defied her orders.Quickly, Sakura dealt with Yamato’s injuries. They had nothing to do but sit around and wait. By the time she had tended to Yamato and was on Itachi’s injuries, everyone had settled down somewhat awkwardly in the living room as they waited for Tsunade’s inevitable runner to come.She tried not to look at his face as she ran her chakra through him. Her spat with Sasuke made her feel uncomfortable around Itachi. She hadn’t really sorted out the way she was feeling yet in spite of the generous amount of time she’d given herself to do so. She wondered briefly what the proper protocol was on being attracted to the brother of her childhood crush.While her hands were stilled pressed into his chest, he latched his fingers around her elbow and stroked the skin there with the pad of his thumb.It was meant to be a comforting gesture, she knew. But the intimacy of it made her feel even worse, especially with Sasuke and the rest of her team in the room. She brushed his hand away and finished healing a small bruise on his abdomen.“How are your eyes?” she asked, cold and clinical, “Did you use your Mangekyou?”She felt a pang of remorse when she saw the look of confusion on his face, but it was quickly whisked away and replaced with impassivity.“No,” he said, his tone carefully neutral.Sakura fought the urge to return his gesture in some way. She wanted to touch his arm or smile – anything that would comfort him. But she wouldn’t do that in front of Sasuke, and Itachi didn’t need to be comforted anyway.Somewhat awkwardly, Sakura dropped her hands to her side. She was blessedly saved when a man in a jonin vest arrived at the door.. “You are all a bunch of morons,” Tsunade shrieked. Again, the six of them found themselves standing before her desk in her office, all their heads down turned with shame.“Kakashi, you should know better than this,” she continued, fixing the copy-nin with a hard glare, which he impressively management not to be intimidated by. “You too, Tenzo.”Sakura flicked her eyes over to Yamato, who had the decency to look properly chided.“And you,” Tsunade said, pointing an accusing finger at her apprentice, “I really expected better from you, Sakura. This is the kind of behavior I’d expect from Naruto. I thought you were better than this. This is the second time you’ve pulled something like this.”“I apologize, Tsunade-shishou,” Sakura said with a confidence that she did not feel.“What good is an apology going to do?” she demanded, “You tried to assassinate a member of the council. You defied a direct order and botched your mission.”Sakura bristled and dropped her gaze to the floor.“And don’t even get me started on you Uchihas,” Tsunade continued. Beside her, Sakura felt Itachi tense up. He stood on her left with Sasuke on the other side of him. She couldn’t see Sasuke, but she imagined he looked as nonchalant as ever. He had never cared about being in trouble with the village he seemed to care nothing about.“Itachi,” Tsunade snapped, “I realize that this all happened because of you. Not only your actions and the actions done to you, but my own as well. I should have known better than to allow you back into the village while Danzo was still here. Believe me, I hate the man as much as you do, but, as I’m sure you know, there are certain ways we have to go about things. We can’t just go killing all the people we don’t like.”“Yes, Hokage-sama,” he replied. She looked stunned that he had spoken at all, let alone in agreement with what she had said.“I was going to have him removed from the council,” she said, her tone a little softer. “I needed proof that he had committed a crime against Konoha. That was all. Why on earth did the lot of you think that this was a good idea?”“Tsunade-shishou,” Sakura began, “You said that Sai’s death was congruent with a genjutsu only the Sharingan is capable of. Danzo was in possession of a Sharingan.”Beside her Sakura felt Itachi move again and when she glanced at him she found him staring at her with a trace of… anger? “Sakura,” he mumbled, his tone low and warning.“Whose?” Tsunade demanded, turning to look at the elder Uchiha.Itachi breathed in deeply through his nose, but the carefully neutral mask he wore was still in place. He pressed his lips together in a thin line and gave Sakura a sidelong glance again.“Whose?” she repeated.Sakura wanted to answer for him. Tsunade was angry with her and giving her this information could only help her out in the long run. She’d hidden so much information from her already – she owed it to her mentor to share everything she knew.But she couldn’t understand why Itachi wouldn’t want Tsunade to know. It would only absolve him and his brother from blame.The name was on the tip of her tongue. Shisui, Itachi had said. His cousin. Another Uchiha who had stood with Itachi against the rest of his clan. Just when she was about to speak his name aloud, she felt Itachi reach out and grab her wrist. She yanked her arm away from him angrily“Don’t,” she said to him, rubbing her wrist where he had touched her. His Sharingan was activated now and for the first time since she had learned the truth, Sakura felt a twinge of fear.“What the hell is going on?” Tsunade asked, her eyes darting warily between Sakura and Itachi.“It was Shisui’s left eye,” Itachi said, inching a step farther away from Sakura, “My cousin’s. Danzo took it just before the massacre. He didn’t want Shisui to use it to put the clan under a genjutsu to prevent the coup.”Tsunade blinked slowly and breathed in deeply. “Do you think it would have prevented the coup?” she asked, “If your cousin had been able to use it?”“I don’t see how that is relevant,” he said coolly and Sakura saw Tsunade’s brow twitch, “But no, I don’t think it would have been a permanent solution. It may have bought us some time.”Sakura was thankful that Tsunade seemed to have let the first remark slide. “So he attacked your cousin and took his eye…” she said, trailing off, “And then gave you the order to kill your clan.”Itachi nodded.“Okay,” she said, slamming her hand down on the table, “Here’s what’s going to happen. Danzo will be taken into custody today. If he does indeed have a Sharingan under that bandage, that will be proof enough that he killed Sai and that he attacked an Uchiha before the massacre. While he is in custody, I will formulate a plan to get him removed from the council should he stand trial and be found innocent. All of you are to stay as far away from him as possible. Don’t pull anymore shit like that you did today or you will regret it.”Her command was met with a chorus of nods and yesses.“Good,” she said, “Now everyone out. Except you two.”She pointed her forked fingers at Itachi and Sakura. Sakura resisted the urge to groan aloud. This was definitely not going to be good.Everyone shuffled out of the room, exiting the door behind them. On his way out, Sasuke gave Sakura a glare that could only be described as suspicious. When the door had been firmly shut behind him, Tsunade cleared her throat and raised a questioning eyebrow.“Sakura,” Tsunade began with a tone that wasn’t as harsh or demanding as Sakura had expected, “You haven’t yet cleared Itachi for his return to ANBU. What’s the hold up?”Sakura tried to hide her surprise. After witnessing Itachi grab her arm like that, she was sure Tsunade would have had something to say about it.“Oh,” Sakura replied, “Well, he should be good to go soon. He is in perfect health as of now, but I’m worried that if he is hit with any kind of poison that it will cause his condition to regress. After a couple more sessions I should be able to eliminate that risk.”“And his eyes?”“I have not looked at his eyes, Tsunade-shishou,” she replied.“And you’ve not looked at Sasuke’s either?”Sakura shook her head.“I cannot force either of you into letting Sakura work on your eyes,” Tsunade said to Itachi, “But I strongly suggest that you let her. She knows what she is doing.”“I have no objection to it,” he responded.“Then it’s settled,” Tsunade said, “Sakura, I want him cleared within the week. I have a mission for him.”Sakura blinked in surprise and looked at Itachi.“A mission?” he asked.“I’ll tell you more about it once you’ve been cleared,” she answered, “You’re both dismissed.”Sakura didn’t need to be told twice. She was gone the second Tsunade uttered her dismissal. As if the botched mission wasn’t enough, Sakura was still reeling from all of the uncomfortableness between her and Itachi. All she wanted was to be as far away from him as possible.She didn’t even stop when he called her name..Ino was sitting in her usual spot at the table when Sakura arrived back at her apartment. She looked better – less puffy, face dry.“Ino, how are you feeling?” she asked, kicking the door shut and collapsing in the opposite chair at the table.“Coping, I guess,” she said, running a weary hand over her face. “I just need to be distracted. It sucks when I’m bored and alone.”“Well, then let me tell you about the day I’ve had,” Sakura answered, excited to have a person willing and eager to let her vent her frustrations.She spilled everything to Ino – the details about her assigned mission and the circumvention they took. If anyone was willing to be on Sakura’s side – Team 7’s side – it had to be Ino. How could she not want revenge on the man that had killed Sai?“And Tsunade didn’t punish you?” Ino asked after she’d listened to the entire story. “Wow, you’re lucky. She didn’t punish you for working with Itachi, either.”Sakura didn’t mention the intense sparring session that had left her with more than a few cuts and bruises.“I have a feeling the punishment will be forthcoming,” Sakura said with a sigh. “And speaking of Itachi…”Ino’s ears perked up like a dogs, and Sakura could see the eager excitement on her face. “What about him?” she asked with an overly seductive wiggle of her eyebrows.“God, you too?” Sakura groaned, “How does everyone know?”“I’m your best friend,” she said, “It’s my job to notice these things. Now spill.”“Well, I noticed that he’s attracted to me—”“Obviously, why wouldn’t he be?”“And it surprised me a little at first, but I suppose it makes sense,” she said, ignoring Ino’s interruption. “We’ve kind of had to spend a lot of time together with his healing sessions and Yamato and Sachi, and all. He doesn’t seem to spend much time with anyone else other than Sasuke.”“Not to mention you saved his life and you brought him and Sasuke back together again,” Ino pointed out.“Yeah…”“And I know you have to admit that he’s attractive,” Ino said with a smirk, “He’s Sasuke’s hot older brother.”“Yeah, he’s attractive,” Sakura said reluctantly.Ino raised a questioning eyebrow.“I thought he was going to kiss me today,” Sakura admitted, “There have been a couple of moments where I thought he might, but he seems really hesitant. But I’ve been sort of hesitant about him, too, so I don’t know…”“Just freaking kiss him,” Ino said, “If he wants to and you want to, then what’s the hold up?”“It’s Sasuke,” Sakura answered, “I don’t think he’s on board with the idea.”“Why? It’s not like he’s into you.”“Ouch.”“Come on,” Ino said, “We both know that’s true.”Sakura rolled her eyes, “Yeah, it’s true. But I think that he thinks I’m only interested in Itachi as a ‘replacement’ for him. He thinks I’m going to end up hurting him.”“Aww, how sweet,” Ino said with over the top sarcasm, “A couple of weeks ago he wanted to murder him and now he wants to protect him from a broken heart.”Sakura scoffed, “Right? And it’s not like we’re getting married. I mean, it can barely even be considered flirting. It’s nothing.”“If I were you, I’d just ignore Sasuke,” Ino said, “What’s he going to do about it?”“It’s not just Sasuke,” Sakura said, “There was some weird tension between us today. I’m not entirely sure what it was about.”It was a lie, because she did know what it was about. At least, what most of it was about. She had been cold toward him after her fight with Sasuke, which wasn’t entirely fair. And then she had told Tsunade about Shisui – or been about to tell her. Itachi didn’t seem to like that very much.She would be seeing him again tomorrow, both for their spar and for his healing session. She wondered whether she should apologize for either, or both, or just not say anything about it at all.“Well, I’m happy you’ve moved on from Sasuke,” Ino said, “That boy is such a drag.”Sakura smiled in amusement, but she wondered whether it was any better that she had moved on to his brother instead. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Itachi was in a bad mood. It didn’t happen very often, but he felt irritable and bitter and just plain annoyed. Itachi was the kind of man who could roll with the punches. He could go with the flow. Things didn’t always have to be his way. How else could he have managed being a missing-nin, being in Akatsuki?But today, he let those negative feelings seep through him. He didn’t even attempt to control them. For the better part of the morning, Itachi sulked around the Uchiha compound, avoiding Sasuke as much as possible.The younger Uchiha had picked up on Itachi’s bad mood and steered clear of him on his own, which Itachi was grateful for. He wasn’t really angry with Sasuke and he didn’t want to inadvertently snap at him.He should be at least a little bit irritated with Sasuke because he’d provoked Sakura with no real reason, and he’d implied that she was interested in him for his resemblance to Sasuke. The fact that he had noticed that she was interested in him all was surprising since Itachi himself hadn’t really noticed until she had pretty much told him.Nonetheless, Itachi was not concerned with Sasuke at the moment. He hated to admit it, even just to himself, but Sakura was the one who had gotten under his skin. She had brushed off a tender gesture of his (a kind of gesture which he rarely gave and should be savored – not rebuffed) and acted more coldly than she had even back in Toyeiki when he was still an ‘enemy’ to her.Not only that, but she had almost told the Hokage about Shisui, which was something he had told her in confidence. It had not been her secret to tell. And then she had the audacity again to brush him off when he touched her.Itachi did not like to be brushed off.Given that he did not have much else to do, Itachi was glad to have some time to cool down before his spar with her today. He had thought about canceling, but truth be told, he still wanted to see her. And if he canceled the spar, he’d have to cancel his healing appointment, too, which would prolong his getting back into active duty. That was not something he wanted to do.So instead, he found himself gravitating toward Ichiraku’s again. Cheap ramen wasn’t his favorite, but he’d developed a fondness for the place after the few times he’d been.He was surprised to find Kakashi there when he arrived.“Itachi-san,” he greeted with a crinkle of his visible eye. Itachi took the seat next to him. “I see you escaped Tsunade-sama’s wrath relatively unscathed.”Itachi acknowledged him with a nod of his head. “She still has not punished any of us. I’d heard that she had quite a temper, but I’m beginning to believe that I was misled.”“Oh, she’s got a temper all right,” Kakashi replied, “From the look of it, though, I’d say she’s taking it all out on her apprentice. I saw them sparring a couple of days ago and she beat the shit out of Sakura.”Itachi cocked his head with curiosity, “She did?”“It was a total beat down,” Kakashi continued, “Sakura didn’t stand a chance.”Itachi ordered a bowl of ramen but said nothing else to Kakashi. He wasn’t quite sure what to say to that.They sat in companionable silence for a while before Kakashi spoke again.“I hear you’ll have a mission soon,” he said, “How does it feel to be back in active duty again?”“To be quite honest, it doesn’t feel like I ever stopped,” Itachi answered. It felt strange to be sitting next to Kakashi in such a friendly manner. Before the reunion of Team Ro, the last time he had seen the copy-nin he had used Tsukuyomi to put him into a coma. He liked to think it was for his own good – so he could see what his Mangekyou was capable of.And also so Itachi could see how well he could handle an opponent with Sharingan. If he was any good at it, he could pass on some of that knowledge to Sasuke. Itachi had been pleased to learn that Kakashi was going to be Sasuke’s team leader. If only things hadn’t turned out the way they did…“I see,” Kakashi said, “Well, I’m glad to have you back on our side. It was nerve-wracking to be your opponent.”“It was nerve-wracking to be your opponent,” Itachi responded.Kakashi’s expression grew somber, “I can’t imagine,” he said, “We thought you were a criminal, a traitor. We hated you.”“I still am those thing,” Itachi said, “It may have been for a mission, for the safety of Konoha, but I committed those crimes all the same. I am not without blame.”“What shinobi isn’t?” Kakashi asked with a smile.Itachi had no response for that, so he ate his food and that comfortable silence settled around them again. Kakashi had a darkness in him, too. They could relate to one another. He hoped that with time, they could be friends.“May I ask you something, Kakashi-san?” Itachi asked.Kakashi nodded.“The Hokage’s apprentice,” he began apprehensively, “She’s looked at your Sharingan before?”“Sakura?” Kakashi asked, his eye crinkled in mirth again in some joke that Itachi was not aware of, “Yeah, she’s worked on it in the past. Obviously it’s a transplant. I assume it requires a bit more upkeep than yours do. I’m lucky to have someone so competent working on it consistently. She’s greatly reduced the deterioration. She’s been working on a way for me to be able to switch it on and off. As of yet, we’ve had no luck, but I’m confident she can do it.”Itachi chewed a bit of his food thoughtfully.“Are you going to have her work on your eyes as well?” Kakashi asked.“The Hokage strongly suggested that I do.”“Well, you’re in good hands,” Kakashi answered, “Sakura knows what she is doing.”Itachi didn’t doubt that..Several hours later, Itachi came to the training grounds. Sakura was there already, sitting underneath a tree with a thick book in her lap. She looked peaceful and undisturbed, but Itachi knew that she knew he was there.He briefly considered going easy on her. She was no match for him and they both knew it. But it couldn’t have felt good being destroyed by Tsunade. Even her own teammates doubted her skills. He couldn’t relate to that, but he knew that letting her win would only bruise her ego even more.And he was still a little peeved at her, so this would be a good opportunity to take out some of his own frustrations like Tsunade had done.When she still didn’t acknowledge him, Itachi approached her and slipped the book out of her lap. She glared up at him beneath those damned lashes and got to her feet.“Are you ready?” he asked.Something flashed across her face – an emotion Itachi couldn’t identify. She looked as if she were about to say something, but then thought better of it. She merely nodded in response.He didn’t give her much of a chance to get her bearings before he was attacking her, raining down blow after blow. It was only taijutsu, no chakra, no tricks. But he was much faster than she was and she only just managed to block each of his attacks.He honestly had no clue what her offensive strengths were. He had heard that she had excellent chakra control, but that remained to be seen.Having the good sense to get away from his onslaught, Sakura leapt up high into the trees, hiding herself within the branches and the leaves. It wouldn’t be a permanent solution, and she had to have known that. He activated his Sharingan and quickly located her.As soon as he launched himself after her, she jumped down to the base of the tree she had been standing in and kicked it over. The massive tree began to fall toward him, but he easily dodged it. She launched a barrage of shuriken at him, which he easily dodged and jumped on top of the fallen tree.She picked up the tree’s trunk, forcing him to either ride it as she swung it around or jump off. He jumped off and moved behind her so quickly that in her surprise she dropped the tree.He paused, hovering over her shoulder. He could attack again. He could sweep her legs out from under her or press a kunai to her throat. But for one split second he found himself staring at the different shades of pink in her hair and he could smell the vanilla scent that always lingered around her.She didn’t waste the opportunity. She spun around with a high kick, aiming for his head. He caught her ankle with one hand and held it up in the air. From her upside down position, Sakura punched the ground beneath her causing a deep crater to form.Itachi leapt backwards and then up into the trees. He had known about her monstrous strength. He had seen it in action the day he met her. It was a useful defensive strategy, but she would never be able to hit him unless she improved her speed.He spotted her below him and she had her hip cocked out and a sassy smirk on her face. A wide grin spread across his face. He leapt down behind her again and threw his arm around her neck. It was a chokehold, but he applied no pressure to her throat. Her hands flew up to his arm, but he quickly caught both her wrists with his free hand and pinned them to her back.“You look awfully confident,” he teased.Her breathing was slow and unlabored, but he could feel the quickness of her pulse in her neck and the layer of sweat that had formed on her skin in the heat of the afternoon.She hummed low and deep in the back of her throat and leaned her head back against his shoulder. The back of her skull connected with his collarbone and she pressed her back into his chest in a way that was far too intimate to be doing to an opponent.He felt his breath hitch, but he didn’t loosen his grip on her. In fact, he tightened his arm around her neck in response. She turned her face toward him, the skin of her forehead brushing against his jaw. He couldn’t choke her that way unless he moved his hand to her throat.She stomped her foot on the ground, aiming for his foot. He anticipated the move and pushed her away from him. She spun around to face him, standing several feet away, and in spite of the sun beating down on him, he wished she was pressed against him again.She was smiling, and it seemed to be a genuine smile – not cocky or sarcastic, but completely born from happiness. His heart ached to think of what might have made her smile like that at a time like this.He didn’t stop to think about it before launching another round of physical blows against her. This time, she found it harder to dodge him. She took several hits to her abdomen and face, but Itachi didn’t pull his punches. She was a medic – there was no injury she wouldn’t be able to fix. None that he would be willing to inflict on her.After a minute of this, Sakura began to throw punches back at him instead of merely dodging them. He was careful not to let any of her punches strike him, but she didn’t seem to be using her chakra-enhanced strength. With his Sharingan he could see that she did not have any chakra built up in her hands, so when she aimed for his face, he caught her fist in his hand.They paused like that for a moment, staring at one another with a weird tension between them. He wanted to let go, but he also wanted to keep touching her. She didn’t pull away from him. She took a step closer to him, fluttering her lashes in a way he knew was meant to be a distraction.And then he felt a stab of pain in his hand. He yanked it away from her and took a step back. He inspected his palm and found four puncture marks just below his largest knuckles that went all the way through his hand.“How did you do that?” he asked, unable to hide his curiosity.“Chakra scalpels.”He should have known that. He had seen her use them before. Annoyed with himself, Itachi leapt high up into the air and launched a large fireball at her. Through the flames he saw her dodge backwards, but instead of launching another attack at him, she waited.He cradled his injured hand with the other one, unable to contain the blood dripping down at his feet. They were severe wounds and he would eventually bleed out if he didn’t wrap them up soon.“Would you like me to heal your hand before we continue?” she asked, her tone mocking, but not cruel.His eyes narrowed. He’d seen enough already. With blinding speed, he knocked her to the ground and straddled her, pinning her arms high above her head. She wriggled beneath him, and he saw chakra forming beneath the skin of her arms, ready to break out of his grip.He squeezed her wrists hard and let the tomoe of his Sharingan begin to spin. Instantly, he felt her body go rigid beneath him and she screwed her eyes shut.“No, please,” she said, and the pleading fear in her tone alarmed him.He deactivated his Sharingan and let go of her wrists, but stayed on top of her, pressing his palms into the ground on either side of her head.“You agreed to spar with me,” he said gently, “Did you not think I would use my Sharingan against you?”“You said you wouldn’t,” she said, her eyes still shut and arms lax above her head.“Okay,” he said, “You can open your eyes.”She did, and he noticed a faint blush dust her cheeks. She was very still underneath him as if she were afraid to move. He watched her swallow hard, following the movement in her throat.“I won,” he said, but there was no smugness in his tone He didn’t feel smug, nor did he feel good about beating her.“I figured you would,” she said. He watched as the blood from his palm began to pool around his hand down toward her neck. Feeling it tickle the skin there, she reached her hand toward his, dipping her fingertips into the blood on the ground. “Let me take a look at your hand.”He didn’t want to move.“Come on, Itachi,” she said when he showed no intention of moving, “You’re losing a lot of blood.”“I’m fine,” he said even though he knew she was right.Impatiently, she bucked her hips up into his, wriggling beneath him to force him to move. He pressed his lips together in a thin line and tightened his hold on her.“Don’t,” he warned.Her eyes widened a bit, but she remained still underneath him. After a beat of silence, she reached her hand up to his chest and he felt her chakra flow through his chest. It channeled through his torso and down his arm into his injured hand. He watched in fascination as the wounds in his hand began to close.When the aura of her chakra had faded, he brought his hand up to inspect it. The wound was completely healed, no trace of a scar.“I didn’t know you could do it that way,” he said, flipping his hand over to inspect the other side.“It would have been quicker and easier if you’d just let me take a proper look at it,” she admonished.Her hand was still pressed warmly against his chest, and this time it felt far more intimate than any of the previous times she’d touched him there. Instinctively, he brought his palm to her hand and covered it with his.He could feel how wildly his heart was beating, and he knew Sakura must be able to feel it, too. He moved her hand up higher on his chest, closer to where his heart was thumping.“Do you want to kiss me now?” she asked. He looked down at her, covered in bruises he’d inflicted on her with his blood matting down her hair on one side.“Yes,” answered, trying very hard to focus on anything other than how warm and soft she felt beneath him.“Is your heart exploding?” he asked.“Yes.”He moved their hands from his chest to hers so that he could feel her heartbeat. Sure enough, it was beating just as wildly as his.She fluttered her lashes and god he had no idea how such a simple gesture could be so alluring. He’d march straight down into a mouth of a volcano if she asked him to with a pretty flutter of those lashes. Unable to resist anymore, he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers.If Itachi thought that his heart had ‘exploded’ before, he was wrong. This feeling was indescribable. It was like being struck by lightning. His whole body felt electric, tingling and on fire. He let out a breath against her lips and pressed his body more fully against hers.Her hands came to his face, holding him there as if she were afraid he might pull away. She didn’t need to worry about that. Her mouth was soft and pliant, and though he had intended to kiss her chastely, just to test the waters, she was eagerly kissing him back with enthusiasm he hadn’t expected.She bucked her hips again, this time for an entirely different reason. A new, but familiar sensation ignited him – like the moment the prostitute had sat in his lap, but far, far more enticing.Sakura mewled softly into his mouth and he could feel her fingers trembling against his face. He reached up and cupped her chin with one hand before pulling away from her.“Don’t stop,” she whispered.She wrapped her hands around the back of his neck in an attempt to pull him back down to her lips, but he resisted.“Sakura, wait,” he said. She let go of him.“What’s wrong?”“We should slow down.”He wasn’t prepared for the look of sheer pain on her face. Surely she knew that he didn’t want to stop because he didn’t want her. His arousal was distracting enough to him – he knew she had to feel it against her leg. It was too far. It was too much. They shouldn’t be doing this out in the open, on the training fields. And maybe they shouldn’t be doing it at all.He’d never shared an intimacy like this with anyone, and even though it wasn’t much so far, he never anticipated that it would feel so… exhilarating.But he imagined he would have taken it much slower. He’d have given her a chaste kiss first, one that they could tell their kids about when they were older. One that was a sweet and romantic gesture and not a manic make-out session after a sweaty spar.It hadn’t really occurred to Itachi that Sakura might not be as much of a romantic. He naturally assumed that most women would have preferred a slow and steady romance to whatever this was.But here she was, practically dry humping him on the naked earth like they were both a couple of wild animals.She sighed and he felt her breath on his face. There was a look of disappointment on her face, but it was quickly whisked away and replaced with a half smile.“Yeah, I suppose this is a little intense for a first kiss, huh?” she said.He smiled back and pressed his lips to her forehead in a way he hoped she would find tender and comforting. He certainly hadn’t wanted to offend her. He got off of her and reached out his hand to help her off the ground.He was amused to see her blushing deeply like the ordeal had embarrassed her. Maybe it had. Maybe it should. She pulled her hair over her shoulder to hide her face from him, but when her fingers skimmed through the matted blood there she grimaced.“Sorry,” he said, but he was smirking and he probably didn’t look very sorry.“I’ll have to go home and clean up before we start your appointment,” she said, still blushing.“Can I ask you something first?” he asked, grabbing her wrist. “Why are you so afraid of my Sharingan?”She looked uncomfortable and attempted to take a step back, but he held onto her.“I wouldn’t hurt you, you know,” he said.“It’s not that. It’s just that with a genjutsu,” she paused and slid her hand into his, grasping his fingers with hers, “Well, I don’t like feeling like I’m not in control of my own thoughts. And I know what you’re capable of.”He looked down to where their fingers were clasped together and he shifted them so that their fingers were intertwined. In some ways it felt more intimate than the kiss they had shared. “I see,” he said, brushing his thumb along the edge of her pointer finger.“I don’t want you to think I’m afraid of you,” she said. He watched a shiver run through her.“I know you aren’t,” he answered.“I just feel very vulnerable,” she said, “When you’re in control of me like that.”“I understand,” he said, because he did. He certainly wouldn’t want to open up his mind to Sasuke like that, and he trusted Sasuke completely. “But maybe one day you’ll trust me enough to let me show you what I can do.”“Maybe,” she echoed.They fell silent and he took the opportunity to study her. Her lips were slightly swollen from their kiss and her cheeks were flushed with color. There was something in her eyes, hesitancy, or maybe regret. She didn’t look unhappy per se, but there was something about her facial expression that made Itachi worry.He followed her line of sight down to their linked hands. She was staring at where their fingers were tangled together, but she made no move to pull her hand away. Sensing that she didn’t want to be holding his hand anymore, he let go.Her brow furrowed for one second before smoothing out again. She looked up at him and he suddenly realized how close they were still standing. She was a head shorter than him, her forehead coming up to his collarbone. It would be so easy to lean down and kiss her again, but maybe that wasn’t such a good idea.Instead, he reached up and caught a lock of her blood soaked hair and rolled it between his fingertips. The contrast of colors was striking – the red and the pink. It suited her really well, he thought, which was probably why she chose to wear red clothing. His eyes dipped down to her torso, roaming over the well fitting red vest she wore before he brought his gaze back up to her eyes and then again to her hair still held in his fingers.“You have a thing for my hair, don’t you?” she asked teasingly.Her affectionate and coquettish tone made warmth spread throughout his chest, and he smiled.“Your lashes, actually,” he said.“My lashes?”“Mmm,” he murmured, “They’re so long.”He brought his other hand up to her face. Her eyes fell shut and he brushed the pad of his thumb along the tips of her lashes where they rested against her cheeks.“And so pink,” he continued.He moved his hand away from her face and settled it on the side of her neck. Her skin felt unbearably hot under his palm and he could feel her pulse, quick and erratic.“I thought you knew,” he said, “because there were times when it seemed like you were fluttering them on purpose.”She fluttered them then, batting them in a way more provocative than he’d seen her do before and he realized that he’d been mistaken. If that was what it looked like when she did it on purpose, he knew he wouldn’t stand a chance against her.“I had no idea,” she said coyly.Without warning, she latched her arms around his torso and pulled him into a warm embrace. She rested her cheek against his chest, pressing her body into his like she wanted to melt them together.Caught by surprise, Itachi grunted. After a second, he wrapped his arms back around her and rested his chin on the top of her pink head.They stayed that way for a moment and Itachi relished the moment. The sun was now hanging lower in the sky, casting oranges and pink around them. The air had cooled somewhat, though it was still quite warm. And he could feel her heartbeat against his chest.When she finally pulled away from him he saw that she was smiling. The rays of the sun gilded her hair and made her eyes look brighter and greener. If he had thought that it wouldn’t scare her, he would have activated his Sharingan so that he could memorize the way she looked then.“What was that for?” he asked.“I just wanted to hug you,” she said, “I wasn’t exactly into it the first time.”He cocked his head to the side.“In Toyeiki?” she reminded him, “After I healed you.”Ah, right. He had forgotten about that. That seemed like so long ago now. He hadn’t thought he’d ever see her again after they left Toyeiki. That hug had been wrought from poor judgment and desperation, but also from a very real gratitude for what she had done for him.It was so bizarre to think that he had hugged her because she had healed him, and now he was here in Konoha with her and she had chosen to hug him.“Speaking of,” she said, “We should get to the hospital for your appointment. I’ll meet you there in an hour?”They would be doing things in reverse order this time.He nodded. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- By the time Sakura had gotten back to her apartment to wash the blood from her hair her nerves had been calmed. She had just kissed Itachi Uchiha – practically made out with him on the training fields!Sometimes it seemed like Itachi was an entirely different breed of man. Sakura, of course, had never been romantically involved with anyone before, but that didn’t mean she knew nothing about men. She observed Ino and the plethora of men that had come and gone from her life, the games they played with her (or more often, the ones she played with them). She saw the dynamics between the rest of the Konoha 12 – Naruto and Hinata, whatever the hell was happening there. Shikamaru and Temari. Neji and Tenten.But watching those relationships form (and un-form) didn’t really give her any insight to Itachi. He was simultaneously open about his attraction toward her, and reserved about acting on it. She imagined that he must be as confused as she was. After all, wasn’t he in the same position? To her knowledge, Itachi had never been romantically involved with anyone, either.Maybe he was hesitant, too. It explained his behavior earlier.She stood in her shower, letting the water run over her hair and her back. Pink water filtered around her feet and down the drain behind her. She washed her hair with her vanilla shampoo and then quickly scrubbed the rest of her body, cleansing it of the sweat and grime from their spar. She noticed the bruises on her arms and her chest, and she imagined there were a couple on her face as well. Itachi certainly hadn’t gone easy on her.But she didn’t heal them. They would heal on their own, and she needed to save her chakra for Itachi.Sakura quickly got dressed, this time in her medic uniform, and brushed her wet hair. Usually she would dry it, but she didn’t want to keep Itachi waiting. Instead she let it fall free down her hair, where the dampness of it caused it to curl up more than normal.Mentally, Sakura steeled herself to see him again because it seemed too soon. Would she be able to face him again without blushing? Would things be weird between them now?In spite of her apprehension, Sakura was excited to see him again..He was waiting by the door of her in-patient room when she arrived, and she cursed herself for being late.But when he saw her walking toward him he smiled, a smile that made her heart turn to liquid and pool down into her belly. Upon closer inspection, she noticed that he had showered, too. His hair was still damp, but straight – unlike hers. Willing herself not to blush (after all, she had no reason to be embarrassed), she smiled back and brushed past him to unlock the door. He followed her inside and took his place on the table.“Itachi-san,” she said, keeping her tone cool and professional. That was the way it had to be when she was conducting business. She noticed a hint of a frown flitter across his face. “This last session should completely eradicate your disease and prevent your body from harming itself anymore. It won’t take too long, but I’ll need to be very focused, so please don’t distract me.”She was referring to what he had done last time – touching her hair and her face. Now that he had kissed her, she worried he would feel emboldened to do more this time. Not worried, per se, because she couldn’t deny that she’d likely enjoy whatever ministrations he chose to inflict on her. But now was not the time.“You called me Itachi-san,” he said. If she didn’t know any better, she could have sworn that he was pouting.“I’m in medic mode,” she replied, “I have to be professional.”“I like you better in just plain Sakura mode,” he said. He reached out his hand and grabbed hers, pulling her closer to where he was sitting.“Cut it out,” she huffed.From his position on the table, they were eye to eye with one another. He leaned in close to her, the tip of his nose ghosting along her cheek. “You smell good,” he said, “Like vanilla.”She pressed a hand to his chest, and with a minute amount of chakra, she pushed him back away from her. He looked surprised, but also amused.“I apologize, Sakura-san,” he said reverently.She resisted the urge to laugh because she didn’t want to encourage him. Satisfied that he was not going to make any more attempts to distract her, Sakura began to channel her chakra into him. At this point, she was familiar enough with his body that the procedure should be simple.This was the last step he needed before he could resume active duty. He must have been stir crazy sitting at the Uchiha compound this whole time. Other than the Danzo fiasco, he probably didn’t experience much excitement. And Tsunade had said that she had a mission for him. He must have been looking forward to it.But now that she thought about it, she didn’t really know. Maybe Itachi wouldn’t want to take missions for Konoha. After all, what the village had done to him was unforgiveable. Maybe he wanted to stay home and live in peace.“Are you looking forward to going on a mission?” she asked, her eyes still closed in concentration.“I thought you needed to be very focused,” he said. She could hear the smirk. She opened her eyes to glare at him.“It will depend on what the mission is,” he answered after she’d closed her eyes again.“I’m primarily suited for stealth missions, but I have never worked under Tsunade-sama before and I don’t know what type of mission she will assign me.”“Tsunade-sama is smart,” Sakura answered, carefully threading her chakra through his heart and lungs, “I’m sure she will give you a mission that plays into your strengths.”Itachi grunted in response.“Do you disagree?”Itachi shifted on the table, but Sakura didn’t open her eyes to look at him. “I don’t think she should have assigned Team 7 to anything that involved Danzo,” he said, “It seems like a pretty big conflict of interests, especially with Sasuke involved.”Sakura didn’t have a response for that, and even though her first instinct was to defend her mentor’s honor, she kept her mouth shut.“But I suppose I had some pretty poor judgment where Danzo was concerned as well,” he admitted.Sakura opened her eyes to look at him. He was watching her with a mixture of curiosity and amusement.Tsunade-sama can be… progressive,” Sakura said, “She clashes with the elders a lot because of that, but I think she’s an amazing Hokage.”“Her apprentice is pretty great, too,” he said.She closed her eyes again and willed herself not to blush. “Don’t distract me,” she said.He remained silent while she finished her work. When she finally pulled away from him, she opened her eyes to find him staring at her still.“You’re all finished, Itachi-san,” she said, picking up his chart to fill in some new information, “How do you feel?”He stood up and she could feel him towering over her shoulder as she worked on his chart. “I’ve never felt better,” he said, and she could feel his breath in her hair.“Itachi…” she said, dropping his chart on the table beside her.“You’re out of medic mode now,” he said. “That’s good.”She spun around and found herself in his arms, pressed far closer together than was entirely appropriate. His hands had found their way to her waist and she could feel that they were trembling.“Hey,” she said, pressing a firm hand to his chest, “You’re the one who said we should slow down, remember?”He took a step back away from him and she swore she saw a faint blush on his cheeks. “Right,” he said, “It’s just hard not to kiss you when you’re so close.”If Inner Sakura still existed, she’d have been screaming.“Well, maybe you shouldn’t stand so close, then,” she suggested.“That would be wise,” he said, unfazed. But then his fingers were trailing over a particularly nasty bruise on her arm. His eyes were locked onto her face, probably looking at her cheek where she could feel that she was slightly swollen. “Why did you not heal yourself?” he asked.Inwardly, she pulled her chakra to where she felt herself injured, a green glow emitting from her bruises. “I just wanted to make sure I’d have enough chakra to fix you up,” she answered.He watched in fascination as her bruises faded into her skin, leaving no marks behind. He grazed his fingers across the smooth, unmarked skin of her arm.A knock at the door made them both spring apart. Without much more warning, the door opened, revealing Shizune.“Sakura,” she said briskly. She paused for a moment when she saw how close Itachi and Sakura were still standing, but to her credit, she didn’t let her gaze linger. “Tsunade-sama wants to see you.”“I’ll be right there,” Sakura said.Shizune shut the door, but Sakura noticed the slight raise in her brow before she left. She would not asked Sakura about it – she respected her privacy, but she would be curious, that’s for certain.“I’ll come with you,” Itachi said. “My medic just cleared me for active duty and I think I’ve got a mission to go on.”“Your medic?”He grinned in response.Sakura felt a heat rising in her cheeks and her heartbeat felt heavy in her chest. “You’re being awfully flirtatious, Itachi,” she said, “It’s not like you.”“Is it not?” he asked, bemused, “How would you know?”“I guess I don’t,” Sakura admitted, “But I can’t imagine you flirting with other Akatsuki members. Did you have a bit of a thing going on with Kisame?”Itachi’s expression faltered for a moment and she wondered if that was something she shouldn’t have said. She had only been joking.“I’m sorry, Itachi,” she said, “I didn’t mean to—”“It’s okay, Sakura,” he interjected, “It’s been a while since I thought about him.”“I shouldn’t have brought it up,” she said, feeling guilty.“This coming from the woman who routinely brought up the darkest moment of my life in the first days we’d known each other,” he said with a hint of a smile.She couldn’t look at him then, because he was right. She had thrown the massacre in his face at nearly every opportunity to. She hadn’t known, of course, the truth behind things. Had she been aware of the kind of man Itachi really was she would never have said such cruel things to him. It pained her now to think of what he might have been feeling back then – knowing who she was and what she thought of him.“Don’t look so sad,” he said, “Things turned out just fine, didn’t they?”“I said some really cruel things to you,” she whispered, on the verge of issuing another apology, but unable to find the right words. “And I made jokes about the massacre – offensive and mean jokes.”To her surprise, he laughed. “Truthfully, Sakura,” he said, “I found those jokes refreshing. And funny.”She cast her eyes down to the floor, not quite able to meet his gaze yet.“You have no idea how much I wanted to tell you the truth,” he said, “The night you discovered the cure. We were talking about Sasuke and I thought about all the mistakes I made with him. And then you asked me why I did it, why I murdered everyone. It broke my heart to have to lie to you. You were just starting to see me as a man instead of a monster.”She remembered that conversation well because he had scared the shit out of her afterwards. But now wasn’t the time to dwell on any of that.“We can talk about this later,” she said, taking his hand in hers and squeezing it. She didn’t want him to think that she was avoiding the subject. “I need to go see Tsunade-sama.”“Okay.”.“Sakura,” Tsunade said, “You brought Itachi with you.”“We just finished up his last healing session, shishou,” Sakura answered, “He’s officially cleared for duty.”Tsunade’s eyes flicked back and forth between the two of them. “Good,” she finally said, “He can leave for his mission today.”“Today?” Sakura asked, startled.Tsunade looked at her sharply. “And I have another mission for you as well,” she said, ignoring Sakura’s question. “Suna is working on developing a poison and they requested the help of our resident poisons expert.”Sakura bit her lip and glanced over at Itachi. He would be leaving today? How long would he be gone?“The Kazekage was quite adamant that you be the one to come,” Tsunade continued, sensing that Sakura was only half paying attention. “After all, you did save his brother’s life.”“Why do they need my help?” she asked, “Why are they even developing a poison?”“Gaara wants a poison he can infuse into his sand,” Tsunade answered, “But he obviously does not want to poison himself. According to the request, the first stages of development are finished and they’re looking for a way to infuse it into the sand and keep Gaara from being infected by the poison.”Sakura tapped her lips with her fingertips. That seemed easy enough.“You will leave within the next couple of days, but there is no rush,” Tsunade said, “And Shikamaru will be going with you.”Sakura nodded.“And Itachi,” Tsunade said, shifting her attention to the Uchiha, “I understand if you do not feel ready to take a mission yet, especially the one I’m about to assign as it pertains to Akatsuki.”Sakura tensed up. She resisted the urge to grab Itachi’s hand and hold it.“But before you can do it, we need to discuss what you know about Akatsuki,” Tsunade said.“I am ready to take missions again, Hokage-sama,” he said, his voice far more formal that Sakura was used to hearing it. “As for Akatsuki, I’m not sure if they are still looking for me. If the mission requires a run-in with them, perhaps someone less conspicuous would be a better choice.”Tsunade’s eyes connected with Sakura’s. “You’re dismissed, Sakura,” she said.“But—”“Go.”Sakura gave one final glance to Itachi who did not look at her before she left, letting the door slam shut behind her..“Suna, huh?” Ino asked. Sakura had come home, unsurprised to find Ino in her living room. “Gaara’s pretty hot.”Sakura rolled her eyes. “If I marry the Kazekage I’ll have to move to Suna.”“Who said anything about marriage?” Ino asked indignantly.“Don’t be crass, Ino,” Sakura said.Ino crossed her arms over her chest and kicked her feet up onto Sakura’s coffee table. “All I’m saying,” she said, “is that you’re finally over Sasuke and you need to get laid. I mean you haven’t even kissed anyone before, have you?”Sakura blushed and pressed her lips together. She wanted to tell Ino about her kiss with Itachi, but Ino had a notoriously big mouth and she wasn’t sure that it was a good idea. And it seemed that she had forgotten about her little crush on the elder Uchiha.“But the Kazekage?” Sakura asked, “That has to be crossing some sort of line, doesn’t it?”“That’s what makes it so hot!” the blonde exclaimed, “He’s the Kazekage.”“I think you’re getting a little ahead of yourself, Ino. I’m supposed to be on a professional mission, not seducing the Kazekage.”“Yeah, you’re right,” Ino said, “You wouldn’t even know where to begin anyway. Seduction is serious business. You don’t have the chops for it.”That was probably true.“But he’s good-looking and he specifically requested you,” she continued, “So I think you should at least flirt with him a little bit. What could it hurt?”“He specifically requested me because he knows I’m good with poisons,” Sakura pointed out, “And if there had to be another reason – which there doesn’t – he also is quite fond of Naruto and knows I’m his teammate. And I also saved his brother.”“See?” Ino said, “Look at that list! A little flirting would be good for the both of you. It would help you get your mind off those damn Uchiha brothers. Not to mention, most girls are probably too scared of Gaara to flirt with him. I’m sure even a guy like him needs some feminine attention once in a while.”“Uhh,” Sakura said, “I’m pretty sure Gaara has a fan club. Girls love him now that he’s the Kazekage.”“Well, no one of your caliber,” Ino pointed out.Sakura grinned at the compliment.“Quit being silly,” she said, “I won’t be flirting with Gaara on my mission. I have to be professional.”“Fine,” Ino conceded, “But when you get back I’m going to take you out and we’re going to find you somebody to practice flirting with.”Sakura rolled her eyes because she didn’t feel like she needed practice flirting. In fact, she thought she would be quite good at it. Especially where Itachi was concerned. She already knew some of the things he liked – batting her eyelashes, tossing her hair over her shoulder so he would catch its scent. He even liked her jokes, offensive as they were.“I’m going to raid your closet and find your best outfit,” Ino said, already charging toward the bedroom in spite of Sakura’s weak protests. “I need to see what I’m working with!” she called from the bedroom.Resigned to letting Ino do her thing, Sakura followed her into the bedroom and changed into her pajamas – an oversized shirt of Naruto’s that she had nicked during a mission.“Mm, those are some sexy legs, Sakura,” Ino said, still riffling through her closet, “We’ll have to find an outfit that showcases them since you don’t have much to work with in the chest department.”Sakura had a retort poised on her tongue when she heard a knock at her front door. Ino paused, a red blouse hanging from her extended hand.“Who could that be at this hour?” she asked.“It’s probably Naruto,” Sakura answered. “Door’s open!” she called out. It had been a while since Naruto had come over. Ever since Sasuke had returned the two had been spending a lot of time together. She wasn’t jealous, she found, though she thought she should be. She was happy that the two had worked out whatever had been happening between them before Sasuke left.But she’d be lying to herself if she thought she didn’t miss Naruto. He was one of her best friends, and she was excited to see him.But her smile faltered a bit when she bounded back into her living room and found that it was not Naruto who had knocked, but Itachi. She should have known better. Naruto never knocked. Or used the front door.He was standing in her living room, looking quite out of place. The room seemed much smaller with him standing in it. His gaze lingered on her exposed legs in a way that sent heat straight down into her belly.“Itachi,” she greeted, a little more breathless than she would have preferred.“Sakura,” he said, his eyes moving from her legs to her face, “I apologize for coming over unannounced. I didn’t know you’d be… indecent.”Her ears burned. “I thought you were Naruto,” she said.He didn’t answer. She watched his gaze dip below the hemline of her shirt again, this time for only a second before he was looking back at her face again.“Okay, Sakura, you don’t have much to work with, but I think this dress will have to do. If you wear a push-up bra under it it will make your breasts look fucking huge. That’s probably why you bought it, huh?” Ino spewed, walking around the corner with a black sequined dress hooked on her pointer finger.Sakura grunted and narrowed her eyes. Like this wasn’t already embarrassing enough.“Oh, Itachi-san,” Ino said, a look of pure shock on her face. As if just remembering that Sakura had a crush on the elder Uchiha, and that he happened to be standing in her living room at an inappropriate hour of the night, Ino’s eyes widened and a slow grin spread across her lips.“Yamanaka-san,” he greeted politely. If he was surprised to see her there he didn’t show it.“Are you hurt, Itachi?” Sakura asked, concerned that he might have shown up here with an injury that he would only entrust his medic to heal.“No,” he answered, “I’m leaving tonight to go on my mission.”“What mission?”“You know I can’t tell you that.”Sakura crossed her arms and pouted. She was curious, naturally, but she was also worried. She knew his mission had something to do with Akatsuki, and even though Itachi was one of the best ninja in the village (and also used to be in Akatsuki), she still felt concerned for him.But maybe she could pry something out of him. She whipped her head around to glare at Ino who immediately put her hands up defensively.“Alright, alright, I’m leaving,” she said, making her way to the door. “And Sakura,” she added, turning back to look at her, “Don’t forget what I said about Gaara.” With a wink, she was gone.Once she was gone, Itachi tilted his head to one side and gave Sakura a curious look. “The Kazekage?” he asked.“Where are you going, Itachi?” she asked, ignoring his question. “Can you at least tell me that?”He gave her a reproachful look. She took a step closer to him, close enough that he would be able to smell the shampoo he seemed so fond of. Close enough that he could reach out and touch her if he wanted to.“Please tell me,” she said, batting her eyelashes flirtatiously.Lightning quick, his hand shot out and gripped her arm just above her elbow, almost too tightly for comfort. “That’s a dirty trick, Sakura,” he said, his voice low and warning. This was the Itachi she knew from Toyeiki, and this time she wasn’t afraid of him. She wondered if she had affected him like this even back then.“I’m sorry,” she whispered, moving even closer so that their bodies nearly touched. “I’m just worried, that’s all. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”He closed the gap between them, using his hand against her back to press her against him. “I came here to tell you goodbye. I don’t know how long I will be gone,” he said.“You aren’t going off to fight Akatsuki by yourself, are you?” she asked, her voice muffled by his shoulder.“No,” he said, rubbing her back between her shoulder blades, “Naruto will be with me.”She shoved him away. “What?”“Naruto and I are taking this mission together,” he answered, looking somewhat chagrinned, “Just me and him.”“Where is he?”“He’s with Sasuke right now.”Sakura frowned. “And that’s why you’re here?” she asked.“I’m here because I wanted to see you,” he said, his expression somber and serious. But then it softened into something more tender. And then a smile cracked his features, small but warm. “I didn’t think I’d get to see so much of you.”She blushed, but otherwise ignored the comment. “It sounds dangerous.”“You don’t need to worry.”“But what if you don’t come back?”“I will come back.”Sakura crossed her arms in petulance and glared up at him. He was a fool to think she would not worry, not just about him but Naruto as well. And if he didn’t come back, she would hold Tsunade responsible.“I like that you’re worried about me,” he said, coming closer to her again.“Why?” she demanded, stepping just out of his reach, “You enjoy seeing me suffer?”“Of course not,” he said, his gaze drifting down to her legs again, “It’s just nice to think that when I come home that you’ll be here, happy to see me.”“I’d be happier if you just stayed here.”“I can’t do that.”She turned her back toward him angrily, but not necessarily because of him. It didn’t seem quite fair. Itachi had done such much for Konoha, sacrificed his chance at a happy life, and bore the burden of Konoha’s hate on his shoulder for half his life. And now that same village was sending him off on a mission that was surely going to end in his death.How could one man fight Akatsuki?“Sakura.”“What?”He placed his hand on her shoulder, but did not move her. “I’m sure you’ve realized that I really enjoy your company.”She swallowed and turned halfway toward him.“When I get back,” he began, “I’d like to take you on a date.”She turned to face him all the way. She pressed her palm to his chest and then let it slide down his abdomen and settle on his hip. She felt his breath hitch. When she looked up at him through her lashes she saw that his eyes had darkened and were focused on her sharply.“But what if you don’t come back?”He caught her chin between his thumb and forefinger and tilted her face up to his. “I’m going to come back,” he said and he pressed a chaste kiss to her lips. “And so will Naruto. I know there is no point in telling you not to worry, but I will do everything in my power to get us both safely back here. I will do that for you, okay?”“For me?”“And for the village,” he said, but then he smirked. “But mostly for you.”“Please be safe, Itachi,” she said quietly.“I will.”Feeling emboldened, both by the way he had stared at her legs and the fact that he had kissed her tenderly, Sakura stood up on her toes and pressed a kiss just under his ear where his jaw met his neck.He sighed raggedly and tangled his fingers in her hair. He pulled her toward his mouth, but she resisted.“You can kiss me again when you come back,” she said, smirking.“I’ll hold you to that.” ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Itachi had been homesick for eight long years. When he fell asleep at night, wrapped in a bedroll with the shark-nin to his left, it was Konoha that he dreamed about.This was a different kind of homesickness he felt now, and when he fell asleep tucked soundly in his bedroll with the kyuubi jinchuuriki to his left, it was Sakura that he dreamed about.They had only just left the village a few days ago. They were not yet out of Fire country’s borders. But he thought about the pink-haired medic far more often than he cared to admit.He ascribed the blame for that to his under-used hormones. He hadn’t even kissed anyone until Sakura, and she had awoken a plethora of feelings and urges that he was finding harder and harder to resist. Their heated kiss on the training grounds had certainly not been beneficial to his focus on the mission. He hardly thought of anything else.And when he was thinking of something else, it was the way her long, lean legs looked poking out of that horrid orange shirt. It had covered most of her, the best parts of her. But there was something about the fact that he knew she wasn’t wearing shorts underneath that made his eye twitch.She had even fluttered her eyelashes at him to get him to spill his mission to her. It was a nasty trick, one that might have worked if she kept trying. He knew that she knew the affect she had on him, and that wasn’t entirely fair.In retrospect, that was his own fault. She had no way of knowing that he would show up at her door while she was wearing nothing but a horrid orange shirt. A shirt that he recognized on Naruto the first night they were out of the village. His was newer, less worn out, and fit him much better than it had fit Sakura. But Sakura looked much better in it.He wondered if she would look just as good in one of his shirts. Would the midnight blue color complement her features? What would the Uchiha crest look like across her back?He absolutely planned on finding out. He had already set things in motion by asking her on a date. She had not given him an actual answer, but he could see in the way that she looked at him, the way she worried about him, that she wanted to.All he needed to do was come home.Which brought his focus back to the mission, where it should have been all along. Beside him Naruto snored loudly and rolled over, smacking his lips in an almost comical fashion.They were on their way to Rain, heading for Akatsuki’s base. The plan was to pretend that he was still loyal to Akatsuki and ‘deliver’ the kyuubi to Pein as was his assigned mission. Once they were inside, Itachi and Naruto would stealthily take out as many Akatsuki members as they could and then finish off the rest, if possible.It was certainly risky, but Itachi felt comfortable enough in his skill that he could take out at least Hidan, Kakuzu, and Deidara. Konan and Kisame would pose a bit of a problem because he didn’t necessarily want them dead.He was also positive that not all of the members would be there. They had missions and such to go on. It was rare for all of them to be there at the same time. With any luck, Kisame would be gone. Konan, though, rarely left. And Itachi didn’t think he’d be able to take on Pein. Maybe with Naruto’s help.Itachi glanced at the blonde boy with healthy skepticism. When they had been given their orders, Naruto had asked that Tenzo come along as well. Itachi hadn’t known why at the time, but the first night they left he had asked him.“His wood release can help me control the kyuubi,” Naruto had answered, “If I start to lose control things can get out of hand. Stakes aren’t incredibly high this time, though, because the only person around I wouldn’t want to hurt is you. And I’m pretty sure you can hold your own.”Itachi had been the one to tell him that it wasn’t wise to bring Tenzo along. They wouldn’t be able to walk into Rain with him. It would raise suspicion.What Naruto didn’t know was that Itachi could help him control the kyuubi, too. Itachi remembered all too well how the Uchiha had been blamed when the nine-tails attacked the village. It was their gift and their curse that they could use the Sharingan to control the kyuubi.Now, though, it was a gift. If Naruto could awaken the kyuubi and use its power, its chakra to help destroy Akatsuki, then the mission would go a lot more smoothly. Itachi had met Naruto in battle several times before and not been too impressed. He had been young, of course, but Itachi had been only four when he fought in the war. Youth was no excuse.But he had also seen Naruto grow as a fighter, become stronger and smarter. He was aware that Naruto had trained under Jiraiya, a sannin and a man Itachi wouldn’t have wanted to go up against.Naruto had raw strength and power. Itachi was cunning and capable. Together, they would be able to take down Akatsuki. There was no other option..“Sasuke was pretty bummed that he couldn’t come on this mission,” Naruto said. They had awoken bright and early, still a few days out from Rain. The journey itself wasn’t particularly dangerous, but the closer they got to Fire’s border, the more nervous Itachi became.“You told him about this mission?” Itachi asked, his tone sharp and reprimanding.“Well, yeah,” Naruto said. Itachi shook his head. “I tell Sasuke everything.”Itachi had noticed that. His brother, anti-social as he was, seemed to really enjoy the blonde’s company. They spent much of their time together, training and taking joint missions. Itachi had nothing against Naruto. His heart was in the right place and he seemed… nice. But he wasn’t quite as agreeable as Sakura and, if Itachi was brutally honest, he found Naruto somewhat annoying.“Why would Sasuke have wanted to come?” Itachi asked, “He has no interest in Akatsuki.”“No, it’s not that,” Naruto said, “He just wanted to be a part of your first official mission back in the village.”Itachi felt his lips quirk up in a smile. He remembered how Sasuke had always begged to go on missions with him when they had been younger. He remembered the mission with the boar and how determined Sasuke had been to prove his skill.He would have to remember to request a mission with Sasuke when he got back to Konoha.“And he seemed pretty pissed that I got to go instead of him,” Naruto continued.“You spend a lot of time with my brother.”“And you spend a lot of time with Sakura,” Naruto snapped.Itachi’s foot connected with the branch in front of him before he launched himself back into the air, speeding forward. He glanced to his left where Naruto was running alongside him. The blonde had an angry scowl on his face, his head turned down.“It was only an observation,” Itachi said, “There is no need to be defensive.”“I’m not defensive.”Itachi didn’t argue because that certainly wouldn’t get him anywhere. He had been curious about their relationship, how close they were and what they meant to each other. It didn’t particularly matter to him, as long as Sasuke was happy. He had wanted to ask his brother about it, but it didn’t seem appropriate and he was likely to get angry.So instead, Itachi watched and observed. He had noticed that Naruto usually came to the Uchiha compound. Rarely did the two of them meet at Naruto’s apartment. He came over at least three or four times a week, usually bringing food with him. When they weren’t at the compound, they were at the training grounds, getting ramen, or off on a mission.He also noticed that tenseness that would be in the air whenever Itachi entered a room they were alone in.“Why do you spend so much time with Sakura?” Naruto asked, his voice more accusatory than Itachi cared for.“Why do you spend so much time with Sasuke?”Itachi was amused to see Naruto glowering, a faint blush on his whiskered cheeks.“Sakura and I both have a vested interest in Yamato and Sachi,” Itachi said, answering Naruto’s question even though he didn’t expect the blonde to reciprocate. “We forged a bond when we were in Toyeiki. I find her company pleasant.”Naruto gave him a skeptical glance.“And she’s very pretty,” Itachi said as an afterthought.Naruto faltered a bit, but kept up with Itachi as they ran through the trees. “Yeah, she’s pretty,” Naruto said after a beat of silence.Itachi didn’t press Naruto for more information about his relationship with Sasuke, even though he felt he had earned it by sharing some about his relationship with Sakura. If Naruto – or Sasuke – ever wanted to talk about it, they would.“Sasuke doesn’t like it, you know,” Naruto said, breaking the amicable silence that had fallen between them.“Doesn’t like what?”“Whatever is going on with you and Sakura,” the blonde answered, “I know he doesn’t like Sakura like that, but he is jealous that her attention is on you now. He won’t admit it, but I think he really enjoyed her affection. It was kind of cruel, actually. He’s possessive of her, but he doesn’t want to be with her.”Itachi kept his eyes forward as they ran. He didn’t know what to think of that.“And he’s also jealous that your attention is on her instead of him.”That much Itachi had gathered on his own.“Sasuke would be furious if he knew I said all this to you.”“It will be our secret, then,” Itachi said, the barest hint of a smile on his face.Naruto grinned back. They fell into comfortable silence again.Itachi couldn’t get his mind off of Sasuke. If what Naruto said was true, then Sasuke had gotten angry with Sakura out of jealousy. Itachi tried to imagine what it would feel like to be in Sasuke’s place. If Sasuke had been interested in Izumi, would he have felt jealous?He didn’t know. It was possible, he supposed, but he didn’t feel jealous just thinking about it. But he had felt jealous when he thought Sakura was interested in Sasuke still. And it had been unpleasant.Would Sasuke approve of a relationship between them? Did he want her to be alone forever? Or was it specifically the thought of the two of them together that irked him so much?“Um, Itachi,” Naruto asked timidly, “What exactly are your intentions with Sakura?”Itachi looked at him in surprise.“It’s just that she’s been through so much with Sasuke,” Naruto continued, withering a little under Itachi’s gaze. “She was really depressed when he left and she’s very… fragile. She’s like a sister to me. I don’t want her to get hurt again.”Itachi gave him a sidelong glance. “I have no intention of hurting her.”Naruto seemed to accept that answer. Itachi came to a stop on a low branch. Naruto stopped beside him, his head cocked to the side.“Let’s stop here for the night,” Itachi said, “Rain is just up ahead. Tomorrow we will infiltrate Akatsuki’s base.”Naruto nodded..“I don’t think so,” Naruto said. His sass reminded Itachi of Sakura.“It’s either the shackles or I sling you over my back,” Itachi insisted.“Oh, come on,” Naruto said, “Can’t you just walked menacingly behind me or something?”“That could work,” Itachi said.Naruto sighed appreciatively and grinned.“If you wear the shackles.”Naruto’s grin morphed into a frown. They both knew that Naruto couldn’t just walk into Rain with his arms swinging and a skip in his step. This had to look convincing.“Alright, fine,” Naruto conceded, “I’ll wear the shackles.”Begrudgingly, Naruto allowed Itachi to place chakra-enhanced shackles around his wrists. Once they were inside Rain, it would only be a matter of minutes before Pein was made aware of their presence. From Pein’s perspective, it would be too risky to keep Naruto around. They wouldn’t be able to control him. They would likely have to leave immediately to take him to the Gedo statue to extract the kyuubi.But if Itachi could convince them that he could control Naruto with his Sharingan, then he might wait one night for Akatsuki to either recharge or make it back to Rain if they weren’t already there. Itachi and Naruto could use that valuable time to strike.With Naruto in front, he and Itachi walked through Rain’s streets. Itachi had once again donned his Akatsuki cloak and straw hat. It felt strange to be wearing them again, but it also felt somewhat comforting. He felt a little bit more in his element.Naruto’s curious gaze swept across Rain’s skyline, his neck craning to see the tops of the skyscrapers. It had been years since an outsider had stepped foot in Rain, and the city stared back at Naruto, also curious about the stranger.Though most of Rain’s citizens shied away from the ominous red and black clouds when they saw them, he noticed that their curiosity about Naruto was stronger than that fear.“Keep your head down, Naruto,” Itachi said, his voice low so passersby could not hear. “You need to look like a prisoner, not a tourist.”Itachi watched Naruto duck his head down obediently. They had only a couple of blocks to go before they would reach Rain’s headquarters – the highest building in the city.Rain poured down from the sky, drenching the both of them. Itachi was used to it, but Naruto looked uncomfortable. He shivered against the chill in the air. Were he not supposed to be Itachi’s prisoner, he would have offered his cloak to the poor boy.The weather in Rain had its advantages and disadvantages, but Itachi had always wondered why the gloomy city was Pein’s choice for a headquarters. It seemed ill suited for Konan, whose specialty was paper jutsus. Personally, Itachi liked the rain. He even liked the city with its tall towers and bright lights.He almost missed it, if he thought about it hard enough. It wasn’t Konoha, but it had become like a second home to him nonetheless.He even felt a pang of something akin to familiarity when they reached Akatsuki’s headquarters and were greeted by Konan. The blue haired kunoichi didn’t usually greet Itachi when he came back from missions, but given the circumstances, he understood why she had this time.“Itachi,” she said, and he noted that she did not attach a formality to his name like she usually did. “Welcome back.”He was not intimidated by the coolness in her tone. He might have been if things were different, but knowing that he could not let her leave here with her life put him more at ease. It was a contradiction, true enough, because he didn’t want to hurt her. She had been nothing but pleasant to him during his time in Akatsuki.But it had to be done. And he’d done much worse.“I see you’ve brought us the nine-tails,” she said, eyeing the shackles that bound Naruto’s wrists. “You have been missing for a long time, and now I see why.”It was certainly curious that he had been gone so long with no mention of where he was going. He had not taken Kisame with him. There had been no reports of Akatsuki sightings anywhere except Toyeiki, the last place Itachi had allowed himself to be seen.It was suspicious that Itachi had been able to somehow infiltrate Konoha and capture it’s jinchuuriki without notice.But Konan made no mention of it. She didn’t even give him a skeptical glance. Her gaze was neutral, not even curious.“In your absence,” she began, her tone devoid of emotion or even inflection, “We captured and extracted the other biju. All except the eight-tails.”Itachi was surprised. If they had not captured the eight-tails yet, then they would not be able to extract the nine-tails without breaking the Gedo statue. That meant that Itachi would not have to convince anyone to hold Naruto prisoner for a little while longer. They would have no choice.“And even if we had captured the eight-tails,” Konan continued, “Pein is in no condition to summon the Gedo statue right now.”Another surprise, but Itachi didn’t let it show on his face. What could Pein have been doing to put himself in such a ‘condition?’Konan’s gaze settled on Naruto, eyeing him up and down. It made Itachi nervous, but Naruto played the part incredibly well, likely because he was not acting. His eyes had turned red, a telltale sign that the kyuubi was surfacing. A look of rage marred his features. His whiskers were more prominent. His brow was low over his eyes.Naruto said nothing, but that was probably to his credit. If Naruto was actually losing control, provocation from Konan would only make it worse.“Itachi,” Konan said, her eyes never straying from Naruto, “How were you able to capture him like this? His chakra is quite ominous.”“My Sharingan,” he answered, but offered no more of an explanation.“I see.”An orange tail had sprouted from Naruto’s back, and glowing orbs of menacing chakra had started to form around him. It seemed that his anger had been pushed pretty far. It was good that this button was so easy to press on Naruto. It would make this process easier.But now was not the time.Itachi activated his Sharingan and grabbed onto Naruto’s shoulder. The blonde whipped his head around and the moment his eyes connected with Itachi’s, he was entranced.Itachi had never done this before. He’d only been vaguely aware of how this process even worked. It was somewhat well known that the Sharingan was able to control the kyuubi. But the how was a different story.Now that he thought of it, they should have practiced this beforehand…Somewhere between Naruto’s mind and the kyuubi’s, Itachi stood facing the great fox demon. The sheer amount of chakra rolling off of him was terrifying, but Itachi was not afraid.“So,” said the booming voice of the demon, “An Uchiha again.”Itachi was suddenly aware of Naruto’s presence next to him. He felt the blonde bristling, confusion and anger rolling off of him in waves.“The last time I encountered Sharingan they belonged to Madara Uchiha,” the kyuubi thundered.Itachi’s curiosity was piqued, but this was not the time or place for such a conversation. He only needed to calm Naruto down. “Enough,” Itachi said. The illusion was shattered instantly, the kyuubi seeming to explode into a thousand pieces. The roiling chakra that clouded Naruto’s mind dissipated. Once again, Naruto and Itachi stood before Konan. Naruto fell to his knees. With great relief, Itachi noted that his eyes were blue once again and the glow of orange around him had faded.Konan’s eyes had widened and her mouth was set in a hard line. She looked as though she had something to say, but Itachi would not try to coax it out of her.Itachi reached down to Naruto’s wrists and yanked him upwards by the shackles roughly. Naruto winced and sent a glare back toward Itachi. Back on his feet, Naruto stood face to face with Konan.“It is regrettable, boy—”,” Konan said to Naruto.“My name is Naruto Uzumaki.”“It is regrettable, Naruto Uzumaki,” she repeated, “That you have to die. Just know that your life will not have been wasted.”Itachi was unaware of Akatsuki’s true goals, so he couldn’t ponder about the validity of that statement. Regardless, he had no intention of letting Naruto die – if only for Sakura’s sake. She wouldn’t forgive him if he let her best friend die.“Take him to cell block C,” Konan instructed, “And stay close by in case we need your Sharingan again.”Konan was gone in a flutter of swirling squares of paper.“You don’t have to be so rough, you know,” Naruto said, straining against his chakra cuffs.Itachi shushed him..With as little fuss as possible, Itachi led Naruto to cell block C and locked him inside. Though he knew that Naruto would not try to escape, he wouldn’t have been able to anyway. The cell bars were reinforced with chakra, and the shackles around Naruto’s wrists had been replaced with ones that continually drained his chakra levels.Itachi planned to return to Naruto’s cell in the middle of the night to remove the shackles so that when the time came, Naruto would have plenty of chakra. Not that lack of chakra would have been much of a hindrance to him anyway, judging by the massive reserves of it he had noticed in the kyuubi.It was a wonder that a boy like Naruto had that beast inside him.But Itachi wasn’t thinking about Naruto. He methodically perused the halls of the Akastuki headquarters in an attempt to figure out who was and was not present. He knew Konan was there and could sense her in her quarters.Much to his relief, he did not find Kisame anywhere. In spite of their differences in worldviews, Itachi had grown fond of the shark-nin and would have been reluctant to kill him. He hoped that if things went well on this mission that Kisame would forget about Akatsuki and find something less sordid to do with his life. Hidan was somewhere in the building, Itachi sensed, as was Deidara. Itachi was not concerned about them. He already knew he could best Deidara, and even though he had nothing personal against him, Itachi had no problem getting rid of the explosives expert. Hidan, though immortal in his freakish religion, could easily be incapacitated by Itachi’s Tsukuyomi until his mind succumbed to the genjutsu. He may not physically have been able to die, but being brain dead was just as good.What concerned Itachi the most was the presence of Pein. Itachi had been kept in the dark about most of Akatsuki’s proceedings. Pein himself was rarely seen by its members, but even so, everyone was acutely aware of the raw power that he had. The Rinnegan.Itachi had concerns about the fact that Pein wielded the Rinnegan. He suspected that it had something to do with Madara, which was a terrifying notion.He had expressed his concerns about fighting Pein to Tsunade, who had been so adamant that Naruto could handle it. Itachi was understandably skeptical. Naruto was young, and though he didn’t lack talent as a shinobi, he lacked experience. Tsunade had waved off Itachi’s concerns and sent them on their way to handle it – just the two of them.Itachi couldn’t help but feel like he had essentially just delivered Naruto into Akatsuki’s hands with little to no fuss. What if they couldn’t do it? What if Itachi was killed? Who could protect Naruto and by extension Konoha?On a darker and much more familiar note, Itachi briefly entertained the idea of killing Naruto, should things come to that. He didn’t want to hurt the spirited boy, but he couldn’t let Akatsuki get their hands on him either. If it came to that, Itachi wouldn’t hesitate to do it. He had, after all, done much worse.But he hoped it wouldn’t come to that..Late in the evening, Itachi stirred in his bed. It had been quite some time since he had slept in his old room and he couldn’t say he had missed it much. Sleep had eluded him, as he figured it would. Naruto, still down in his cell, was probably unable to sleep as well.Carefully, silently, Itachi crept down to Naruto’s cell. He had thought carefully about it and decided that it was best if the two of them stick together. As a duo, they could take out Hidan first, then Deidara, then Konan, and finally Pein.Unsurprisingly, Naruto was awake, his wide, blue eyes nearly glowing in the darkness around him. He approached the cell bars apprehensively, but with a fierce energy that Itachi hoped could be used to strengthen him in the next several hours. They were going to need it.“Are you ready?” Itachi whispered, opening the gate for him. Naruto dutifully nodded and held out his wrists for Itachi to unlock. Itachi swiftly removed the shackles, pretending not to notice the red marks on the boy’s wrist. He had tried to remove them himself, either in an astonishingly bright display of authenticity, or out of frustration. Itachi didn’t need to know which it was.“Let’s go.” ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- The trip to Suna had been surprisingly pleasant. Shikamaru, the official ambassador of Konoha, had accompanied Sakura and though she found herself often exasperated with his behavior, he had been more chipper than usual.She knew why, of course. It was no secret that the poor Nara boy had a thing for Temari. Personally, Sakura thought she was quite scary, but then again, all of the sand siblings were.So, predictably, when the leaf duo had arrived at the Kazekage’s palace, Sakura was left alone while Shikamaru and Temari sneaked off to do whatever it is they did with each other. Sakura suspected a lot of angry, sexually charged staring.“You’ll have to forgive my sister’s rudeness,” the Kazekage said, giving her a slight bow. He was a far cry from the boy who nearly killed her during the chuunin exams. Several months before his rescue from Akatsuki, Team 7 had paid a visit to Suna during which Gaara had apologized profusely.Naruto had insisted that no apology was necessary, but Sakura felt that maybe she deserved one. He had, after all, almost killed her. But she did forgive him, because he seemed truly sorry. It was apparent to everyone that he had changed a lot just in the time between the chuunin exams and his rise to Suna’s coveted leadership position.“Only if you forgive Shikamaru’s,” Sakura replied with a grin.Gaara smiled back tensely, and regarded her with a curiosity that Sakura wasn’t too comfortable with. She wondered what he could have been thinking behind those startlingly bright eyes.Flushed and flustered, Sakura fiddled with the hem of her vest and cast her eyes away from him. “If it’s alright with you, Kazekage-sama,” she began, “I’d like to get started with your poison immediately.”He gestured broadly toward the medical wing of the palace and she dutifully trotted after him. Absently and unconcernedly, Sakura noted a few grains of sand that clung to her wrist. She also noticed the ones that hovered around the opening of Gaara’s gourd.“I figured you would have liked to rest first,” Gaara said as they walked, “The trip may not be very long, but the sun can be exhausting.”She shrugged and then belatedly realized that he could not see her. “I just need to be doing something,” she said, “I don’t think I could sit still right now if I wanted to.”She didn’t tell him the reason for that, and he didn’t ask. He opened the door leading to a laboratory, one she had been in once before when she extracted poison from his brother.“All of the notes on the poison are on the desk,” Gaara said, standing in the doorway, but not entering the room. Sakura slid past him and snatched the top file from the desk. Flipping through it she perused the characteristics and properties of the poison. “And there is a small sample of my sand in a jar. If you need more do not hesitate to ask.”Sakura nodded and then turned back to face him. He was watching her and this time his smile was more genuine.“You are a friend of Naruto’s,” he said, and Sakura’s heart clenched painfully. She didn’t want to think about Naruto or what he was currently doing. “So you are a friend of mine. Thank you for agreeing to help. I know that you do important work in Konoha, so we appreciate you taking the time to do this.”“Of course, Kazekage-sama,” she answered, her voice a little more timid than she would have liked. “I’m happy to help.”“You may call me Gaara.”“Gaara-sama,” she said with a dip of her head.He gave her a critical look, but left her alone, shutting the door gently as he left..Sakura spent the next several days working in Gaara’s lab. The work distracted her from thinking about Naruto and Itachi, and when she wasn’t working she was sleeping off the exhaustion. Working for nearly twelve hours everyday certainly wasn’t healthy, and as a medic, she knew that. But it made the time pass quickly and it brought her close to solution in a short manner of time.Gaara hadn’t been surprised by the speed with which she’d come up with a way to fully integrate the poison into his sand. It appeared that he had expected that from her. She was irritated by his high expectations, but she had met them so she couldn’t be too concerned about it.Unfortunately, the next step in the process required Sakura to spend a fair amount of time with the young Kazekage. Usually, this would not have been a problem, but Sakura found it difficult to keep her mind off of what Ino had said to her the night before she left.Gaara was a handsome man – Sakura wasn’t afraid to admit that. She had noticed the fan girls that tended to flock around him when he was outside the palace. She found it amusing, quite frankly, to see the typically stoic man flustered by some feminine attention. She figured he would have been used to it at this point.But he spurned all of their advances. In a spurt of boldness, Sakura asked him why.“I’m their Kazekage,” he had answered. “It wouldn’t be proper. And I have no interest in any of them.”It was to her chagrin that he mentioned propriety while she was standing behind his half naked body. It was purely professional, of course, because Sakura was always professional. She had pierced him with a litany of poisoned needles on his broad, muscular back, testing to see how his body reacted to certain ingredients, certain venoms and poisons.She couldn’t help but notice the way his body reacted to other things. With each graze of her fingertip over the needle-caused pockmarks he would shiver, sometimes even shrink away from her.Gaara was an untouchable man. She wondered how many other people had touched the bare skin of his back before. Perhaps he wasn’t so fond of her touching him like this.“Really?” Sakura asked, doing her best to keep her tone light, like she wasn’t asking him deeply personal questions. “Not a single one of them has caught your eye?”“My attention has been elsewhere, Sakura-san,” he answered tersely.Sakura kept her mouth shut after that. Throughout the remainder of his appointments with her, he maintained a cordial, but distant friendliness that Sakura was grateful for and annoyed with in the same vein.Ino had told her to flirt with him, to have some fun. And instead, she had offended him with personal questions and a jab at his not-so-wandering eye.So she focused in her mission – who needed to flirt with hot kages when there were perfectly good men back at home? But that thought was equally disparaging. It had been nearly a week since Naruto and Itachi had left for their mission. They could be back in Konoha for all she knew. Unlikely.“Is something bothering you, Sakura-san?” Gaara asked. She had just injected him with a serum that would grant him immunity to the poison. The only thing left to do now was wait and see how his sand reacted to it.She caught his eye and then quickly looked away. Often she found him staring openly at her, always critically and somewhat curiously. Like he didn’t know what to make of her.“I’m just homesick, that’s all.”His eyes narrowed. He didn’t believe her.“I apologize if your stay here has not been hospitable.”Sakura thought briefly about Shikamaru and Temari and what they had been doing this whole time. She hadn’t seen either of them since the day they arrived.“It isn’t that,” she said, though she knew that he knew that, “One of my friends is on a dangerous mission right now. I’m just worried.”He didn’t seem placated by her words, but Sakura didn’t want to share any more information. She knew their mission was classified and telling the Kazekage about it – even though Suna was Konoha’s ally – would be treason. She didn’t really know enough to tell him anything anyway.But she certainly couldn’t tell him that Naruto was on the mission. She had no doubt that he would drop whatever he was doing to come to Naruto’s aid, and that would definitely implicate her.“I see,” was his only response.Sakura went back to studying his sand, watching for any reaction to the poison. She then checked Gaara’s vitals to make sure that the poison was not affecting him in any way.He watched her throughout this process, his eyes piercing and unsettling. Her hands were on his chest and though she was a medic and had done this to hundreds of people, the position reminded her of Itachi. Even the way he looked at her reminded her of Itachi.She was just about to tell him that she was finished and that her job here was done when she heard him clear his throat.“I heard that Sasuke is back in Konoha,” he said.She blinked. “Yes, that’s true,” she answered, curious as to why he would think about such a thing.“And his brother, too.”She swallowed. “Also true.”“I don’t like Sasuke,” Gaara said, and the animosity in his voice surprised her, as did his frankness about his feelings. “And if his brother is anything like him then I don’t like him either.”Sakura didn’t feel that this was an entirely appropriate topic of discussion, but since he had been the one to bring it up, she didn’t try to dissuade him from it. They had hardly spoken at all in the week they’d been working together and now he was offering conversation of his own volition.“I’m sure you’ll be surprised to hear that I’m not Sasuke’s biggest fan, either,” she answered.He quirked a nonexistent brow. She was supposed to be in love with him. And even if she wasn’t, he was still her teammate and her friend.“Sasuke and I do not see eye to eye on a lot of things,” she said, “I don’t hate him, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to spend time with him.”Gaara smiled, a charming and boyish smirk that helped Sakura remember exactly why he had so many admirers. She suddenly realized that her hands were still pressed to his chest and that she was standing between his legs. As nonchalantly as she could manage, she dropped her hands to her sides and backed away from him.“Then we agree,” he said, unfazed by their proximity and her aversion to it. “But for Naruto’s sake, I am happy that he is back.”Sakura grinned, “Yeah, me too.”The room fell silent and Sakura wanted to take the opportunity to tell Gaara that they were finished in Suna and should head back to Konoha soon, but something in the way he was regarding her made her stop.“I think you would like his brother.”She didn’t know why that was the particular thing she had chosen to blurt out. She could have said any number of non-incriminating things. The silence had overwhelmed her, especially with the way he watched her like she was a puzzle he wanted to solve.“What?”Nervously, she rubbed the back of her neck. “Sasuke’s brother,” she said, “They’re nothing alike. Itachi is a lot more… well, I just think you would like him.”“Do you like him?”She flushed, but she understood that his inflection wasn’t accusatory. “Yes,” she answered, “He’s a good friend.”“Well, then” he said, “Seeing as we appear to have similar taste in friends, I’m sure I would like him, too.”Neither of them said anything about Itachi’s past, the crimes he’d committed, or the fact that he was still listed in the Bingo book. Sakura offered no explanation for it because she didn’t know if that was something that Tsunade would want her to do. That was private Konoha business.But Gaara didn’t need to know the details. If anyone could understand something like that without really knowing, it was Gaara.“Alright, Gaara-sama, I think we’re finished up here,” she said, “Your vitals look good and the poison is now working in conjunction with your sand.”He stood up and hefted his gourd onto his shoulder. “And you’ve got the antidote for the poison?” he asked. She nodded, gesturing to a crate of vials near his feet. The poison and the antidote had already been created by the time she got there, so she didn’t know why he would have asked her that.Until she felt his sand begin to cover the length of her right arm. Sakura tensed up in fear because she knew exactly what Gaara was capable of doing with his sand. She had witnessed the destruction of Lee’s bones, the lengthy process of healing it took for him to recover.The sand swirled around her arm, abrasive and course. She could feel the cuts forming under the layer of sand and she knew that when the sand was moved, there would be blood there.And there was. When Gaara pulled his sand back into the gourd, Sakura’s arm was covered in shallow cuts, blood forming along the broken skin, but not falling. Not dripping.And then she felt the effects of the poison – a slow, burning sensation that tightened in her chest and made it difficult to breathe. Her vision began to blur and bile was thick in the back of her throat. Her head was swimming.She lurched forward, nearly falling onto her face, but Gaara’s hands steadied her. She felt him jab a needle into her arm as he guided her into the seat that he had just occupied.“You could have warned me,” she rasped.When she looked at him he was smiling again and any anger she might have felt ebbed away.“You did a fantastic job, Sakura-san,” he said. “Thank you.”She smiled back weakly..Sakura was disappointed when she returned to Konoha and Naruto and Itachi had not yet returned. It was to be expected, she supposed, because she had been gone just over a week. Most missions lasted longer than that, especially ones pertaining to crazed terrorist groups.Life proceeded as normal for the next few days. She took her shifts at the hospital, picked up Yamato from the academy, and spent time with Ino. She did whatever she could to keep her mind off Naruto and Itachi.After a particularly light day at the hospital, Sakura came home to a surprisingly empty home. Sakura suspected that she had a date or something other equally pressing event to attend because Ino’s makeup was scattered haphazardly across her living room floor. Ino had always chosen to doll herself up at Sakura’s apartment because it was “centrally-located” and much closer to all the things Ino ever wanted to do.Sakura had no complaint with this, except now she was slightly annoyed by the mess and the fact that she had not been invited to the event in question.She had thought far too much about Naruto and Itachi today, wallowed in her own misery. There wasn’t much to keep her distracted now. She had half a mind to go to Tsunade and demand answers, but she knew that would get her nowhere.Her heart leapt into her throat when she heard a knock at her door. Deciding not to get her hopes up (it could have been Ino), she threw the door open with nonchalance.But she was surprised to see Sasuke on her doorstep.“Sasuke-kun.”He looked much less annoyed than usual, but a lot more somber. Sakura realized that if anyone could relate to what she was feeling now, it was him.“Can I come in?”She nodded and pulled the door open wider for him. With a measure of distaste, he surveyed the mess on the floor.“Ino made the mess,” she explained.He regarded her coolly with curiosity and something else. She rolled her eyes because there wasn’t much else she could do and indicated that he should take a seat at her kitchen table. “Let me make you some tea,” she said.When the tea had been brewed and they were sitting across from one another somewhat awkwardly, but with a pleasant calmness and familiarity, Sasuke took a hesitant sip from his mug.“Peppermint,” he said, “Itachi’s favorite.”Sakura knew this. It was the kind he made for her. The kind he drank when they were in Toyeiki.“Are you worried about him?” she asked.His eyes bore into her. “Are you?”She nodded, unperturbed by his hostile tone. She expected it from him.“Do you know anything about their mission?” she asked.He regarded her skeptically as if he thought that maybe he shouldn’t tell her what he knew. Or maybe she knew more than he did and he didn’t want her to know that either.“I know it has something to do with Akatsuki,” he answered.“That’s all I know, too.”The sipped their tea in tandem, both unsure of what to say and a little bit uneasy in each other’s presence. But the silence wasn’t uncomfortable, and even though Sakura didn’t want to admit it, she was grateful that he had come by – either seeking solace from her, or wishing to give it to her.They were, after all, both a part of Team 7. They should be able to be near one another without the weirdness.“What are you doing with my brother?”Sakura sucked in a breath because she had been anticipating such a question and was unsure of how to answer it.“It has nothing to do with you,” she said, “If that’s the answer you’re looking for.”“I find that hard to believe.”She set her mug down. “No offense, Sasuke,” she said, dropping the suffix from his name. “But you were gone for years. You don’t know me anymore. And the Sakura that you knew all those years ago is gone.”“Right,” he said, setting down his mug as well, “And this new Sakura just happens to be interested in my brother.”“Why does that bother you so much?”“It doesn’t bother me—”“Then what do you want?” she demanded, “Would you like it if I never speak to him again?”He didn’t answer and Sakura had a sneaking suspicion that that was exactly what he wanted. For a moment he looked conflicted, like there was something else he wanted to say.“I know I haven’t known him for very long,” she said, “And I know that he is your brother. I know what that looks like to you. But surely I don’t need to tell you why I like him so much. If anyone should understand, it’s you.”“You like him,” Sasuke said. It didn’t sound like a question.“Of course I do,” she answered, “He’s a good man. He’s done so much for Konoha and for you. And he…”She trailed off because she couldn’t really find the right words and it seemed too intimate to be sharing with Sasuke – feelings that she hadn’t quite worked out for herself yet.“He deserves to be happy,” she finished.Sasuke stared at her from across the table.“Do you love me?” he asked.She paused, unsure of what she’d just heard. He raised his brow, waiting for her answer. She felt a lump form in her throat.“I care about you,” she said, “And I want you to be happy.”“But do you love me?”“I suppose I do.”He sighed, his eyes never leaving hers. “He sees something in you that I don’t see,” he said, “And it makes me angry.”“What?”“I feel like I’m missing something when I look at you,” he continued, “What is it that he sees that I don’t? Why does he like you so much?”Sakura felt a stab of both pain and pleasure at those words – that Itachi liked her so much and that Sasuke couldn’t see why. She should have been offended. But instead she laughed.“Maybe you’re just feeling residually annoyed with me from our genin days,” she suggested with a chuckle.Sasuke didn’t seem amused.“Look, Sasuke,” she said, “You don’t have to worry about my intentions with Itachi. I don’t want to hurt him, and I don’t think of him as a substitute for you. I’m long over that crush I had on you years ago.”He scoffed, but didn’t argue.“Besides,” she continued, “He was the one who started it.”Sasuke’s expression softened and to Sakura’s amusement and relief, he seemed to believe her. He even cracked a small smile.“I miss him,” she said wistfully, “And Naruto.”“I miss them, too.”There it was. The reason he had come here. Sasuke had only confronted her about her relationship with Itachi that one time before the Danzo fiasco. Since then he had avoided her. Or she had avoided him. It didn’t matter.But the issue seemed to be behind them now and they could finally commiserate and miss their boys together.“Do you think they’ll be okay?” she asked.He glared at her. “Of course they’ll be okay,” he snapped, “If it was you out there on that mission I’d be worried.”His tone wasn’t light or teasing, and Sakura was well aware that he thought her skills as a ninja were subpar. But she laughed nonetheless, because he was right.“It wasn’t a joke,” he said.“Aww,” she cooed, “You’d be worried about me for real?”He rolled his eyes. “I’m not heartless, Sakura,” he said, “I didn’t leave the village to hurt your feelings. I didn’t reject you because I wanted to upset you.”“I know, Sasuke.”It was as close as she would get to an apology from him. Not that she really wanted one. But it was still nice to hear those words from him.Again they settled into silence, sipping their tea and enjoying company that they’d been denied since Naruto and Itachi left.“We talked about you, you know,” Sakura said after a moment. “In Toyeiki. Before I knew the truth about him. It was clear even then that he loved you and cared about you. It was one of the reasons I suspected something was amiss.”She watched Sasuke’s eyes widen almost imperceptively. He was curious, but he didn’t ask her anything so she didn’t offer any more information.“He asked me once why I was so mean to you,” Sasuke replied, “And I told him that you were annoying.”She smiled in response to that, amused. She would never be as close to Sasuke as Naruto was, but she was beginning to understand the teasing quality of their friendship. It may not have started out that way, but for the first time since his return, Sakura felt that she and Sasuke could actually be friends.“He disagreed,” Sasuke said with a slight smirk.“I’m sure he found me annoying when we first met,” Sakura countered, “I certainly didn’t make things easy on him.”“Meaning…?”“I provoked him,” she answered, “I was openly hostile in spite of our agreement. I made dark and offensive jokes about the massacre.”Sasuke blinked in response.“I didn’t know any better,” she said in defense, “But I apologized to him. He didn’t seem too upset, even back then. I’m sure he understood why I acted that way.”Sasuke grunted. Sakura smiled. He took another sip of his tea and she took another sip of hers. And when Sakura went to sleep that night, her thoughts were a little less turbulent and she was a little less worried..Sakura woke in the middle of the night to the sounds of sharp banging against her bedroom window. Immediately on alert, she flung off her covers and unlatched the window.“Naruto?” she gasped. He was panting and she could see the wildness, the redness in his eyes – the kyuubi that had not yet died down after being provoked. He looked badly beaten up, but in stable condition.But slung across his back, limp and drenched in blood, was Itachi. She stifled a cry that nearly ripped its way out of her throat and opened the window wider for him to enter.Carefully, Naruto set him down on her bed. It looked bad. He was haggard and pale, and blood seemed to be seeping through his clothes everywhere.“Help me strip him,” she commanded, immediately in medic mode. Naruto complied and then watched as she ran her chakra through him. He was unresponsive, but she could feel his heartbeat very faintly.With her chakra, she detected several large wounds in his chest and abdomen that were open and actively bleeding.“Naruto,” she said, “Go get towels from the bathroom to staunch the bleeding.”With further investigation she found his left arm broken and several of his ribs fractured. He had a contusion on the back of his head and a streak of blood coming from his right eye.Naruto returned with the towel and began to press them into Itachi’s wounds.“Is he going to be okay?” Naruto asked. She spared a glance for him and saw that he had calmed down somewhat. The menacing chakra of the kyuubi had subsided and his eyes had returned to their usual blue.“I’m going to do what I can to stabilize his condition,” Sakura said, “But then we need to get him to the hospital.”Naruto nodded and continued to watch as she pumped her healing chakra into him. Sakura felt a stab of annoyance at the blonde. He should have taken Itachi straight to the hospital. She knew it was his confidence in her ability that brought him here instead, but the hospital was much better equipped to deal with such injuries. She only hoped that what she had here would be enough.Never once did Sakura let the fear in her chest show on her face. She stuffed it down, pushed it aside and let only the medic in her show. His life was in her hands yet again and she wasn’t going to let him die on her bed. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Itachi hissed, feeling sharp and dull pain in every part of his body. His head was throbbing, his chest felt like it was on fire, and he couldn’t open his eyes. He groaned and attempted to pull himself up into a sitting position, but a pair of hands on his shoulders gently pushed him back down.“You’re awake.”“Sasuke?” Itachi rasped. He must be back in Konoha. He couldn’t remember much of what happened. The mission, he supposed it had been unsuccessful. The last thing he remembered was fighting Pein. An impossible battle he had been destined to lose.“It’s me,” Sasuke replied. Itachi attempted to pull off the bandages around his eyes, but Sasuke stopped him. “Don’t. Your eyes need time to heal if you ever want to use them again.”“Where’s Naruto?”“He’s fine,” Sasuke said, and Itachi detected a hint of smugness in his tone.“The mission…”He heard Sasuke huff out a breath of air. “The mission went as well as could be expected, according to Naruto,” he answered, “He said you killed three Akatsuki members with ease. It was the fourth one that left you in this condition.”Itachi relaxed a little. He was not surprised. He had been hesitant to go up against Pein in the first place.“But Naruto handled that for you,” Sasuke said, the smugness quite obvious now.“I don’t remember,” Itachi said. He felt Sasuke press a cool glass into his hand. Greedily, he drank it. Water. It was soothing down the tenderness in his throat. He felt it pool in his stomach, cold and heavy.“Sakura said you have a pretty severe head injury,” Sasuke said, “You’re lucky it didn’t kill you.”“She is my medic?” he asked.Sasuke scoffed. “She was.”The sentence alarmed him, but Sasuke’s tone was light, almost teasing. He didn’t ask about Sakura again.“How long have I been out?”“Three days.”He tried to sit up again. Sasuke pressed him back down to the mattress.“Don’t,” he warned, “I’ll get Tsunade-sama if I have to.”Obediently, Itachi rested his head back against the pillow behind him. His throat felt raw and his muscles ached. He wanted to stretch out all of his muscles, but his exhaustion was overwhelming.His stomach growled loudly and Itachi groaned because even though he was hungry he was also nauseous.“Let me get you something to eat,” Sasuke said. Itachi didn’t argue. He heard his brother leave the room and then minutes later; he came back, this time with company.“Itachi,” Tsunade said. “Good to see you awake. You had us pretty worried there for a while.”Sasuke set a tray across Itachi’s lap. With the bandages over his eyes he couldn’t see what was on it, but he felt its warmth against his legs.“We’ll get a nurse in here to feed you in a minute,” Tsunade continued, “But first I want to check your vitals and make sure everything’s good.”“Hokage-sama,” Itachi said, his voice still raspy and labored, “Not that I don’t feel privileged to be in your care, but surely you have more important things to do.”Tsunade laughed sardonically and then pressed her hands against his chest. “Sakura and I had to compromise,” she explained, “I wouldn’t let her be your primary medic and she didn’t trust anyone other than me to do it.”“Why not?”“Because I’m the best.”“No, I mean why wouldn’t you let her be my medic?” he asked, but when she snickered he realized that she had been teasing him.“I’m sure if you think on that a little harder you’ll figure out the answer,” she replied.“Tsunade-sama,” Sasuke said, “about his eyes. Now that he’s awake you can run some more tests, right? To see how they are?”Itachi felt her chakra, very similar to Sakura’s, pooling in his heart and lungs. After a moment, she removed her hands and he heard her scribbling things down on his chart.“That’s really Sakura’s area of expertise,” Tsunade said, “So I’ll let her handle that. She’s doing rounds right now, but I’ll send her down to take a look when she’s finished. In the meantime, Itachi needs to eat and then rest some more.”“What about his pain?” Sasuke asked, “Can you give him something for that?”“I’m fine, Sasuke,” Itachi said, though it was hardly convincing as he winced.“There’s not much I can do right now for his pain,” she replied, “But he’ll be fine. We’ll keep a close eye on him for the rest of the day and if he looks good by evening he can go home.”Itachi felt relief he didn’t know he needed. He missed his own bed.“I trust you can keep an eye on him at home, Sasuke?” Tsunade asked, “And Itachi, within the next week I’d like a mission report. I won’t demand it of you while you’re recovering, but I’ll need it eventually.”He heard the sharp click of her heels on the tiled floor as she walked back to the door, and then their pause as she stood in the doorway. “And good job, Itachi,” she said. “You and Naruto make a good team.”.When the nurse arrived to feed him his lunch (nothing more substantial than soup), Itachi had demanded that Sasuke leave the room. It was humiliating not being able to feed himself. He felt extremely vulnerable in a way that he had not felt in years.But Sasuke, stubborn as he was, refused to leave. In fact, his brother seemed to be in a more talkative mood than normal and chatted with him – or rather, to him – as the nurse fed him spoonsful of miso soup.Begrudgingly, he was grateful that his brother had stayed. It saved him from a potentially awkward silence with the poor nurse relegated to feeding him. And his brother’s company was pleasant. He had missed him.It was with carefully hidden surprise that Itachi noted that Sasuke mentioned Sakura several times during his chatter. Each time it was in passing, but each time it did not contain any of the hostility he had come to expect.He wished he could see his brother’s face so he could gauge his expressions.When his soup had been finished and another glass of water had been downed, the nurse silently picked up his tray and left. No sooner than the door had clicked shut behind her, a sharp knock came from the other side.Without waiting for a reply, the door opened.“Itachi-san,” Sakura said. Itachi felt a smile pulled at the corners of his mouth. “Let’s take a look at your eyes.”She was in medic mode, he figured as he listened to the click of her shoes as she approached. And with Sasuke’s presence, she was bound to be colder toward him than she might normally have been.But then he felt her brush away hair from his forehead, her knuckles grazing tenderly against his scalp. It was affectionate and not in any way clinical. He froze, unsure of how to respond to such a gesture with Sasuke there. He wanted to take her hand and kiss it, or say something. But he had no words and he couldn’t kiss her. Not with Sasuke there.“We were so worried about you,” she said, and he could hear from her tone that she was smiling. Her fingertips landed on his temples and he felt her chakra in his head, in his eyes. It was a jarring sensation, but he trusted her.“We?”“Me and Sasuke,” she replied. But he couldn’t focus on her words anymore as the sensation of her chakra became overwhelming. For years, his eyes had been strained and hurting. His vision had been reduced to a blur without his Sharingan activated, which is why he chose to have it on for most of his exile.But that pain was slowly ebbing away now, and he felt light-headed and nauseous again. Like taking a deep breath after nearly drowning.Instinctively, his hands lashed out and gripped her wrists and attempted to pull them away from his temple. She wrenched her arms free and placed her hands back at his temples.“I’m sorry, Itachi-san,” she said, “I know this must be uncomfortable for you, but I need to do this before I take your bandages off. Your eyes were in terrible condition, even before you left. I should have taken a look at them sooner.”He let out a ragged breath and relaxed.“He’ll still be able to use them, though, right?” Sasuke asked.“Yes, I fixed most of the damage,” she replied, “His vision should be infinitely better than it was before. I imagine he suffered from migraines a lot, too, but that should stop now.”Itachi fidgeted under her touch. It felt so nice and so strange at the same time. Her chakra felt foreign and dangerous inside his head and even though he knew she was helping him, he couldn’t help but want to shove her away.“However,” she continued, “Using the Mangekyou will always result in damage. I can reverse the effects, but only to a certain extent. I routinely work on Kakashi-sensei’s eye after his missions, so we’ll have to work out a similar deal with Itachi-san.”He felt her pull away from him and her chakra dropped from his mind like it had never been there at all. His headache was gone and his eyes felt… well he couldn’t feel them. There was no pain there at all anymore.“I’ll do the same for you when you awaken your Mangekyou, Sasuke-kun,” she said.Itachi heard his brother grunt in what he hoped was appreciation. Then he felt Sakura unwrapping the bandages from his head.“Turn off the lights, Sasuke-kun,” she instructed, “He’ll be sensitive to light.”She pulled the bandages off completely, but covered his eyes with the palm of her hand. “Keep your Sharingan off, Itachi-san,” she said, “You can open your eyes when you’re ready.”Slowly, he blinked his eyes open. Even with the lights off, the room felt impossibly bright. He blinked rapidly a few times, attempting to clear the blurriness that resulted from having his eyes closed for three whole days.And then Sasuke came into focus beside him. Itachi gasped at the sharpness with which he saw him, even stronger than when his Sharingan was activated. He could see the pores on Sasuke’s face, the individual strands of hair that had fallen across his forehead, even the swirls of grey that were mixed in with his coal black eyes.“Once your eyes have adjusted to the room you may test out your Sharingan,” Sakura said. She was standing at the foot of his bed and his eyes snapped over to her at the sound of her voice.She was leaning her palms against the frame of his bed, grinning at him as he watched her. He didn’t remember her hair being so vivid or her eyes being so bright. He wished she was closer so he could see more of her – her pores, her lashes, whatever shades were mixed in with that startling green.Curious, he let his eyes bleed to red and surveyed the new sharpness in the room. Never had his vision ever been this clear before, even when his Mangekyou was still new. He could even see the hum of chakra in Sasuke and Sakura.He furrowed his brow, overwhelmed. He cast a furtive glance at Sakura and was surprised to find her looking right into his eyes. It may have only been because of the nature of the situation, but it made his heart clench in his chest that she would look into his Sharingan in spite of her fear of it.“Well?” Sasuke asked.With his energy and spirit restored, Itachi pulled himself up into a seated position. “I don’t know what to say,” he said, “I’ve never seen so clearly before.”Sasuke grinned triumphantly and looked every bit like the little boy he’d known before he left the village.“Alright,” Sakura said with a hand on her cocked hip, “Visiting hours are over.”“What?” Sasuke snapped, “It’s just past noon—”“Out, out,” she said, ushering him to the door. Itachi watched with bemusement as she shoved him into the hallway. He glared wickedly at her, but didn’t put up too much of a fight.“Don’t get him all excited, Sakura,” he said. She slammed the door in his face. “He needs to recuperate!” he yelled through the door.Itachi felt his cheeks flush hotly. What could have made Sasuke say a thing like that? He didn’t have time to think about it because as soon as the door was shut she launched herself into him. He winced as he caught her, holding her against his chest in spite of the flares of pain in his abdomen.“You almost died, you idiot,” she said, her voice muffled by his collarbone.He breathed in her vanilla scent, smoothing down the hair on the back of her head. “I’m sorry,” he said. Her hip and thigh were pressed against his right side as she sat beside him. Her upper body was thrown across his, her arms linked behind his neck. The position was infuriatingly intimate.He felt her body trembling and then he heard a sniffle.“Are you crying?”She pulled away from him, brushing the tears from under her eyes. Her eyes were glassy and bright and her face was red.“No,” she said quite unconvincingly.His heart was thudding in his chest. He’d never seen a worried expression like that on her face before, and he hated that he had caused it. It broke his heart. He placed his hand on the back of her neck and pulled her down into a kiss. She had promised him this – a kiss when he returned.He felt her attempt to pull away from him first, reluctant, maybe even angry with him for nearly dying.But almost instantly she relaxed in his arms, sinking further into him, pressing herself against him. He tangled his hands in her hair tightly, preventing her from pulling away.“I’m sorry, Sakura,” he said when they finally broke apart.“Yeah, you should be,” she said sassily. “You have no idea how worried I was about you.”He scoffed. “That won’t be the last mission I go on, Sakura,” he pointed out, “But hopefully from here on out they won’t involve Akatsuki.”She moved to stand up but Itachi yanked her back down to the bed. She twisted her arm free from his grasp and glared at him.“I would never have let you go if I had known what you were doing,” she said, rubbing her wrist like he had hurt her.He laughed and the action hurt the muscles in his stomach. He winced and curled slightly into the pain, clutching at his stomach. Sakura dutifully placed her hands on his chest.“Let me?” he asked, still amused, “I didn’t know I needed your permission, Sakura-sama.”Her chakra was soothing and calmed the dull ache in his stomach and ribs – starkly juxtaposed by the harsh anger on her face.“Would you have let me go?” she demanded.“I wouldn’t have stopped you.”It was Sakura’s turn to scoff. “That’s ridiculous,” she said, “You wouldn’t even let me handle Kabuto on my own. There’s no way you would have let me march off to assassinate Akatsuki members.”“I did let you handle Kabuto,” he argued.“No, you stayed to spy on me.”“Not because I didn’t think you could handle it,” he countered, “I had other business with Kabuto.”She rolled her eyes.“Besides,” he continued, more gently this time, “We were enemies then.”Her gaze softened somewhat, but there was still something in her eyes that made Itachi curious. She reached out and interlaced their fingers. He squeezed her hand and let his head fall back against the headboard. He hadn’t expected her to be angry with him when he returned. He felt that her anger was misplaced. He hadn’t done anything wrong. But he understood. How would he have felt if he had been in her position? It would have been harder than the actual mission – waiting for her to return, not knowing if she would even come back.“I’ll leave so you can get some rest,” she said.“Stay,” he said, gripping her hand tighter, “I missed you.”“I missed you, too.”He shifted over on the bed to make room for her and patted the space beside him. She smiled, but shook her head.“It’s frowned upon for medics to get into beds with their patients.”He smiled back. “I hear it’s also frowned upon to kiss them,” he teased. “Besides, I’m not your patient.”Needing no further convincing, Sakura climbed into the bed and curled herself up against him. Her nearness made his stomach flip. He lifted his arm so that she could settle against him, resting her head on his chest. His heart was out of control.“Do I make you nervous?” she teased, brushing the pad of her thumb across the racing pulse in his neck.“Nervous isn’t the right word,” he answered, catching her hand and holding it against his chest.She hummed and he felt the vibration in his chest. He had never done this before – whatever this was. He had never shared a bed with anyone, at least not like this. Not with anyone pressed so intimately against him. Even though nothing about what they were doing was sexual, Itachi’s heart rate was skyrocketing and a pleasant warmth spread in his chest.Sakura seemed quite content with their current arrangement and was curled into him like a cat. She sighed and he marveled at the way she seemed to melt into him. He wished he could fold himself into her, to just hold her and never let go.“You owe me a date,” she said.“Yes, I do,” he answered.She stretched out her body and he felt all of the pops and cracks in her bones. He looked down at her and noticed for the first time how haggard she looked. She was paler than usual and dark swathes of purple marred skin beneath her eyes.But she was beautiful nonetheless and for a moment he was too stunned to speak, having never really seen her up close with this much clarity before. Her lashes were still wet from when she had been crying and the dampness made them cling together and appear much darker than he remembered them to be.Hesitantly, he reached over and brushed his fingertip along the ends of her lashes. She flinched, but didn’t move away from his touch.“How about I pick you up tonight at your apartment?”“Tonight?” she squealed. “What makes you think you’ll be out of the hospital by then?”“I’m not sleeping here.”“Fine,” she conceded, “But you still should be resting tonight.”“If you say so.”.Sakura hadn’t stayed for long, much to Itachi’s displeasure. She had work to do and it would not have been good for anyone to catch them together in his bed.He contemplated leaving right then and heading straight back to the Uchiha compound. Aside from a general ache and exhaustion, Itachi felt fine and just wanted to be home.But shortly after Sakura left, Sasuke returned. He carried a bag with him that he tossed into Itachi’s lap.“Change of clothes and stuff,” he explained. “I figured you’d want to get out of that hospital gown.”“Thank you.”Sasuke pulled up the chair near Itachi’s bed and spun it around, sitting on it backwards with his legs straddling its back.“Naruto told me about your fight with Pein,” Sasuke said, “He said he couldn’t have done it without you. That you were really impressive.”“I’m sorry, Sasuke,” Itachi said, “I don’t remember it very well.”“I know. I’m not looking for more details,” he said. “When you’re feeling better, I want you to teach me your techniques.”“Oh.”“Oh? That’s all you have to say?”“I’m happy to teach you, Sasuke,” Itachi said, “But I was using Mangekyou.”“I know that, too,” he said. “But still. There is a lot I can learn from you.”“Alright,” Itachi said, “I’ll teach you what I can.”Truthfully, Itachi was conflicted about Sasuke’s future training. He knew his brother was strong – he had defeated Orochimaru, after all. It seemed that the natural progression of things would be for him to gain Mangekyou. Sasuke had been through enough already, hadn’t he? Why should he have to suffer even more to unlock what should have rightfully been his already?In Itachi’s original plan, his death would have awakened Sasuke’s Mangekyou. What could unlock it now? His death, still, he supposed. As well as Naruto’s. Possibly even Sakura’s. He didn’t know.And he didn’t have any urge to find out.Sensing Itachi’s discomfort, Sasuke quickly changed the subject.“So, you and Sakura, huh?”“Pardon?”“Oh, come on,” Sasuke said with a smirk, “It’s obvious there’s something going on with you two. You’re not evening bothering to hide it. She just kicked me out of here so she could make out with you, didn’t she?”Itachi felt the tips of his ears burning. “We didn’t make out.”Sasuke gave him a skeptical look.“I thought you didn’t approve of her,” Itachi ventured.“Not her,” he said, “The two of you. But I’ve had a change of heart.”“Oh?”“When you and Naruto were gone, she was the only person who could really understand what I was feeling,” he explained. “She was just as worried about you as I was.”Itachi hadn’t ever suspected that the two would bond over their shared worry for him. He had gone on for so many years with no one worrying about him it all. It was strange to think that their mutual concern for him brought them closer together.“And the night you returned she sent a courier to come get me in the middle of the night,” he continued, “She didn’t have to do that. She was busy trying to save your life and she still thought to summon me so that I could be there, too.”“I thought she wasn’t my medic.”“Naruto’s dumb ass brought you to her apartment instead of the hospital.”“Oh.”“And then when Tsunade practically forced her to take her hands off of you, she demanded that Tsunade be the one to take care of you. She wouldn’t let any of the nurses touch you,” Sasuke said.Itachi didn’t know what to say.“We took turns staying with you,” Sasuke said, “So that you wouldn’t be alone when you woke up.”“She didn’t mention any of that.”“Then what did you talk about?”Itachi’s eyebrow twitched and he shifted closer to the middle of the bed.“Or were you busy doing something else?”Itachi sent a glare in his brother’s direction. When Sakura teased him it was charming and endearing. When Sasuke did it, it was just annoying.“She was angry with me.”“What for?”“Almost dying.”Sasuke laughed. “Yeah, well, she’s worked pretty hard to keep you alive. What, three times now she’s saved your life?”“I feel like I should do something nice for her,” Itachi said.“Get her a thank you card.”“Yeah, that should make things even.”Sasuke cocked his head to the side and a wry smile twisted up his lips. “You don’t need to make things even. Sakura isn’t a complicated person. She’ll accept any sign of affection, no matter how small.”Itachi didn’t want to think about how Sasuke knew that, but he couldn’t help but ask. “You know from experience?”“That’s not surprising, is it?” Sasuke asked, “We’re teammates.”“I don’t understand why you dislike her so much,” Itachi confessed, “I don’t find her annoying at all.”“And I don’t understand what it is that you see in her,” Sasuke answered, “But I’m beginning to. She’s changed since I left Konoha. She’s still annoying, though.”Itachi sent him a reproachful look.“Oh come on, you know she is,” he said, “She’s so… sassy.”Itachi smiled. “She reminds me of mom.”Sasuke fell silent. Maybe he didn’t agree, or maybe he hadn’t thought about their mother in a while. Either way, Itachi regretted the words. They hadn’t ever discussed the massacre after Itachi used his Sharingan to show him the truth. Everything Sasuke needed to know had been shown to him.But maybe they should talk about it. Maybe remembering the Uchiha clan together wouldn’t be as painful as Itachi anticipated.For all the pain and suffering Itachi had felt having to murder his own family – the look on his parents’ faces, being the one to strike that blow – he couldn’t fathom the pain that Sasuke must have felt, thinking that his brother, a man he loved and admired, could do something so heinous. Out of hate, nonetheless.It was still a miracle, in Itachi’s opinion, that Sasuke didn’t appear to harbor any lingering hatred for him for what he had done.“I suppose I can see it,” Sasuke said, breaking Itachi out of his reverie. “They could both be quite stern sometimes.”Itachi smiled, but it was weak.“And I don’t remember mom being so sassy,” Sasuke said, grimacing.But then his smile got stronger. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Sakura had gone back to Itachi’s room after her shift had ended only to find that he had already left. She had suspected that he would leave, and that was probably best for him. He wouldn’t have wanted to spend the night in the hospital again. But Sakura almost wished that he had stayed so that she could see him again.When she arrived back home, her apartment was mercifully empty. Not that Sakura didn’t enjoy Ino’s company, but tonight she wanted to get some work done.She changed into her comfiest pajamas and settled down onto her couch with some empty journals and several medical scrolls. Tonight she was going to attempt to come up with her own offensive medical jutsu.It had been ages since Kabuto had proffered her the chance to learn from him, and even though she never would have considered such a thing, she found herself daydreaming often about what she might have learned from him.She had a few ideas spinning around in her head. The one she had chosen to start with was the creation of chakra senbon. It wasn’t necessarily medical in nature, but it would be a start to get her creative juices flowing. If she could create chakra scalpels, why not senbon, too?The problem she ran into was how to dispel and throw the chakra senbon like it was an actual senbon. She set out scribbling in her journals, testing ideas on paper.She didn’t know how long she sat crouched over her scrolls before she heard a knock at her door. Ino, she suspected, looking for her makeup. After Itachi’s impromptu healing session in her bedroom, Sakura had moved Ino’s makeup aside to lay her blankets on the floor. She couldn’t sleep in her room again until the blood had been cleaned up. She’d probably need another mattress.“Come in.”The door opened up, and instead of Ino, it was Itachi standing there. Sakura was less surprised this time, and assumed that from now on she would have to get used to him showing up at her apartment.His arms were filled with grocery sacks and even though the pallor of his skin was still in the ‘too pale’ range, he looked happy.Sakura cocked her head with bemusement, still buried underneath her scrolls on the couch.“Oh,” he said when he saw her, “You look busy.”“Just a little project I’m working on,” she said, pushing her books aside and rising to greet him. “What’s in the bags?”She helped him into the kitchen, taking a few bags from his arms and setting them on the counter. When his arms were free, he paused and looked over her with painful scrutiny.As if just remembering that she was in pajamas – and not flattering ones – Sakura blushed and tugged at the hemline of her oversized sweatshirt. Fortunately, she had chosen to put on shorts underneath it, but Itachi probably didn’t know that.“I want to make you dinner,” he said.“Dinner?”He took a step closer to her and brushed a lock of her hair away from her face. “Yes,” he answered, “You said I had to rest, but I wanted to do something for you.”She smiled and looked down at her feet. “That’s sweet, Itachi. Thank you.”“I should have warned you, I guess,” he said with a grin, “I see you’re in the habit of not wearing pants when you’re at home.”She scoffed indignantly. “I have shorts on under here.”He grinned even wider. “I don’t believe you.”She swatted him playfully and turned her back to him. “You’ll have to take my word for it. I’m going to go change.”“No, don’t,” he said.She eyed him reproachfully, but made no move to leave.“You keep working on your thing and I’ll make you dinner,” he said, “Just pretend I’m not even here.”She didn’t even begin to know how to argue with that. If he wanted to make her dinner, she certainly wasn’t going to complain. He definitely should have been at home resting instead, but cooking wasn’t anything too strenuous and she was here in case anything were to happen to him.So she let him get to work in the kitchen while she went back to her scrolls. Not surprisingly, Sakura found it difficult to concentrate on what she should have been doing knowing that Itachi was in the next room. She couldn’t get over the fact that instead of being home with Sasuke that he chose to be here with her instead. He had just returned from an extremely dangerous mission where he’d almost gotten himself killed. And now he was casually making her dinner as if that was a totally normal thing for him to be doing.It almost felt like they were back in Toyeiki and any minute now she would have to wake Yamato and Sachi and take them down to eat. She almost wished that they were here, too.But then the thought made her blush. Fantasizing about playing house with Itachi was a step further than she was willing to be right now.She turned her attention back to her scrolls, pondering over ways to dispel chakra from her body – a much safer topic. Time went by much faster while she worked, and by the time Itachi had come back into the living room, Sakura almost had it.“Dinner’s ready, Sakura,” he said.“Hold on just a second,” she said, scribbling a few more notes down before setting her journal aside and smiling warmly at him.The impressive spread on her kitchen table looked inviting, steam rising from the plethora of dishes. The sheer amount of food was staggering.“Do we have more dinner guests coming?” she asked teasingly.“I’ve been out for days and all I’ve had since I woke up is some soup,” he replied.She smiled playfully as she took her seat. “It looks amazing, Itachi. Thank you.” She didn’t even realize how ravenous she was until the enticing smells wafted over to her. She tucked into the food without much ceremony, stuffing her face like she was the one who had barely eaten in days.Itachi, who had admitted that he was starving, ate his food with much more grace and elegance, every bit the aristocratic clan head that he was meant to be.“Tell me about the project you’re working on,” he said between bites.She swallowed the bite of food in her mouth had the decency to look a little ashamed of the way she’d been eating. But she found the amused look Itachi was giving her encouraging.“I’m developing a chakra senbon,” she answered, “One that can be either thrown as if it were physical, or pushed out of the body with chakra.”“Like your chakra scalpels?”“Exactly,” she said, “The problem is that once the chakra is dispelled from the body, it no longer retains its shape. At least, to a certain degree. Senbons have to be sharp and precise, so it will take some work. I’ve got a long way to go.”“Your chakra control must be incredible,” he said, and Sakura felt her heart swell with pride at the tone of admiration in his voice. “If you are successful, do you think you’ll be able to create even bigger chakra weapons eventually? Like daggers or katanas?”“I haven’t really thought that far ahead, yet,” she admitted, “But that does sound like a good idea.”“How will you make the senbon retain its shape after it’s been ejected?”“I don’t know yet,” she said, “I’m going to have to use trial and error to figure it out, I suppose.”“Do you know how much of your chakra it will consume to use it?”“Not very much,” she answered, taking another bite of her food. “I imagine the bigger the weapon, the more chakra I will need. Senbon shouldn’t require much.”“Can you poison them like you would a regular senbon?”Sakura hadn’t thought of that before. Granted, she hadn’t been working on the jutsu for very long. “Before Kabuto’s biological warfare disease, I’d never seen chakra infected with anything before. I’ll have to play around with it and see what I can do. I may be able to use what I learned in Toyeiki in conjunction with the chakra senbon. I also found a way to infuse Gaara’s sand with poison, so maybe that technique could be useful, too.”“Oh, yeah,” Itachi said, “How did your mission go?”“It went smoothly,” she answered, “Gaara-sama was quite pleased with my work. Truthfully, I spent most of my mission worried about yours.”“I’m sorry.”Sakura laughed. “You are not. You said you liked that I worried about you.”He smiled a half smile. “I was looking forward to seeing your reaction when I returned.”“My relief, you mean?”He nodded.“I was anything but relieved when you returned.”“I’m sorry for scaring you.”Sakura wanted to roll her eyes, but she didn’t. “Do you want to see what I had to deal with when you came back?”Itachi’s brow furrowed dramatically and he paused. “You mean with my Sharingan? I thought—”“What? No,” she replied. “Come with me.”She led him to her bedroom and threw the door open. Carefully, she watched his face as he surveyed the damage. She really should have cleaned it up by now, but she had spent most of her time at the hospital, either working or sitting by his side. She hadn’t really had time to clean up the mess.And, oh, it was a mess. There was a clear trail of blood from the window to her bed, seeping into the wood. More blood than a human should probably lose at one time. Her mattress was soaked through, and piles of bloody rags and towels were scattered across the floor.Itachi’s mouth was set in a grim line as she watched his eyes scan the room. He let his eyes settle on her face.“Where have you been sleeping?”“The couch.”A pained expression flashed across his face. But when it disappeared, the look he fixed her with was one of sadness and pity. Sakura felt a stab of guilt and then anger. Guilt because it wasn’t his fault that this happened. He had only been doing his duty. He got hurt and that wasn’t something she should be upset with him about. And anger because she didn’t need or want his pity.“Don’t look at me like that,” she snapped.“Like what?”“It’s just a little bit of blood,” she answered.“It looks like a scene from a horror movie,” Itachi said.“I’m going to clean it up soon,” she said defensively. “I’ve just had a lot to do.”“I’ll help you clean it up.” “I don’t need your help.”“Nonsense,” he said firmly. “It’s my blood, isn’t it? I’m going to help you clean it up.”.It had been no use arguing with him. Both of them lacking an appetite after being in her bedroom, they cleaned the kitchen together and then moved on to the blood. Sakura had done the heavy lifting – moving her mattress to the curb and taking the towels to the laundry room. She didn’t like that Itachi was doing any cleaning at all while he should be resting, but he had been adamant.When she reentered her bedroom, he was on his knees, scrubbing away at the hardwood floor. In her genin days, Sakura always had an image of Itachi in her head – the one he helped to foster. Now that she was getting to know him, the image of him cleaning her bedroom floors didn’t seem so strange. He was nothing if not helpful and considerate.She watched him from the doorway, taking in his appearance in every way that she could. His long hair was tied low at the nape of his neck and hung down the length of his strong back. He was wearing standard issue shinobi clothes in black, making his body look smaller and slimmer than it actually was. His skin was too pale, but once he started to regain his strength that would change.Sakura remembered in Toyeiki how old he looked. The harsh lines on his face made him appear much older than he actually was. No doubt the stress of everything he had been through had caused him to age prematurely.But now there was a quality to his face that was youthful and healthy, in spite of how weak he still was. It hadn’t been there in Toyeiki. In fact, Sakura couldn’t recall ever seeing him look so… well, happy. He looked happy.The thought made her smile. Here was a man who had been dealt an unfortunate set of cards and forced to burden things that a thirteen year old never should have to. And during all that strife, all he had wanted was to see Sasuke safe and happy. And now he had that. He had everything he wanted.And that happiness looked so good on him.He paused and looked at her with a raised brow. “Is something wrong?”“No,” she said, unable to contain the grin that was more resembling a smirk now. “Everything is perfect.”“Not quite,” he said with mild bemusement. “This blood is going to stain your floors.”She approached him and knelt down in front of him, pulling the scrubbing brush from his hands. She took his hands in hers and held them in her lap. “It’s okay, Itachi,” she said. “Thank you for coming over, for making me dinner, and helping me clean up. Thank you for being so perfect.”“Sakura, I’m not—”“Can I kiss you?”She saw the surprise on his face, more evident than he usually allowed. He blinked at her, his mouth opening and then closing like he didn’t quite know what to say. And he probably didn’t, Sakura thought, because he had probably never been asked that before.But then he looked conflicted for whatever reason and Sakura’s heart sank. Maybe he didn’t want to kiss her. Maybe he had changed his mind about her. This dinner that she had deemed to be romantic by its very nature may have actually been nothing more than a simple thank you for saving his life.But then she felt his hands on the side of her face as he pulled her close to him and pressed his lips to hers. It was sweet and chaste and full of affection. She pulled away before he could deepen it, more afraid that she would do that herself and he specifically told her he wanted to take things slow. She would respect that even though she was dying to kiss him harder, to press her body against his just to feel what it would be like to be touching him everywhere at once.She moved her hands from his, sliding her palm over his forearm and then up to his bicep and his shoulder. Her eyes followed the movement of her hands, lingering over his muscles and smooth skin. She let her fingers trail down his chest, a place she had touched many times before, but not quite like this.Her eyes roved over him, appreciating his toned abdomen and the pectoral muscles she could see even through his shirt. Her eyes dipped even lower, down into his lap before they shot back up to his face.She should have been embarrassed to have openly ogled him. She expected to see amusement on his face. Instead, she found his eyes half lidded, his expression serious and dark.“Sakura,” he murmured.“Itachi,” she whispered back.The air suddenly seemed very heavy and Sakura felt her breath catching in her throat. But Sakura didn’t want air; she wanted Itachi’s mouth on hers again. She reached forward to touch him again – it didn’t matter where. But she paused when she felt his fingertips skim along the bare skin of her thigh. She shivered under his touch and inched closer to him, rising up on her knees so that she towered above him.He let his hands wander along her thighs, stroking the back of them, sliding along the creamy skin behind her knees. Sakura watched his face as he touched her. He looked fascinated, enraptured by her, and Sakura felt a warm bubble burst in her chest.She grabbed his face, probably too roughly, and turned his face up to hers and kissed him. Her body felt electric and on fire, just like the first time she had kissed him. She deepened the kiss and he allowed it this time, even when she inched even closer to him, straddling one of his legs with hers.His hands skimmed up the sides of her thigh, stopping briefly at the hemline of the sweatshirt before they settled on her hips on top of the fabric. Warmth was curling in her stomach. Sakura was no stranger to her own body. She may not have had sex with anyone else before, but she had touched herself. Who hadn’t? She wasn’t ashamed of it. But now she could feel her arousal slowly cresting. She could feel a dampness growing between her legs.He wants to take this slow, she reminded herself.She longed to grind down onto his leg that she had enticingly and dangerously straddled – anything to relieve the tension she felt.But she froze, instead. She broke away from their kiss, waiting to see what he might do. No longer quite as distracted, Sakura realized that she could smell her own arousal. Which meant that Itachi could, too.This time, she did feel a little ashamed. She felt her cheeks heat up.Itachi didn’t seem to notice her embarrassment. His eyes were locked onto her neck, of all places. Tenderly, he brushed away the pink hair there and pressed his lips to her pulse point.Sakura stifled a groan and felt her legs wobble beneath her. She felt his grip on her hips tighten and then his tongue lashed out and tasted the thin skin of her throat. Sakura whimpered, and ground her hips down into his lap, unable to control herself. His grip tightened even further, but his lips froze on her neck.“I’m sorry,” she whispered, pulling away from him slightly. “I really only wanted to kiss you.”He didn’t respond, his body frozen still while he watched her with a mixture of curiosity and heat. She felt more heat pool in her belly looking at his sultry gaze. For someone who had also never been romantically involved with anyone, he sure did a good job of looking sexy.Cautiously, she extricated herself from his lap. Instantly, she missed the heat of his body and the hardness of his thigh between her legs.Itachi suddenly stiffened, on alert. A beat later, Sakura heard her front door open and Ino’s shrill voice ringing out from her kitchen.“Hey, Forehead!” she called, “Get your little black dress! We’re going to the civilian district!”Sakura rolled her eyes and flashed Itachi a look. “Stay here,” she said. She breathed a sigh of relief at the interruption.Down in the kitchen, Ino was rifling through Sakura’ refrigerator. “What’s with all this leftover food?” she asked. She slammed the door shut and Sakura saw that she was dressed to the nines in a startling short red dress and impressively tall black heels.“Oh my god,” Ino said, catching sight of Sakura in her sweatshirt. “Come on, let’s get you changed. We have a lot of work to do to make you presentable.”“Ino, I’m not really feeling it tonight,” she said. “I just want to stay in my pajamas, maybe watch a movie.”Ino eyed her suspiciously. “But there’s a party happening right now in the civilian district. Full of hot guys, no doubt,” she said. “I thought you wanted to practice flirting.”“No, you wanted me to practice flirting.”“Well, you need the practice,” she insisted, “So go put that dress on.”Ino stomped off in the direction of Sakura’s bedroom.“Ino, wait.”Ino ignored her and threw open the door to her bedroom to find Itachi, who had resumed cleaning the floors and was back on his knees with the scrubbing brush.“Yamanaka-san,” he greeted, unfazed by her impromptu appearance.Ino whipped around a glared at Sakura, who was glaring right back at her. “What the hell?” Ino demanded. “You didn’t have to lie to me. You could have just told me he was here.”Sakura sighed because that was sort of true. “I didn’t lie,” she said. “I do want to stay home in my pajamas.”Ino scoffed. “Please, he’s already got half your pajamas off.”“I’m wearing shorts under here!”“And why the hell is he cleaning your floors?” Ino asked. “Shouldn’t he be in the hospital?”“I was cleared to leave by Tsunade-sama,” Itachi interjected, but it fell on deaf ears.“He offered to clean them, Ino,” Sakura said tersely, “I didn’t make him.”“So what, I’m just supposed to go to this party by myself now so you can stay here and watch pretty boy scrub your floors?”“Ino!”Sakura watched Ino’s face wilt and then harden again. Ino had always been a little bit loud and abrasive, but she seemed to be in a worse mood than usual.“This was all for you, you know,” Ino said. “All these nights out, the getting dressed up. I wanted to help you find a man.”This was news to Sakura. If she had known that from the beginning, she might not have gone out with her all those times.“You knew I liked Itachi.”Ino’s eyes flickered over to Itachi who had ceased scrubbing the floor and was watching the two of them argue with wide eyes.“I didn’t think you were serious about him.”Sakura didn’t know what to say to that because it felt too awkward having him right there, listening to them.“Now you have someone and I don’t,” Ino said, her voice trembling. “We could have, like, gone on double dates or something. It just isn’t fair that he was taken away from me right when things were getting good.”“Oh, Ino,” Sakura said, wrapping her arms around her.“No, stop,” Ino said, but she didn’t resist. “I’m not crying.”Sakura held onto her tight. It had never occurred to her that Ino was using Sakura’s love life as a way to vet her own. Sakura didn’t know the details about her relationship with Sai, but now that she thought about it, it had been quite a while since she had seen Ino with any other man. She had always been used to seeing her best friend with a flavor of the week. It seemed that now she wasn’t ready for that again.“So you’ve been trying to live vicariously through me, huh?” Sakura asked.Ino pulled away from her. “That’s ridiculous.”“That’s why you’ve been trying to get me to go out and meet guys,” Sakura said. “You aren’t ready to date again so you’re using me to do it.”“You’ve got it all wrong.”“That’s why you wanted me to flirt with Gaara!”Ino opened her mouth to protest but then closed it. And then opened it again. “Wait, did you?”Sakura glanced over at Itachi who was watching her with rapt attention now. He’d abandoned his scrubbing brush and was back on his feet. Ino followed her gaze and raised an eyebrow.“It’s okay, you can tell me later.”“I didn’t flirt with him, Ino,” Sakura said firmly.“Did he flirt with you?”“No!”“Come on, Sakura, work with me a little bit here,” Ino said. “I only asked you to do one thing. Just a little harmless flirting!”“Well, I was a little preoccupied with the fact that my teammate was on a dangerous, life-threatening mission and I had no idea where he was or when he would be back,” Sakura said, crossing her arms.“Right, right,” Ino said. “And pretty boy here was on that mission, too, if I recall correctly.”Sakura glared at her, sucking in a deep breath like the oxygen would somehow give her more patience.“What do you want from me, Ino?”“Well, before I realized you had company—” Sakura winced at the inflection of the word, “I wanted you to come party with me.”“Ino, I’m—”“You should go with her,” Itachi said, interrupting her thought before she could finish it. “I should get home.” He moved to stand in the doorway, leaning against the frame, waiting for her response.“Are you sure?” Sakura asked. She didn’t like the idea of abandoning him after he’d specifically come to see her, especially since he had been so nice to her. Not to mention he was still recovering from an injury and she didn’t want to be too far away from him, just in case. And if she was honest, she wanted to kiss him again. And again and again.But Ino also needed her right now, and Itachi seemed to understand that. He nodded and gave her a small, but genuine smile.She leaned up onto his toes and kissed him on the corner of his mouth, quick and chaste. She was amused to see him blushing when she pulled away.“I’ll make it up to you,” she said. “Thank you.”“Aww!” Ino cooed dramatically.Sakura rolled her eyes. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Itachi hadn’t been all that bothered by Ino showing up at Sakura’s apartment. For the second time, they had let physical affection get taken a little bit too far and he wanted to get some space from her. He couldn’t blame it entirely on Sakura (and he wouldn’t have, even if it had been her fault).But when she had asked if she could kiss him, her voice so tender and eager, her eyes lit with anticipation – well, it did things to him. His whole body had seemed to respond to her without even a touch. It was mesmerizing and horrifying all at once because he had no clue what he was doing. He wanted to take her right then, to rip off that sweatshirt and show her exactly what she did to him.Of course, he couldn’t do that. It was too much. Too soon. There was a modicum of propriety that needed to be upheld. Sakura was special. He wouldn’t mess their relationship up by taking things too quickly. For his own sanity, he needed to slow down.But, oh, had she been a real temptress. Everything about her – her scent, her hair, the way her lithe fingers clung to his face while she kissed him – it was intoxicating. He vividly remembered the way she had straddled his leg, so wanton, so desperate. He could feel her heat, her dampness. And that he had been the one to do that her! It had taken more self control than he’d ever used before to prevent himself from pinning her down and ravaging her on her soapy, bloody bedroom floor.So Ino’s appearance had been welcome. She was a good distraction. For Sakura, anyway. Though their topic of discussion had been interesting to Itachi (had she flirted with Gaara?), he hadn’t been able to pay too much attention since all of the blood in his brain had rushed elsewhere.After he’d excused himself (and received a welcome, but surprising kiss from her), Itachi had gone straight back to the Uchiha compound, which had been blessedly empty. For the first time in his life, Itachi touched himself. He’d never been one to indulge in such hedonistic pleasures. He had certainly imagined that if he ever did, it would have been with another person, and not just himself.But the situation necessitated it. He couldn’t think straight. He couldn’t get Sakura out of his mind. He thought of her, imagined her. Her lips teasing him, her legs wrapped around him. He wanted her so badly.And yet, from an outside perspective, it would have seemed like she was the one who wanted him. How could that even be possible? How could she desire him like that, so much that she would grind against his leg with reckless abandon? She had apologized when they parted. She had only wanted a kiss. If he had pressed her for more… If Ino hadn’t showed up… Would they have had sex?By the time Itachi had woken up the next morning, he didn’t feel quite so hot. Sasuke was still absent, and even though he wanted to see his brother, he was grateful that he wasn’t there now.Itachi wanted advice. When he had still been a law-abiding citizen of Konoha, Itachi had never been afraid to ask for help. He couldn’t know everything, and he’d never learn it if he didn’t ask. Shisui had always had answers. Itachi couldn’t help but wonder what advice he might have given regarding Sakura. Shisui always seemed to be good with women.It didn’t do any good to dwell on that now. Who else could he ask for help?Deciding that it was probably in his best interest to go ahead and finish his mission report and turn it in to Tsunade, Itachi made his was toward the Hokage tower.He was surprised to find Jiraiya coming out of Tsunade’s office when he arrived.“Itachi,” he said with a hint of surprise.Itachi hadn’t mentioned it to anyone, but he had been feeding Jiraiya information about Akatsuki for as long as he’d been a part of the organization. He trusted the sannin to do the right thing for Konoha with that information. There wasn’t much else Itachi could do for Konoha while he was still a part of the organization.It had been quite some time since Itachi had seen Jiraiya. After Itachi’s last official Akatsuki mission, they had been unable to meet. And since Itachi had been unofficially disbanded from Akatsuki, he had no new information to share with him anyway.He had a suspicion that Tsunade was now aware of the relationship they had with one another. Itachi had been fearful to let the Sandaime in on that secret as it could have been used against him. But now it seemed he didn’t have to worry about that.“Jiraiya-san,” Itachi greeted. “What are you doing here?”“I received a tip that Akatsuki’s base was in Rain.”“So you came here to tell Tsunade-sama?”“No, I went to Rain and found half the city completely destroyed,” Jiraiya said, and though the subject was quite serious, he wore a goofy grin. “And I’d know the aftermath of Rasengan anywhere so I figured Naruto had something to do with it.”“You went to Rain knowing that Akatsuki’s base was there?” Itachi asked. “They would have killed you.”“I may be an old man, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have any fight left in these old bones,” Jiraiya said, flexing his biceps. This new, silly Jiraiya was not the same one he rendezvoused with during his time in Akatsuki.“I heard that you and Naruto took them all out by yourselves,” Jiraiya said. “So I suppose you’re glad to be back on Konoha’s side of things again.”“Yes,” Itachi admitted. “I am.”After a few more exchanges of pleasantries, Jiraiya convinced Itachi to grab a bite to eat with him. He supposed that asking for a mission could wait. Jiraiya was a distraction enough as it was.So he found himself at the familiar ramen stand, watching Jiraiya devour his bowl of food with a voracity that rivaled Naruto’s.“So do you think that Akatsuki threat has finally disappeared completely?” Jiraiya asked between mouthfuls.Itachi shook his head. “Akatsuki was just a front for whatever Madara was planning. With all of his manpower gone, he’s going to need time to rebuild and decide what he will do next.”“Right,” Jiraiya replied. “So that gives us some time to prepare for him.”They continued to eat in silence, Jiraiya completely oblivious to Itachi’s discomfort. It wasn’t that he didn’t necessarily like the sannin. They had gotten along well enough while he had been in Akatsuki. He respected the strength and power that he knew Jiraiya had. It was mostly his erratic and often perverted behavior that Itachi found off-putting.“So it must be weird for you to be back in Konoha,” Jiraiya said. “There isn’t anything you need to protect it from right now. It’s always been war, the massacre, then Akatsuki. God knows what else. I bet having some peace is nice.”“There will always be threats against Konoha,” Itachi said. “Even now. Only recently Kabuto created a disease meant to infect shinobi. One that could be used as biological warfare.”“Kabuto?”“Orochimaru’s lackey.”Jiraiya seemed to bristle at the mention of his former teammate. Itachi didn’t know what Jiraiya’s feelings were on the other sannin’s death, but having lost his own teammates and even his family, Itachi could relate. These were the lines that became blurred when one was a shinobi. Friend and foe. Should he have been celebrating the death of his enemy, or mourning the loss of his comrade?“What happened with the disease?” Jiraiya asked. “I’ve never heard of it.”“Tsunade-sama’s apprentice took care of it.”“Ah, Sakura Haruno,” Jiraiya said with a lecherous grin that Itachi did not care for. “She’s quite shapely, isn’t she? Breasts too small, though.”“She’s a very skilled medic,” Itachi said tersely. “In fact, Kabuto tried to recruit her after she created a vaccine for his disease.”“Did he, now?”Itachi didn’t respond, turning back to his food. He was annoyed now, not only because he felt Jiraiya’s words were disrespectful, but also because he’d been doing his best to keep Sakura off his mind and now she was back at the forefront of it.“I can see why he’d want to have a little tart like her around,” Jiraiya continued, unaware of Itachi’s subtle glaring. “She’s quite exotic looking, what with the pink hair and all. And her legs, wow, they just go on for days.”“Jiraiya, you old pervert!”Both Itachi and Jiraiya turned around at the sound of the familiar voice and saw Naruto bounding toward them. He slid into the seat beside Itachi, waving his arms to get Ayame’s attention.“If Sakura heard you talking like that she’d kick your ass,” Naruto said. “And in front of Itachi, too!”“Come on, even a stoic man like Itachi has to admit that she’s a fine piece of work,” Jiraiya said, wiggling his eyebrows.“The fact that Kabuto wants to recruit her means that he’s working toward something,” Itachi said, steering the conversation away from Sakura. Naruto knew of their budding relationship, and that wasn’t something he necessarily wanted Jiraiya to know. “I think Konoha should be concerned about him.”“You think?” Naruto asked. “I mean, he has to know we could kick his ass. Sasuke demolished Orochimaru. Me and you took on most of Akatsuki by ourselves. Does he think he stands a chance?”“Never underestimate your opponent, Naruto,” Jiraiya advised.“I just think we should keep an eye out for him,” Itachi said.“Maybe we should send someone to spy on him,” Naruto suggested. “You know, see what he’s up to. Does anyone know where he is?”“I know he has a base in southern Fire Country a few days east of the River border,” Itachi said. “It looked like he was carrying on Orochimaru’s work – doing human experiments.”“I bet Sasuke would know more about him,” Naruto said.That wasn’t a bad idea, Itachi thought. Maybe he could persuade Tsunade into letting the two of them take a mission together to gather information about what Kabuto was doing..Later that day, Itachi found Sasuke back at the Uchiha compound. “Sasuke,” he said, “Are you up for a spar?”It had been a while since he had sparred with his brother and he was curious about what he could do. It was always engaging to fight against another Sharingan user.“Should you be sparring in your condition?”“Tsunade-sama cleared me,” Itachi said, “I’m good to go.”Sasuke smirked. “Alright then.”They moved to the area behind the main house where Itachi used to practice with targets when he was younger. The place made him feel nostalgic and seeing Sasuke standing there, grown up and ready to fight made him swell with pride.Itachi couldn’t deny that mistakes he made with Sasuke had been detrimental, even before the massacre. He had always pushed his brother aside, both wanting to protect him and just not knowing whether or not he could come through on any promises he made.Now he had an opportunity to right those wrongs. He wouldn’t have to push Sasuke away anymore. He had planned to let Sasuke win their fight, to let him kill him. But this time, Itachi would not hold back.The spar kicked off with genjutsu, as Itachi predicted. Sasuke was adept with his Sharingan, Itachi was pleased to note. With his Mangekyou, there was little chance of Sasuke capturing Itachi in a genjutsu for more than a few seconds, but it was interesting to see what kinds of illusions his little brother had learned to create.Itachi steered clear of using emotional traps and stuck to physical sensation to fool his brother. Sasuke was smart and capable, but it seemed like a low blow.But it seemed that Sasuke wasn’t afraid to use that very tactic against him. A shrill cry rang out from the trees and Itachi looked over to find Sakura writhing in the fallen leaves, soaked in blood.The sight sent a pang of horror coursing through Itachi’s chest, but he wasn’t fooled. Sasuke knew that wouldn’t have fooled him anyway.Breaking the genjutsu with a hand sign, Itachi sent a glare in Sasuke’s direction. “That’s a cheap trick.”Sasuke smirked. “I was just curious to see your reaction.”Itachi didn’t care to mince words with him – and certainly not about Sakura, who he was still having quite a bit of trouble keeping off his mind. He launched himself into physical attacks – throwing shuriken and fists.Sasuke was extremely fast, Itachi learned. In fact, he seemed to be quite a bit faster than he was. They kept up a taijutsu battle for quite some time, each brother parrying and dodging expertly. They battled to the point that Itachi felt exhaustion creeping up on him.Itachi was an excellent shinobi, and without arrogance or conceit, he was aware of it. But coming off his taxing mission, he could feel that he was about to lose this fight to Sasuke. It filled him with pride to know that his brother was so strong now – that he wouldn’t need his protection anymore. And maybe he hadn’t for a long time.But he wasn’t quite ready to admit to himself that Sasuke had become stronger than he was. Itachi didn’t have much of a competitive nature, but the idea of losing to his brother now seemed very unpleasant.In a real fight against an enemy, Itachi could fall back on the powers of his Mangekyou. He was nearly invincible that way, and he knew it. He didn’t like the idea of using those powers against Sasuke, who hadn’t awakened his own Mangekyou yet. But he disliked losing to him even more.Itachi parried a well-thrown thrown punch and grabbed Sasuke roughly by the back of the neck, shoving him to the ground.By the time Sasuke had returned to his feet (a fraction of a second), Itachi had initiated his partial Susanoo. He felt the pain sharply and acutely everywhere in his body. Using Susanoo was risky, especially while he was still in recovery from his previous injuries.He saw Sasuke’s eyes widen slightly, but noticeably. His Susanoo’s form was only skeletal, nowhere near the full and devastating potential it had. But it would be enough to beat Sasuke.Itachi began throwing punches again, slow and heavy but accurate. Sasuke was quick enough to dodge them and smart enough not to stay in close range. But all Itachi had to do was wait. He wouldn’t be able to land an attack on him without getting close.Pain continued to sear through him and Sasuke seemed aware of it. From a safe distance, Sasuke paused, giving him a curious and reprimanding look. “Do you think it’s wise to be using your Mangekyou right now?”Itachi didn’t answer, instead using his Yasaka Magatama to launch a ranged attack at him. No, he thought, he shouldn’t be using a technique like this right now. If Tsunade knew what he was doing she’d have his head. She had warned him about over exerting himself and using his Mangekyou.Instead of dodging like Itachi presumed he would do, Sasuke allowed the attack to land. With horror, Itachi watched the magatama rip through his brother’s flesh, blood spraying into the grass beneath him.Instantly, his Susanoo was gone and he was by Sasuke’s side.A second too late, Itachi realized that it had been a genjutsu. He felt movement behind him, but his exhaustion made him too slow, too sluggish. The cool steel of a kunai met the skin of his throat and he heard an amused chuckle from behind him.Itachi turned around to face his brother and admit defeat only to be met with a fist to the face. He reeled backwards, stumbling to the ground.“I win.”From his position on the ground, Itachi prodded his fingers into the swelling skin around his eye. It would be black by morning, he knew. He looked up at Sasuke, who was covered in bruises and scrapes of his own.“You win,” Itachi conceded.Sasuke extended a hand to help him up.“I’d like to fight you again, though,” Sasuke said, still grinning in the aftermath of his victory. “After you’ve recovered and are back at full strength. It’s not as much fun beating you when you’re practically cripple.”“I’m not even slightly crippled, Sasuke,” Itachi argued, but he was smiling too. Losing to Sasuke hadn’t been as bad as he’d expected.“Whatever,” Sasuke said with undeserved smugness. “Should we get you to the hospital?”Itachi briefly considered the fact that he should go to the hospital now. His entire body felt like it was on fire, every cell in his body lit with agony. It was the unfortunate side effect of his Mangekyou, which he knew he shouldn’t have used. If he went to the hospital now he would have to explain that to Tsunade.“No, I’m fine,” Itachi insisted.“You don’t look fine.”Itachi glared at him and then winced. He could feel the blood dripping down from his eyes like tears. His vision had noticeably worsened since Sakura had taken a look at them just yesterday, and now everything was slightly blurry again.“Should I get your girlfriend to come take a look at you?”Another unappealing option. How could he try to keep his mind off of her when everyone was constantly bringing her up?“She isn’t my girlfriend.”“So that’s a yes, then?”Itachi attempted to stand up and faltered a bit. He was exhausted, but it wasn’t his weakened state that made it so hard to stand. It was the unbearable pain coursing through every part of him. Sasuke pulled his arm up over his shoulders and helped him get to his feet.“Yes, please go get her.”.Predictably, Sakura was not happy when she arrived at the Uchiha compound. She only got one day off this week, she complained, and now she was wasting it here doing what she essentially would have been doing at the hospital anyway. She looked exhausted, too, Itachi noted. Probably from all the partying she’d been doing with Ino the night prior.Itachi felt a stab of guilt in his gut for making her do this. He had been the one to urge her to go out with her friend, and then also the one to demand that she come heal him after what was admittedly a stupid decision on his part.But even though her words were harsh, her hands were gentle where they touched him. She eased the pain throughout his body with a calm pulsing of her chakra. She reduced the swelling of his blackened eye and fixed the various scrapes and cuts Sasuke had inflicted on him.“How are his eyes?” Sasuke asked. He had watched the process from the doorway, which Itachi was somewhat grateful for. It kept him on his best behavior while he longed to reach out and touch her.Touching her was a no-no right now. In fact, even just seeing her brought those urges flooding back to him.“You’re very concerned about his eyes, aren’t you, Sasuke?” Sakura asked, her tone a little too harsh.“They’re his most important weapon,” he snapped. “Of course I’m concerned.”Sakura rolled her eyes, but Sasuke wouldn’t have been able to see it with her back turned to him. Itachi, however, grinned at the gesture. She caught his eye and looked away demurely. It struck Itachi as odd that she’d be so shy about eye contact, but then he felt her hand settle on his thigh, warm and pleasant. She brushed the pad of her thumb back and forth along the inner side of his thigh and Itachi felt a sharp stab of heat in his chest.“His eyes will be fine,” she said to Sasuke. “But you really have to stop using them so much. You shouldn’t have used them while you’re still rehabilitating,” she said to Itachi.“Sorry,” he replied.“All that effort and you didn’t even win,” she teased.Itachi glared at Sasuke over her shoulder. “You told her?”“Of course I told her.”It was Itachi’s turn to roll his eyes. “I let him win,” he whispered to Sakura just loud enough for Sasuke to hear, too.“You did not,” Sasuke snapped.Sakura giggled.“Whatever,” Sasuke mumbled. “I’m going to find Naruto.”Sakura giggled again and then it morphed into full-blown laughter. Itachi smiled, caught up in her infectious grin.“Don’t forget to wrap up your dick, Itachi,” Sasuke said as he was closing the door behind him. “You wouldn’t want any pink-haired Uchiha bastards running around.”Itachi gave one point to Sasuke because that wiped the smile off both their faces. Sakura’s face was beet red and she cast her eyes down to the floor. The door shut behind Sasuke with a forceful click, and with it all the air was sucked from the room.It was the most awkward he had ever felt around her, even back in Toyeiki when everything was new and strange and hostile. There was nothing he could possibly say to ease the unbearable tension in the room now. All he had wanted for the day was to not think about Sakura, and certainly not about impregnating her.“Pink hair isn’t so bad,” Itachi finally said, breaking the uncomfortable silence. “I’m not sure why he said it like it’s a bad thing.”Sakura, still looking mortified and slightly angry, glanced up at him through her lashes. “Pink hair is recessive,” she said quietly. “The only chance my children have of having pink hair is if their father has pink hair, too.”Itachi didn’t know how to respond to that. The idea of someone else being the father of Sakura’s children was unsettling. Luckily there were no pink-haired men that he knew of to picture her with.But then she cracked a smile again, small but warm. “But that’s sweet, though,” she said. “That you’d pretend to be okay with having a son with pink hair.”Itachi felt his skin flush, because that wasn’t quite what he’d said and now she was discussing what their potential children would look like. It was a step in the wrong direction, even though he felt an uncomfortable twitching in his pants just thinking about having children with her.“And you also wouldn’t need to worry about condoms,” she continued, oblivious to his inner turmoil. “I can handle that on my end.”He swallowed nervously because he was definitely not comfortable with this topic of discussion. She was smiling still, but her smile faltered a bit when she looked up at his face. He wondered what she saw there that made her do that and he wanted to touch her face and make her smile again, brighter this time.But she stood up quickly, brushing invisible dirt from her skirt.“I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable, Itachi-san,” she said. The sound of the suffix attached to his name hit him like a sack of bricks. “Let me take a look at your eyes now.”He felt a pang of remorse, though he wasn’t quite sure why. This relationship stuff was so new to him and it felt like he was in a dangerous free fall. It was his good fortune to have a girl like Sakura actually want him, and in no unclear terms. She wasn’t playing games with him. She didn’t try to hide the fact that she liked him. She had even told the Yamanaka girl.It had to have been just as terrifying to her. She had never been in a relationship either. She had confessed to him, without his goading, that she’d never kissed anyone before. She was brave in every way that he was a fool and a coward.His initial affections for her had been bold and risky. He had touched her face, caught her hair between his fingers. He’d brazenly looked her up and down. He’d let their arms brush against one another. All of those things had been simple. They could easily have been brushed away by either of them as flirtatious, but meaningless gestures.Their kiss on the training field could not. Neither could their kiss in her bedroom. Her bedroom! All of these little touches were adding up. He could feel his affection for her surging, growing each day.And she wanted more. It was obvious. He saw the desire in her eyes when she’d asked to kiss him. He was sure his own eyes mirrored that feeling. He wanted more, too. Yet she was the brave one, the one who asked for more, the one who took what she wanted. She let her hands wander farther than he trusted his own to. She pressed them closer together when he could do nothing more than tremble.And it was easy to get swept away with her. He remembered the taste of her neck, the way she had writhed against him. He could have lost all control right there. But she had pulled away, then, because she thought he wanted her to. He didn’t even know it was possible to want two so conflicting things. How could he want to push her away in the same breath he wanted to cling to her and never let go?He looked at her now, so patient and concerned for him while he deliberated his feelings. She would eventually move on, he thought, if she grew bored with his pace. She would think he didn’t want her. That was what she had done when Sasuke didn’t want her. She moved on.Who would she find next? Who else would she let kiss her, let touch the silky skin of her long, pale legs?“Itachi-san?”He cringed. How could she call him that now in the privacy of his home with no one else around? Who was she being professional for?Again he looked at her, almost annoyed with the worry on her face. He wanted to push her back against the wall and kiss her until she forgot about his eyes. He wanted to snap at her and tell her never to call him Itachi-san again.“I’m fine,” he said instead. “You may look at my eyes now.” ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Itachi was acting weird. Sakura was a good enough detective to have deduced that Sasuke’s comment was what had brought about this odd behavior, but she found herself annoyed with it nonetheless.She had taken the time out of her only day off to come over here and fix him up after he made the extremely poor decision to use his Mangekyou and now he wouldn’t even look at her.Her hands were on his temples, surveying the damage he’d done. It wasn’t as bad as she’d made it seem, but he really needed to be more careful or he would destroy all the work she’d done to correct the damage. Using her chakra, she soothed the nerves behind his eyes, knowing that he was probably feeling a lot of discomfort.But in spite of the calming, healing nature of her chakra, she noticed that his hands were clenched into tight fists at his sides. His expression, even with his eyes closed, looked tense and upset.With one last burst of chakra through the channels of his eyes, Sakura stepped away from him.“Okay, Itachi-san,” she said, trying her best to keep a professional and calm tone in her voice. “You’re all set. Are you feeling any pain anywhere?”His eyes flew open and she saw a flash of irritation in them. His lips were pressed together in a thin line. “No,” he said through clenched teeth.Sakura withered a little under his heated stare. She didn’t know what the hell his problem was, but for some reason she felt like it had more to do with her and less to do with Sasuke’s comment.“Are you angry with me?” she asked.She noticed the instant change in his features – the way they softened and looked almost sad.“I’m not angry with you,” he said, but he wasn’t looking at her. “I’ve just got a lot on my mind right now.”She sat down on the arm of the chair he was sitting in, emboldened by his words and just wanting to be closer to him. “Do you want to talk about it?” she asked.She couldn’t imagine what could be bothering him. If there was any point in time that Itachi should be carefree and happy, it seemed like it would be now.“Not really.”She resisted the urge to sigh. If he didn’t want to talk to her about it, she could understand that. It hurt, though, that he wouldn’t share whatever it was that as bothering him.“Tell me about your night out partying,” he said. She looked at him curiously. He didn’t seem quite so tense anymore and she felt him leaning closer to her, not quite touching, but close enough for her to feel the heat of his arm against hers. “Did you have fun?”“If taking care of a drunk blonde all night is considered fun, then yes,” she replied with a wry smirk. “She got wasted almost as soon as we got there. I spent the night trying to keep her up on her feet and then when that failed trying to keep wandering hands off her.”“I’m sure a kunoichi of your caliber had no trouble with that,” he said. She smiled and nudged him with her hip. He leaned even closer then, and Sakura had the urge to grab his head and crush it against her chest and just hold him there.“Yeah, well,” she said, “It would have been easier if I hadn’t been a little tipsy, too.”“So did you get to practice flirting?”Sakura pressed her lips together. She hadn’t really flirted with anyone. She hadn’t really wanted to. It was hard enough to keep her mind off the steamy incident in her bedroom the night prior. Ino had assisted her in scanning the room for any potential suitors, but it had been Itachi’s face that Sakura had been looking for. She knew of course that he was home resting, where he should be.And she also knew that Itachi was well aware of her attraction toward him. Did he really want to know the answer to that question?“Not really,” she answered. “Hopefully my life will never depend on my flirting skills.”“I think you’re pretty good at it.”“What makes you say that?”He looked confused and for a moment Sakura swore she saw the faintest blush on his cheeks,She figured this was as good a time as any to test out the validity of his statement. She leaned in close to him, letting her hair tumble down between them. It was getting quite long now and she knew that the tips of it were ghosting over his shoulder. He could probably smell her shampoo. She knew he liked vanilla.With her eyes widened, she darted them back and forth between his eyes making it look like they were sparkling as they caught the light. She caught her lower lip between her teeth before letting it go again.“Itachi,” she breathed in her sultriest tone, fluttering her lashes. It was a cruel thing to do. She was well aware that he liked her lashes. Then she touched his arm lightly and smiled.The effect was immediate. He grabbed her face roughly and pulled her into his lap, pressing his lips to hers with tenacity she wasn’t used to from him. She shifted so that she was straddling his legs and kissed him back. It was gentle, undemanding in spite of the urgency she felt rolling off him in waves. It was languid, torturously slow and heated. Sakura rolled her hips against him, earning a groan of approval from him.But then his hands were on her hips, steadying her and holding her still. “Sakura,” he said when they broke apart. “You’re quite good at flirting, I think.”“How am I at kissing?”His face grew somber. For a second she was caught up in how handsome he was, still flushed from their kiss. His lashes rivaled hers in length and framed his almond eyes in a way that was almost feminine.“I don’t have anything to compare to you,” he said. “But I can’t imagine how it could be better.”Sakura smiled, completely entranced by his sincere tone and wide eyes. His skin was flushed in the most delightful way. She had forgotten all about how angry she had been when Sasuke had come to retrieve her. “Sakura, I really like you.” “I really like you, too.”“I want to take you on a real date.”She smiled and wriggled in his lap. “I like moonlit walks and fancy restaurants,” she said, “if you want some ideas.”He closed his eyes, tightening his grip on her hips. “I’m sorry for making you come all the way over here on your day off.”She shrugged in response. If this was her reward, then maybe it had been worth it to come all the way over here.“I’m going to be honest with you, Sakura,” he said. “You make me really nervous.”A very unladylike snort came from her mouth and she grinned at him, running her hands over the expanse of his chest. “Really?” she asked, “I make the famed, powerful Itachi Uchiha nervous?”“I’ve had a hard time keeping you off my mind,” he said, his voice a half whisper. In spite of her light and teasing tone, he still looked quite serious – almost upset. “Especially when you are this close.”“What about when I’m this close?” she asked, leaning in and burying her face in his neck. She wrapped her arms around his waist and held him close, but motionless. When he didn’t respond or move, Sakura turned so that her lips brushed against the skin just under his jaw. It wasn’t a kiss, but the contact was enough for her to feel a shiver run through him.“Sakura…”She pulled away from him, puzzled by the strain in his tone and then the look of discomfort on his face. Immediately, she hopped out of his lap and took several steps away from him.“Itachi, I’m sorry,” she said, though she was a little hurt. “I thought that…”“You thought what?”“I don’t know,” she said. “You just seem really uncomfortable with, um… with physical contact.”He extended his hand for her and she tentatively grabbed it. He pulled her close to him again so that she was standing directly in front of him, looking down into his face.“Not uncomfortable,” he said. “Nervous. Because you’re so beautiful and so eager and I’ve never done this before. I don’t want to disappoint you.”“I’ve never done this before either,” she responded. She understood how he felt. She felt the same way only it hadn’t really inhibited her. She let her judgment get clouded when she was with him. She let her body control her. It appeared that Itachi either couldn’t or wouldn’t do that. “And I don’t want to disappoint you.”He cracked a smile. “I don’t think that’s possible.”She smiled back, glad that he told her how he was feeling. She felt better knowing that it wasn’t her fault that he seemed to react so aversely to her attentions.“I know you want to go slow, Itachi,” she said. “So I will respect whatever boundaries you set for us.”He looked absolutely mortified at the idea of discussing sexual boundaries with her, and for some reason that made Sakura want to laugh.Before he could answer, a knock came at the front door. With a curious furrow of his brow, Itachi got up to answer the door. It was a jonin, casual and not urgent.“Is Haruno-san here?” he asked.Itachi opened the door wider so he could see Sakura.“You’re needed at the Hokage tower immediately,” he said to her.“Is it urgent?” she asked.“Forgive me, Haruno-san,” he answered, “I don’t know.”“I’ll be right there.”.“Danzo requested an audience with you.”Sakura blinked, unsure of whether or not she heard her shishou correctly. She had rushed all the way from the Uchiha compound, not for a medical emergency, but so Danzo – the very man she’d tried to kill only recently – could speak with her?“Umm… why?”“He wouldn’t tell me,” Tsunade answered, annoyed. “He also asked to speak with Naruto, but Naruto refused.”“Wait,” Sakura said. “I can refuse, too?”“It’s your choice whether to speak with him or not.”“Do you have any idea what he wants?”Tsunade sighed and clasped her hands together on the desk in front of her. “I don’t know, but I think it might have something to do with his trial. He may want to plead his case. He knows I’m not likely to listen or care, but maybe he thinks he can sway either you or Naruto.”“Why would that matter?” Sakura asked. “We have nothing to do with his trial.”“You will have to be witnesses, Sakura.”Oh. Sakura hadn’t known that.“I’ll give you some time to decide what you want to do.”“I want to speak with him.”“Are you sure?” Tsunade asked. “You can take some time to think about it if you want. You don’t have to make a decision right now.”Sakura didn’t need time to think about it. Danzo was a man who had answers for her. Danzo was Itachi’s last loose end. If he wanted to see her, even for his own selfish reasons, she could grant him that if only so she could get what she needed from him, too.“No, I want to see him.”.Ibiki led her down to Danzo’s cell. “He’s bound with chakra suppressing chains so he won’t be able to hurt you,” he told her. “He has requested a private audience with you, so we will not be able to hear anything going on in the room unless you wish for us to. We will, however, be able to see you both.”Sakura thought about that for a moment. At this point, she was in the habit of hiding things from Tsunade. If something happened that she wanted Tsunade to know about, she could always just tell her.“I think it’s best to keep the conversation private for now,” she said to Ibiki.“Alright,” he said. “If you need help or you want me to come into the room, just raise your hand.”Sakura entered the room alone and was surprised to see how lavishly this prisoner was living. It seemed his position on the council earned him a certain amount of dignity, even in his disgrace.The chair he was chained to was plush and soft looking. He was covered with a thick quilt to prevent the chill from biting him. A tray of half eaten food (delicious smelling, Sakura noted) sat on a small table beside him in addition to a stack of books and a few scrolls.“Sakura Haruno,” he said, his tone warm. It sent a shiver down her spine.She narrowed her eyes at him and cocked out her hip. “Before you say anything else,” she said. “Why don’t you tell me why I should listen to anything you have to say.”“You’re angry with me, I see,” he said. “But I think your anger is misplaced. After all, Konoha is my home, too. I only want to see it safe.”“You’re awfully willing to have Konoha citizens killed for someone who supposedly wants to protect them,” she argued.“Sometimes lives must be sacrificed for the greater good,” he said.“I disagree.”“Well, you certainly seem to think highly of Itachi Uchiha,” he pointed out. “And he sacrificed his own family.”“Don’t you dare speak his name.”“You are close with both of the Uchiha boys, aren’t you?” he asked.Sakura narrowed her eyes. She had come down here with the intention of getting answers about the massacre, about everything he had supposedly done in the interest of protecting the village. But now she could only feel a blinding anger at the man who had done so much to hurt the people she cared about.Her fists were clenched tightly at her side and she ground her teeth together, but she made her best effort to keep her face neutral.“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about, Haruno,” he said with infuriating calmness.“What about them?”“The coup the Uchihas were planning was only a symptom of a much larger problem,” he said. “They are a dangerous clan, rooted in anger and hatred. Their kekkei genkai necessitates mere children experiencing traumatic and horrifying events. Their powers are built on rage and fury. They do not belong in Konoha. There can never be peace with them here.”Sakura felt her anger flaring up in her chest, but his words gave her pause. Was there any truth to that? Itachi had urged Sasuke to ‘foster his hatred’ to get stronger. Awakening their Sharingan was always due to something emotionally traumatic. Did that mean the Uchiha clan was too dangerous to stay here?“They are a founding clan,” Sakura argued. “It is their right to be here.”“Maybe,” Danzo conceded. “But if they had gone through with the coup they would have killed hundreds of people. What if the restored Uchiha clan tries to do the same?”“They won’t.”“You can’t know that for sure,” he argued.She tapped her foot on the ground impatiently. She was angry with herself for how much sense he was making. Itachi would never let his clan plan a coup. He had already stopped one from happening. With Itachi as the clan head, things would be different.“What do you want, Danzo?”“Convince them to leave,” he said. “You and the Uzumaki boy. They’ll listen to you. Convince them to leave Konoha and never return.”“You’ll just send someone after them to kill them,” Sakura said through clenched teeth. “And this time it wouldn’t be considered a crime against Konoha since they would no longer be citizens.”He shook his head. “You have my word that I will not harm either of them as long as they stay out of Konoha and its business.”“How can I believe that?” she demanded. “You sent ROOT members after Team 7 and Team Ro. I was on that team. Kakashi-sensei, Naruto, and Yamato did nothing wrong.”It was his turn to narrow his visible eye. “If I recall correctly, you planned on killing me that day. What is the difference between you killing me to protect Konoha and me killing them? We obviously do not agree on what is in Konoha’s best interest, but we do both have the village’s best interest at heart.”Sakura swallowed because she didn’t have an answer to that. He was right. If she was willing to kill him – a member of Konoha’s council – in order to protect the people she loved, what was the difference in him doing the exact same thing?“ROOT was not supposed to harm anyone other than Sasuke and Itachi,” he said, his voice softer.She growled, a sound that surprised her. She couldn’t recall ever feeling so angry before.“Just think about what I said, Haruno,” he said. “That clan is dangerous and you should be careful. You are a well respected citizen of Konoha. The people like you. I’d hate to see you lost to that wicked clan.”Some of the tension in her shoulders slackened, but she could still feel her anger burning hotly in her chest. Without another word, she turned on her heel and left..“Naruto, open up!” Sakura yelled, banging on his apartment door. She continued banging loudly on the door until a few moments later when a disheveled looking Naruto swung the door open.“Sakura, what the hell?” he demanded. “Why are you so loud?”She pushed her way inside only to find an equally disheveled look Sasuke sitting on Naruto’s couch, an annoyed look on his face.“Naruto,” she said, ignoring whatever had been going on between them. “I need to talk to you in private.”Naruto was visibly taken aback and scratched his head with befuddlement. “Anything you say to me you can say to Sasuke, too,” he said. “I’m going to tell him about it anyway.”Sakura glanced over at Sasuke who was smirking.“Naruto, please,” she pleaded. “It’s important.”Naruto looked at Sasuke who shrugged and stood up from the couch. “Whatever,” he said. “I’ll go get the three of us something to eat.”It was Sakura’s turn to look surprised this time. She hadn’t been expecting that. She always felt like she was intruding whenever she was around Sasuke and Naruto. Being invited to eat with them at Naruto’s apartment felt a lot like third wheeling.“Oh, okay,” she said, not knowing what else to say. When Sasuke had shut the front door behind him, Sakura turned to face Naruto.“What is it, Sakura?”“Why did you refuse to see Danzo?”“Oh, how did you know about that?” he asked.“He wanted to see me, too,” she answered. “Did you tell Sasuke that he wanted to talk to you?”“Of course,” Naruto said. “I tell Sasuke everything.”Sakura stared at him for a second. They were about as subtle as she and Itachi had been at keeping their relationship incognito.“Well, I talked to him,” she said, drinking in the weird expression on Naruto’s face. “I wanted to hear what he had to say.”“Well?”“He told me he wants me and you to convince Itachi and Sasuke to leave Konoha. He thinks the Uchihas are dangerous and violent,” she said.Naruto’s eyebrows went up in surprise. “Well, I can’t exactly argue with that…” he said. “But they wouldn’t do anything to hurt Konoha. I’m certain of it.”“I know,” she said. “But he’s determined. If they don’t leave, he’ll try to find a way to have them killed.”“He won’t have any power anymore after the trial,” Naruto pointed out. “Once he’s off the council we won’t have to worry about him anymore.”Sakura groaned and shook her head. “No, we will,” she argued. “Do you think he’ll just stop caring about Konoha after he’s removed from the council? He’s still going to try to find a way to get rid of them. He has the means to do it, too.”“Let’s not pretend he actually cares about Konoha,” Naruto said, glaring at her.“In his own twisted way, he does,” she said. “We need to figure out a way to keep him off the Uchiha clan’s back.”“Should we ask Tsunade-sama for help?”“I think we should keep this between us for now,” she said. “I’m afraid that if Sasuke finds out that he will do something drastic. Itachi has been through enough already, so I don’t want to tell him either. Besides, he’ll tell Sasuke.”“I don’t know, Sakura,” Naruto said. “I don’t like keeping secrets from Sasuke.”“You know him better than I do. What do you think he’ll do when he finds out?” she asked.“He’ll want to kill him…”“And that’s what got us into trouble the first time.”“Fine, we’ll keep it a secret for now,” he said. “But only until we figure out what we’re going to do.”.By the time Sasuke had returned with several greasy bags of takeout, Sakura and Naruto had moved on to a different topic of conversation. Though Sakura was worried about what Danzo might do, it appeared that he was going to give her some time to think about her decision. They would at least have until his trial to decide what they were going to do.It had been a long time since she and Naruto had enjoyed some time together, just the two of them. Before Sasuke’s return, she and Naruto spent a lot of time together. With Sasuke back in the village, Naruto had much less time for her. She understood, really. Sasuke and Naruto shared a bond that she would never have with either of them. But it still felt nice to be near Naruto again.Only this time, there wasn’t a thread of remorse about Sasuke that poisoned their good mood. They laughed and joked with one another while they waited for Sasuke.Sakura expected that things would get a little more awkward once Sasuke had come back, but to her surprise, Sasuke was in a good mood – almost jovial. He joined in their laughter, even when the jokes were made at his expense.And she didn’t miss the looks of affection they shared with one another, the sly glances when they thought she wasn’t looking. If she had been in this position a couple of years ago, it would have broken her heart. But now she felt nothing but happiness for her teammates and whatever joy they found in each other. No one deserved to be happy more than they did.Except maybe Itachi.The thought knocked her good mood down a peg. She was thoroughly confused by Itachi’s odd behavior earlier that day. He had made his interest in her pretty clear, yet he seemed to agonize over their physical contact.He had told her that he was nervous, but she couldn’t help but feel like she was doing something wrong. He had seemed angry with her, in spite of the fact that he told her he wasn’t.She knew it was kind of silly, but she worried that his interest in her might be fleeting. Itachi was an important man – the Uchiha clan head. Sure, he could dabble around with her now. He didn’t know many other women in the village and Sakura had been a constant in his life since he’d returned to Konoha.But soon enough he would have to get serious, right? He told Tsunade that he wanted to restore the Uchiha clan. He couldn’t possibly do that with Sakura, the civilian born. He would want someone from a powerful clan, someone who would only make the Uchiha bloodline stronger.“Sakura?” Sasuke asked through a mouthful of rice. “Are you okay?”She shook her head to clear her thoughts and fixed her eyes on him. His head was cocked to the side and his eyes were piercing.“Yeah, I’m fine,” she said, scooping rice into her mouth.Sasuke grunted in response.“Is it Itachi?” Naruto asked. “Did he do something to you?”Sasuke reached over and punched Naruto in the arm. “Why would my brother do anything bad to her?”Naruto glared at him, rubbing the spot where he had been punched. “I don’t know, I’m just looking out for Sakura,” he said. Then he turned to face her. “Sakura, you let me know if he does anything to upset you. I’ll set him straight.”Sasuke scoffed, “Shut up, moron.”“Guys,” Sakura said before they could continue, “There’s nothing wrong.”Naruto looked down at his plate sheepishly and Sasuke rolled his eyes, taking another bite of his food.After a beat of silence, Sasuke asked, “So how are things going with Itachi?”She set down her chopsticks and brought her thumbnail to her mouth. She chewed on it thoughtfully, unsure of how to answer that question. Sasuke and Itachi were close. Did they ever talk about her? Would Sasuke tell his brother whatever she said to him now?“I’m not sure.”“Not sure?” Sasuke demanded. “Why not? What are you not sure of?”“We’re just taking things slow, I guess,” she answered, a little annoyed that he was being so demanding. This was her private life, after all. She never asked him about his relationship with Naruto.“Slow?” he asked. “Why slow? Itachi is a good man from a prestigious clan. Why would you want to take things slow?”“He wants to take things slow, Sasuke,” she snapped. “And besides, it’s none of your business.”“It is my business,” he argued. “Whoever he marries will be the matriarch of my clan. It’s Itachi’s duty to produce an heir, and he can’t do that if you’re ‘taking things slow.’”“God, is that why you made that comment about pink-haired babies?” she asked, more than a little annoyed now.“Yeah, Sasuke, this is a little weird,” Naruto said.“Stay out of this, Naruto,” Sasuke snapped.Sakura crossed her arms and huffed.“Look, Sakura,” Sasuke said. “I’ve come around to the idea that you two want to be together. Now you need to come around to the idea that you’re going to be the Uchiha matriarch. You can’t take things slow. The quicker you start having children, the better.”“Oh my God, Sasuke, can you hear yourself?” she asked, officially freaked out. It wasn’t that it had never occurred to her that Itachi was the clan head. Of course she’d thought about that before. But she didn’t expect Itachi to actual consider her for that. Beside, even if he did, marriage? Already? And children! “It’s way too soon to be thinking about all that stuff.”“Maybe for anyone else,” he argued. “But not for an Uchiha.”“I don’t know, Sasuke,” Naruto said, braving Sasuke’s wrath. “I agree with Sakura on this one. It’s way too soon for that.”Sasuke whipped his head toward Naruto and glared at him.“You should really be having this conversation with your brother,” Sakura said. “Not me.”“Fine,” he agreed. “I’ll speak with Itachi.” ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- “Pardon?”“When do you plan on marrying Sakura?”Itachi blinked away the surprise, but the befuddlement was still inhibiting his ability to form words. Had his brother really just asked him when he was going to marry Sakura?It wasn’t easy to catch Itachi off guard, but he had to hand it to his brother. He was pretty good at doing it.“We haven’t discussed anything like that, Sasuke,” Itachi said, suddenly very nervous. Granted, he couldn’t imagine anyone other than Sakura being his future wife, but it seemed highly inappropriate to talk about such a thing while he couldn’t even kiss her without feeling like he was going to have a heart attack.“Well, you should,” Sasuke said. “How do you expect to rebuild the clan without a wife?”“It’s none of your concern, Sasuke.”Itachi stood up from the kitchen table and turned to leave. It was too early in the morning to be dealing with Sasuke’s antics already. But he felt Sasuke’s fingers curl around his elbow and yank him roughly back down to his chair.“It is my concern,” he said.“Then why don’t you get married and have children?” Itachi demanded, shrugging his arm free from his brother’s grasp. “I’ll even defer my status as clan head to you, if that’s what you want.”Sasuke’s skin flushed and Itachi watched him swallow a lump in his throat. Itachi was well aware that Sasuke’s secret relationship with Naruto would never produce him any children. Itachi didn’t care about that in the slightest. Whatever made his brother happy was what he wanted for him.So he knew that Sasuke would refuse to accept the position as clan head.“It’s your rightful position, Itachi,” Sasuke said, some of the gruff from his tone missing now.“It is,” Itachi agreed. “Which means that the matter of when I get married and when I have children is solely up to me. If you decide that I am taking too long, you are free to take matters into your own hands. I will gladly give you the position if that time comes.”“But Itachi—”“Enough, Sasuke,” he said firmly. “The only person I will ever be discussing that with is Sakura. Do not bring it up again.”Itachi began to clear their breakfast from the table, ignoring Sasuke’s not-so-subtle pouting. It shouldn’t have come to him as a surprise that Sasuke was so interested in the restoration of the clan. Itachi wanted that, too.But it was certainly not a decision to be rushed. Itachi was still young. There was plenty of time to have children in the future.Sasuke remained at the table while Itachi washed the dishes, watching but saying nothing. Itachi didn’t want his brother to be upset with him, and certainly not over something like this. The sensation was vaguely familiar – that he was disappointing Sasuke by ignoring him.Itachi was well within his rights to refuse to discuss something to personal with him, especially something that should definitely have been discussed with Sakura first. Probably only with Sakura. But Sasuke’s concern wasn’t exactly unwanted and Itachi didn’t like to tell him no.“Sasuke,” Itachi said, drying his hands off with a towel. Sasuke looked up at him. “Do you remember Kabuto?”Sasuke looked surprised by the mention to the bespectacled medic-nin. “Of course. Why?”“You are more familiar with him than I am,” Itachi said. “Do you think he poses a threat to Konoha?”Sasuke drummed his fingers on the table. “He only ever seemed interested in serving Orochimaru. I’m not sure what he’s been up to since I killed him.”Itachi joined Sasuke back at the table, pulling up the chair across from him. “I tracked him down after he approached Sakura in Toyeiki. I found him in a bunker south of here. It looked like he was continuing Orochimaru’s work with human experimentation.”“That’s not surprising.”“I think we should ask Tsunade-sama if we can check up on him,” Itachi suggested. “The fact that he was trying to create a biological weapon to be used against shinobi is very concerning.”“A mission, you mean?”“Yeah, a mission,” Itachi said. “For the two of us.”Sasuke grinned and Itachi felt a little of his guilt dissipate..“I approve,” Tsunade said. “You may leave at your leisure.”Itachi and Sasuke both nodded. A mission with Sasuke was exactly what Itachi needed to get his mind off Sakura and get rid of some of the weirdness between him and Sasuke.Sasuke had always wanted to tag along with him on missions when they had been younger. Now was a perfect opportunity to bond with him like he had always wanted to when they were children.“Take Sakura, too,” Tsunade added.“Pardon, Tsunade-sama?” Itachi said.“Sakura has a vested interest in this mission,” she answered. “She’ll be able to decipher whatever Kabuto has been up to better than the two of you could. She might even be able to help you with a bit of espionage if she pretends to be accepting his offer.”Itachi drew in a deep breath. Of course he couldn’t argue with the Hokage. Her points were valid. But the last thing he wanted was to take Sakura on this mission with him. He couldn’t even imagine how uncomfortable it would be for the three of them to spend a length of time in close quarters together.“Forgive me, Tsunade-sama, but Sakura will slow us down,” Itachi said. “She doesn’t have the speed that Sasuke and I do.”“Your mission isn’t that urgent.”Itachi glanced over at Sasuke, who was grinning. He narrowed his eyes at him, suspecting the worst.“You’re both dismissed.”.“Why are you so happy about it?” Itachi asked Sasuke. After leaving the Hokage tower they had both headed for the training grounds for another spar. This time, Itachi had chosen not to use his Mangekyou. They had opted to only use taijutsu, in fact, and with Itachi’s strength mostly back, he was able to beat Sasuke.It was a narrowly eked victory, though, Itachi admitted to himself. Sasuke’s speed made it very difficult to land direct hits on him and he had to resort to trickery in order to defeat him.On their way to Ichiraku’s afterwards, Sasuke had brought up the fact that Sakura would be going on their mission with him. He seemed far too delighted by it.“No particular reason,” Sasuke answered, munching his food with an open mouth. It reminded Itachi of the way Yamato and Sachi ate. “I just want you to be happy and I know being around Sakura makes you happy.”Itachi rolled his eyes. “I know you aren’t that altruistic.”“I’ll be sure to give the two of you lots of privacy,” Sasuke said with a teasing tone, though Itachi knew he was probably serious.“You’re incorrigible.”Sasuke grinned, but Itachi felt dread brewing in his stomach. He had already begun to feel strange about the blossoming romance between him and Sakura. He couldn’t quite place why it made him feel so nervous when she seemed perfectly at ease with him. It was disheartening because he did like her, and he also wanted to push her away.He realized that it was his lack of control in the situation that made him feel so uneasy. It shouldn’t have been a problem. Itachi had lacked control in a lot of things. He did what he could to steer things in his favor. But when it came to Sakura, she did the steering.The idea of being in her control wasn’t really the worst thing he could think of. He almost savored it. Sure, being in someone else’s control was dangerous. What if he fell in love with her? She could easily destroy him. But he had a good feeling about her. He would have to learn to trust her, though.“Don’t look so upset, Itachi,” Sasuke said. “It won’t be that bad. What are you so worried about?”Itachi glanced at his brother and saw that he did actually looked concerned now. He wondered what Sasuke’s relationship with Naruto was like. Did he ever feel like this? Hopeless and out of control?Maybe Sasuke had some insight into romance that Itachi could use.“Have you ever been in love, Sasuke?”Sasuke blinked as he swallowed a bite of his food. The tense silence that followed was thick, but not unbearable. Itachi genuinely wanted to know and he knew that Sasuke knew that.“Are you in love with Sakura?” Sasuke asked.“I don’t think so,” Itachi said, but he knew it was only a matter of time. He didn’t really stand a chance against her. “Not yet, anyway.”“Is that what you’re worried about?”“She intimidates me.”“She intimidates you?” Sasuke laughed.“Naruto doesn’t intimidate you?” Itachi asked. “Not even a little?”Sasuke closed his mouth immediately and Itachi was amused to see a faint blush on his cheeks. “No, he doesn’t.”Itachi didn’t pry anymore, even though he was deeply curious. Sasuke might not mind invading Itachi’s privacy, but Itachi didn’t want to upset Sasuke. If he ever wanted to share details about his relationship with Naruto, he would.“Why does she intimidate you?” Sasuke asked. Itachi didn’t know how to answer that. Well, he did, but he didn’t feel comfortable talking about it with his brother. There were a lot of things about Sakura that were impressive, but none of those were what intimidated him so much. He was intimidated by the physical nature of their relationship and his lack of experience in that area. He wasn’t used to lacking experience.And though he knew that she was also lacking in that experience, she seemed to be much more confident at trying her hand at it. She could flutter her lashes and have him in the palm of her hand.“I don’t know.”Sasuke gave him a disapproving look. “Maybe you should be having this conversation with Sakura,” he suggested.Itachi returned his brother’s disapproving look, not amused by the suggestion. So far his brother didn’t seem to have any valuable advice. “Have you had sex with her yet?”Itachi tried not to flinch. He wasn’t a prude (or maybe he was, and that was what the problem), but he certainly didn’t want to talk about sex with his little brother.“Don’t you think it’s a little soon for that?” he asked.“God, you and Sakura are cut from the same cloth, aren’t you?” Sasuke asked. “It’s not too soon for something if you both want it.”“Why were you talking to Sakura about sex?” Itachi demanded, more than a little annoyed with his brother.“Not sex. Marriage. And children.”“Why were you talking to her about something like that?” Itachi asked angrily.“For the same reason I was talking to you about it, obviously.”Itachi pressed his lips together in an effort to keep from snapping at him. It was none of Sasuke’s business and he shouldn’t have been talking about such things with Sakura without Itachi’s knowledge.But he was still curious.“What did she say?”Sasuke rolled his eyes. “She said—”“Sasuke!”Itachi and Sasuke both turned at the sound of Naruto’s voice and saw him running toward the ramen stand with Sakura in tow behind him. Sakura sat down next to Itachi and smiled warmly at him, sending a surge of warmth through his chest.“Hey, Itachi,” Naruto said. “Sakura and I just spent some time training with Yamato-chan and he asked about you.”“Yeah,” Sakura said, chuckling. “He said he didn’t want to waste time training with Naruto when he could be training with the best shinobi in the world.”“Me?” Itachi asked.“Yeah, well,” Naruto said. “I chose not to explain to him that I was the one who made our last mission a success. I didn’t want to tear down his hero, you know?”Sakura shot him a look.“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Sasuke said dismissively. “We have a mission.”“A mission?” Naruto asked, and Itachi felt a little pang of guilt in his gut seeing how excited the poor blonde looked.“Not for you,” Sasuke said, but his tone wasn’t quite as harsh as Itachi had come to expect from his brother. “It’s for us and Sakura.”“Me?” Sakura asked.“Yeah, we’re tracking down Kabuto to see what he’s up to,” Sasuke answered. “Tsunade-sama said we could use your help.”Sakura frowned. “I have to deal with that asshole again?”“If you don’t want to go I’m sure Tsunade-sama would not mind,” Itachi said. “Sasuke and I can handle it on our own.”Sasuke kicked him under the counter.“No, it’s alright,” Sakura said. “If I go I can pretend to be accepting his offer. It will make your jobs a lot easier.”“That’s exactly what Tsunade said,” Sasuke said.“When do we leave?” she asked.“Whenever you’re ready.”She hummed thoughtfully, tapping her finger on her lips. For a moment, Itachi’s eyes were glued to her and he found himself entirely incapable of looking away. There it was again – that lack of control.“Well, I have some things to do today,” she said. “And if I’ll be leaving for some time I’ll need to get some groceries for Ino. But I suppose we could leave first thing in the morning.”“Sounds like a plan,” Sasuke said, leaning back on his stool. He turned to face Naruto and saw him hunched over with his arms crossed. “Don’t pout, Naruto. We won’t be gone long.”Naruto merely huffed in response.“I guess I should get going, then,” Sakura said, getting to her feet. Itachi let his eyes linger on the expanse of her thighs. He knew he had looked for just a second too long and that she was bound to have noticed. It was the same thing she had slapped him for in this very ramen stand just over a month ago.“Why don’t you go with her, Itachi,” said Sasuke. Itachi didn’t need to look at him to know he was smirking.“Oh!” she exclaimed. “Yes, the company would be nice.”She was smiling at him expectantly and even though he wanted to, he wouldn’t have considered saying no to her.“Okay.”Her smile widened and she took a hold of his hand and pulled him off his stool..Grocery shopping with Sakura was a lot more appealing than it sounded. Sakura was from the civilian district, so almost everyone seemed to know her. They waved and smiled at her as they passed, sometimes even stopping her for chitchat. Itachi usually avoided the civilian district because it was where he received the coldest stares for his forgiven, but not forgotten crimes.But with Sakura beside him, it felt much warmer. They hardly paid any attention to him at all.Which gave him plenty of opportunities to watch her. She seemed to be very in her element here, flitting between the market stalls, chatting with the shopkeepers. It was even harder to keep his eyes off her than normal.When she had a full sack of produce in one hand, they began walking back toward the center of the market (for milk, she had said). Their arms were nearly touching and Itachi considered reaching out to grab her hand and entwine their fingers together. That was something he could handle. Handholding in a public place was far more manageable than making out in her bedroom.But just when he’d gathered the courage to touch her slender fingers with his, she turned toward him, shoving the produce into his arms.“Will you hold this for a second?” she asked. “I’ll be right back.”Again, it did not cross his mind to say no to her, so he watched her disappear behind a stall around the corner. He felt quite awkward standing in the middle of the market stalls by himself. He shifted the bag of produce in his arms and waited, pretending that he didn’t notice the stares and whispers of the civilians who had more courage to single him out now that Sakura was no longer with him.Luckily, she did not keep him waiting for long. When she came back around the corner, she was smiling brightly with two sticks of dango in her hands.“Here you go,” she said cheerily, extending one of the sticks toward him.He accepted it with caution, because a pretty girl handing him one of his favorite snacks almost seemed like a trap.“Sasuke told me it’s your favorite,” she said, taking back the bag of produce from him. “And this place makes the best dango in Konoha.”“Thank you,” he said quietly, wishing he knew how to express how much warmth he felt from that small geture.They fell into step again and it was too late to hold her hand now that she had the bag of produce in one and the stick of dango in the other. The normalcy of their current situation struck an odd chord in Itachi’s heart. It was such a mundane thing – grocery shopping. Was it normal to feel so high, so infinite while doing something so essentially boring?They finished their dango as they walked and then Sakura purchased her carton of milk. They were finished with their shopping, according to Sakura, but she stopped at several more stalls on their way out, admiring trinkets and sundries but purchasing nothing else.A group of loud children ran through the street and Itachi pulled Sakura gently out of the way before they could crash into her. She was a kunoichi, and he knew that she didn’t need his help to avoid a couple of civilian children, but he couldn’t resist the opportunity to touch her.She didn’t seem to mind and smiled up at him in a disarmingly charming way. “Thank you,” she said, and before he could stop himself, he leaned down and pressed a quick kiss to her lips.“You’re welcome,” he said with a smile of his own.She seemed surprised by the kiss, but his heart soared when her smile widened into something genuinely happy and amused.He walked her home, listening to her chatter away about her shifts at the hospital and her mini training session with Yamato and Naruto earlier that day. When crowds of people longer surrounded them and the sun had just begun to dip below the horizon, Itachi found the courage to reach out and take her hand.She seemed surprised again, but she immediately interlaced their fingers and moved closer to him as they walked. Itachi had never held hands with a girl before, and he wasn’t exactly sure if this was how it always went, but Sakura pressed very close to him, nearly curling her body around the length of his arm. He had no idea that something as inherently innocent as handholding could feel so intimate.It struck him again that there was something that she wanted from him that he wasn’t able to give her. These issues he had with intimacy were not her problems and he felt a surge of guilt for having to deny her something that she wanted.“Sakura,” he began as they approached her front door.She fumbled with her keys for a minute before finding the right one and sliding it into the lock. He took the parcels from her arms so that she could open the door and helped her carry them inside.There were many things he wanted to tell her, and he was aware that it was more out of a desire to assuage his own guilt than for her. She didn’t seem even slightly upset by anything right now. He watched her unpack her purchases and hum lightly to herself.She caught his eye for a moment and grinned before looking away. “Would you like some tea?” she asked.He knew what Sakura wanted. She was always pressing their physical limits. She wanted sex. But what if that was all she wanted? What if she didn’t want a relationship or even a friendship? Would he be able to give her that? The one thing he could admit he was afraid of?“You’re awfully quiet today, Itachi,” she mused, still humming, still flitting around her kitchen like a hummingbird.He grabbed her hand just as she was reaching for the pantry door and jerked her roughly toward him. He didn’t know why he was so rough and the look of confusion and annoyance that flashed across Sakura’s face slammed him back down to reality.“What’s wrong with you?” she asked, and her tone wasn’t as harsh as Itachi thought it should have been. Her eyes were bright and a little angry as they glared up into his and for a reason unknown to him he felt the urge to activate his Sharingan.“Tell me what you want, Sakura,” he said, surprised by the demanding quality to his voice.“Pardon?”“From me,” he clarified. “What do you want from me?”She tugged her arm away from him, but he held onto it. “Why are you asking me that?”He let go of her arm because there was a sudden look of fear and anxiety on her face that made him feel uncomfortable. But as soon as he let her go she was grabbing onto his arm and guiding him toward the kitchen table.“Itachi, what’s wrong?”He felt a surge of warmth in his chest, amazed that she would be concerned for him while he was acting so churlish.But he also wanted her to answer the question.“I have a duty to my clan, Sakura,” he began and his nerves made his skin feel prickly. “I will have to produce an heir. I’ll have to marry the next Uchiha matriarch.”She looked down at her feet with a pained expression. But then something in her face hardened and she looked back up at him with blazing eyes.“Sasuke brought that up as well,” she said and it made Itachi a little angry that she didn’t appear to be nervous about talking about such a thing. How could she be so calm and collected while he was a quivering mess?“I told him not to speak to you about it anymore,” he said as calmly as he could manage.She shrugged, but he noticed that whatever resolve she had just found couldn’t mask the sadness that flickered in her eyes. “Well, I understand,” she said. “I’m civilian born I don’t know anything about what it means to be part of a clan.”“What?” he asked, dumfounded. There seemed to be an odd buzzing in his head.“I can’t expect you to put aside your clan duties for me,” she said and the more she spoke the more confused he became. Itachi felt himself reeling, completely unable to form thoughts, let alone words.She was blushing furiously and twisting her hands together in her lap. “I really do like you, though,” she said, and damn, she looked so sad it broke his heart. “I guess I was just hoping that you’d, I don’t know, want to be with me until you found someone else suitable for being your wife.”It was like all of the breath had been sucked from his body. Never in a million years had he thought she would feel that way. A horrifying lack of communication was to blame for this, he realized, and he felt a strange wistfulness wondering what might have happened if he’d been more up front with her from the beginning.“Sakura, I don’t need anyone’s approval to marry someone,” he said, a little more sure of himself than he was a few moments ago. “And not that it matters, but you have Sasuke’s approval.”She looked up at him through her lashes and he couldn’t help but smile because it was nice to have their roles reversed and for her to be the nervous one. She opened her mouth to speak again, but he held up a hand to stop her.“I like you, too,” he continued. “And I do want to be with you - not just until someone better comes along.”She looked genuinely surprised and he wondered what was going on in her head. Was she imagining what it would be like to be his wife? But he remembered what Sasuke had said – that Sakura felt it was too soon to be talking about marriage or children. And of course he agreed with her.“Sakura, why didn’t you say anything about that before?” he asked.She still looked nervous, and even though he knew how uncomfortable that felt, he couldn’t help but feel a little vindicated by it. “You said you wanted to take things slow,” she said. “And I didn’t know what you wanted from me. I didn’t want to press the issue because I would have been happy with whatever you wanted.”He laughed at her absurdity, provoking a heated glare from her. “Really?” he asked. “You would have been happy if I just had a careless fling with you and then married some random clan girl?”“Well, if that was my only option…”He laughed again. “You were saving your first kiss for Sasuke so that it would be special and you’d be willing to sleep with me even if you knew I was just using you.”She crossed her arms and glared at him, but he was far too amused with her to be chided by it. “You started it, you know,” she said. “With all the looks and the touching. You gave me urges.”He was taken aback by her frankness and gave her a not-so-subtle once over.“You’re such a tease, Itachi,” she said, sidling up next to him until he could feel her breath on his face. Her closeness was intoxicating – he could feel the heat from her body. “You wanted to take things slow, but I believe we just had a discussion about whether or not I’d be a suitable matriarch for your clan.”“You brought that up,” he pointed out.She promptly ignored him. “I want to know why you seem so opposed to being physical with me.”He reached out and latched his fingers around her neck, gently brushing across her pulse point with the pad of his thumb. She was took a step forward, forcing Itachi to sit down in the chair behind him. She hovered over his chair and it would be easy to pull her down and have her wrap her beautifully long legs around his waist.“I’m not opposed to that,” he said, trying his best to mean it.She bent down and pressed a kiss to his mouth. She tasted sweet like dango. He reached up and cupped her cheek, marveling in the smoothness of her skin and the sinful way she moved her lips against his.She would be the death of him. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Sakura never imagined herself as a seductress. In fact, in her wildest fantasies, she was quite the opposite. In her genin years, she always imagined Sasuke, rough and domineering, yet tender at the same time. He would kiss her, touch her, hold her up against him.It wouldn’t have been hard to replace those images of Sasuke with Itachi. They were certainly similar enough in appearance.But that wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun as what she was doing now.She was aware that he was rattled by her sexual advances. The old Sakura would have been slightly offended by this, but she found his nervousness charming. He wanted her. She knew that. And he had admitted to her that he was worried he would disappoint her. Incredible! How could he think such a thing?Being disappointed was the last thing on her mind. In fact, she couldn’t even be too worried about disappointing him because his reaction to her every touch was so electric and satisfying.She had moved fully into his lap now, a place that she was quickly becoming enamored with. She felt oddly powerful with the mighty Itachi Uchiha underneath her. She could feel the hardened muscles of his thighs under hers. She could feel his growing length up under her center.She was kissing him, running her hands over his chest, his arms, his back, touching everything she could reach. It felt so good. She knew he felt it, too. He was trembling beneath her. She could feel it in his feather light touches along her waist and legs. He was going to pull away soon, like he always did at this point. She knew he would start to feel overwhelmed.But when he pulled away from her, she ground her hips down into his lap, groaning at the friction, the sensation. Whatever he had been about to say was swallowed up by a groan of his own, his fingers tightening on her thighs.She pressed another kiss to his lips and then began to trail them across his jaw and down his neck.“Sakura,” he breathed, and she relished in the way his breath seemed to catch in his throat. “Sakura, not in the kitchen.”She smiled against his neck and pulled away to look at him. “Where, then?”But when she saw his face, the eyes that were staring back at her were red and narrow, causing a deep chill to run up her spine. She scrambled off of him, nearly falling onto the floor. It will silly to still be afraid of him, and she knew it. But she just couldn’t shake her ingrained fear of the Sharingan.“Sakura?”She felt her cheeks flushing and she dusted invisible dirt from her skirt. “Sorry,” she said. “I just… I—”He stood up and extended his hand to her, pulling her into his chest. It was safe there because she couldn’t see his eyes. He stroked her hair for a moment, comforting her, though Sakura didn’t really need it. It was a gut reaction more than anything else, but he must have seen the wild fear in her eyes. He couldn’t have missed it with his Sharingan activated.“Are you okay?” he asked.Now that she knew it was active, she was a little braver about peering into his Sharingan. She caught his eye, staring into their depths, mesmerized by the tomoe and the way they appeared so sharply in his irises. It was not his Mangekyou, which she knew was a different shape, more complicated and intricate. But it was terrifyingly beautiful, and even though she wanted to look away, she held his gaze anyway – just to prove to herself that she could.She reached up and touched the skin under his eye, noticing that the deep lines there seemed to have faded a little. It was exhilarating to look into those eyes knowing exactly what they were capable of doing. Those eyes, that bloodline limit, the powerful Uchiha name. He might as well have been a mythical figure standing in her kitchen.“You really are something special, Itachi-kun.”His lips quirked into a small smile and she dropped her gaze to his mouth.“I lied to you the other day,” he said. “When you asked me if I was angry with you.”She quirked a brow at him as he ran his hands down the length of her arms and took ahold of her hands. He brought both her palms to his chest and held them there.“I was angry that you kept calling me Itachi-san,” he said, answering her unasked question. “Since we were alone.”Sakura had realized how important to him the way she addressed him was. In her office he had mentioned how he did not like when she was in ‘medic mode,’ presumably because of the formal way she addressed him. He had even been concerned about it their very first day together in Toyeiki when they were enemies.“Why didn’t you tell me, Uchiha-san?”His smile widened at her affectionate teasing. “Because, Sakura-hime, I already felt guilty for making you come all that way to heal me.”“Hmm,” she said. “Perhaps it was disrespectful for me to be addressing the clan head in such a way. It won’t happen again, Uchiha-sama.”“I prefer Itachi-kun.”She grinned and fisted his shirt up in her fists, pulling him down so that she could press a quick kiss to his lips. “Then I insist you call me Sakura-chan.”“I will call you Sakura.”“Sakura-hime.”“That’s not very fitting, is it, Sakura of civilian birth?”She pulled away from him, crossing her arms with an exaggerated pout.“Okay, okay,” he said, pulling at her arms with an infectious grin that Sakura tried very hard not to be affected by. “Don’t be upset, hime.”She let him pull her back into his embrace and settled her head against the crook of his shoulder. She sighed contentedly and wrapped her arms around his waist. It seemed like the opportunity for sex had been forgotten, and Sakura wasn’t about to press that issue with him. Now that she knew his true intentions with her, she felt more comfortable with taking things at his pace. In fact, she realized that she should have been comfortable with that in the first place.She hadn’t been lying to him when she said she would have been happy to be used by him. It wasn’t the best case scenario, obviously, but at a certain point Sakura had begun to prioritize his happiness over her own. Sakura had lived a fairly sheltered and warm, if a little dull, life. Itachi had been robbed of such an opportunity, and she felt the need now to do whatever it took to make him happy.“Thank you for going shopping with me, Itachi-kun,” she said.“Of course, hime,” he said, kissing the top of her head..Itachi had left shortly after their conversation, needing to pack for their mission the next morning. Sakura had a couple of errands to finish anyway, but she was sad to see him off, even knowing she would be seeing him again in less than twelve hours.The trio left bright and early the next morning with little conversation. Itachi, Sakura noticed, had opted to wear his ANBU uniform. She hadn’t realized that he still had one (or maybe it was a new one). It wasn’t much different than what he regularly wore, but Sakura couldn’t keep her eyes off him.Sasuke noticed her obvious staring and fell back beside her as they ran through the trees. Itachi was several yards ahead of them, leading the way.“Take a picture, Sakura,” he teased. “It’ll last longer.”“He looks good in his ANBU uniform, doesn’t he?” she replied with a grin.Sasuke rolled his eyes, but he looked amused. “Did you have fun running errands with him?”Neither of them missed the way Itachi paused for a beat before springing off the branch he landed on.“Not really,” she said with a shrug. “He was very handsy. I kept catching him trying to sneak a peek up my skirt. And I’m pretty sure he used his Sharingan to try to see through my clothes.”Sasuke laughed at her merciless teasing, even when they saw Itachi’s posture tense up and his steps falter a bit.“What a pervert,” Sasuke said.Sakura giggled.“We’re on a mission,” Itachi said, keeping his eyes forward. “And you two should conduct yourselves professionally.”Sakura giggled again and cast a glance at Sasuke who was smirking.“Yes, Uchiha-sama,” she said with mock reverence.They continued running in silence for a while before Sakura remembered exactly how far this journey would be. When she had come to Toyeiki the first time she had not stopped, but ran until she couldn’t run anymore. It seemed like Itachi and Sasuke wanted to do the same, only they were much quicker than she was.In fact, she could already tell that her slowness was creating some distance between them. Every so often they would slow down so that she could catch up, only to speed back up again.Neither of them spoke up about it, but she could tell they were a little annoyed. If there was anything she could have done about it…Still, she pressed herself to run faster, to keep up with them. It was the least she could do.After an excruciating hour, Itachi halted to a stop, turning back toward his teammates. Sasuke stopped beside him and Sakura stopped behind him, trying her best not to pant and double over from exhaustion.“There’s a town up ahead,” he said, giving her a critical eye. “We’ll stop there for the night. We should reach Kabuto’s bunker by tomorrow afternoon.”Sasuke nodded.“Are you alright, Sakura?” Itachi asked. Both Uchiha men turned their gazes to her. She might not have been from a prestigious clan or have kyuubi chakra, but Sakura thought she did a pretty good job of keeping up with them. For a civilian born.“Would you like me to carry you the rest of the way?” he continued.She knew he was teasing her. It was payback for her earlier ribbing. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy it.“Yes, that would be nice, Uchiha-sama,” she said, climbing uninvited onto his back. She half expected him to throw her off, or at least question her silly decision. But she squealed and clung tighter to him when he darted off without warning.She pressed her face into the back of his neck as he ran, delighting when her breath sent shivers up his spine. If she knew that Sasuke wasn’t close behind them, she would have kissed his neck.“You do look good in your uniform, Itachi-kun,” she whispered into the shell of his ear. His grip on her thighs tightened.When they approached the town and made a beeline for the only inn, Sasuke was the one who approached the innkeeper.“We’d like two rooms,” he said.“One room,” Itachi corrected.Sasuke turned around to glare at his brother. “I’m not sharing a room with you two.”“You and Sakura can take the beds,” he responded. “I will take the floor.”Sasuke didn’t argue, but he didn’t look pleased with the arrangement. “Fine,” he said. “But I’m going to the tavern to see what information I can scrounge up.”“Good idea,” Itachi said, “We’ll go with you.”.This was a job Sakura was actually well suited for. She was charming and personable and people wanted to be close to her. It made it quite easy for her to get information from them.Itachi and Sasuke, on the other hand, were far too intimidating to be effective at it, so she had banished them to the back table at the tavern so that she could sit at the bar and attract men to extract information from.It worked to some extent. Men approached her, drawn in by her exotic pink hair, and she let them. She curbed those who had no information about Kabuto, but was secretly enjoying the attention. Especially from Itachi, whose Sharingan had been activated since the moment the first man had approached her.She knew it was merely a surface jealousy. She wouldn’t particularly enjoy watching Itachi being swarmed by women, but she wouldn’t worry too much about it. He knew it was for the mission. And she could handle herself.But it wasn’t until a rough looking man wearing a Stone headband with a slash through it approached her that she became somewhat nervous. He was quite a long way from home, and probably a dangerous man.“I know you,” he said with a lecherous grin, taking the stool beside hers. “You’re the Hokage’s apprentice.”“Ah,” she responded as casually as she could. “The pink hair gave it away, huh?”“You’re a long way from Konoha,” he pointed out. It was true, but she was still within Fire’s borders so it wasn’t unlikely for her to be here.“And you’re a long way from Stone.”He grinned and leaned in closer to her, grabbing her thigh with a sweaty palm. She could smell the alcohol on his breath and thanked her lucky stars for that. His intoxication would make it much easier to extract information from him. “I’m here on official business,” he said.“Oh yeah?” she asked, leaning into his touch in spite of how repulsive she found it. “What official business could a missing-nin from Stone have in Fire country?”“Now, now, sweetheart,” he said in a patronizingly slow voice. “You expect me to just go giving away all my secrets to the Hokage’s apprentice?”“Secrets?” she asked with a sly smile. “I’m really good at keeping secrets.”He smiled back. “I doubt that.”She took a sip of her drink, using her chakra to burn off any alcohol in her system. It was a good idea for him to think she was drunk, but it wasn’t a good idea to actually be drunk.“Listen,” he said. “I’ve got a room at the inn. You’re welcome to join me there.”She smiled and looked away from him demurely. That was a little more than she was willing to do for some information – especially since she didn’t even know if it would be useful. “I have my own room, thank you,” she replied.His hand crept up higher on her thigh. “Come on,” he urged. “I can show you a good time. Make you feel real good.” She swallowed nervously as his hand crept even higher and then when his fingers finally brushed against her clothed, albeit with thin spandex, sex, she gripped his forearm and squeezed it tightly, shattering the bones in his wrist with her chakra-enhanced strength.He howled in pain and kicked her stool over knocking her to the floor. “You bitch!” She scrambled backwards as he came toward her again, clutching his wrist with his uninjured hand.Sasuke was suddenly between them with his back to her and she didn’t need to see his face to know his Sharingan was activated. She felt Itachi’s hands on her arms as he helped her into a standing position. She leaned back into his chest.“Did he hurt you?” he murmured low in her ear. She shook her head.“Does he have the information we need, Sakura?” Sasuke asked.“I don’t know.”“Hey, I don’t want any trouble,” the man said. “She attacked me first.”A beat of silence followed, no one quite sure what to do.“We’re leaving,” Itachi finally said. “He didn’t know anything about Kabuto, I think,” Sakura explained once they were safely back in their room at the inn. She had her legs stretched out across one of the single beds while Sasuke and Itachi sat next to each other on the other bed across from her. “He mentioned he was here on official business, but I think he was just a pervert trying to cop a feel.”“Not just trying,” Sasuke mumbled.Sakura felt a hot blush rising in her cheeks. “You saw that?”“Of course we did,” he said. “I thought Itachi was going to explode. I’m impressed that he managed to keep his cool until that bastard knocked you off your seat.”Sakura locked eyes with Itachi who looked far more upset than Sakura believed he should. It had been unpleasant, of course, but it wasn’t as though he had hurt her.“Aw, look at you all concerned,” she teased.“Sakura…”“Sakura-hime.”He glared at her, making her burst into a fit of giggles.“You don’t seem nearly concerned enough about what just happened,” he said.She rolled her eyes. “I’m a kunoichi. I’m used to it. Besides,” she said. “I broke his wrist. That makes us even as far as I’m concerned.”“I suppose,” he conceded, but Sakura could tell that he didn’t quite see it that way.“Alright,” Sasuke said, giving his brother’s shoulders a good shove. “Get off the bed. I’m going to sleep now.”Itachi looked a little miffed and Sakura grinned at his expression. But he didn’t make a fuss. He unfurled his bedroll between the two beds with a stony look before crawling inside.“Itachi, you can have my bed,” she said, her heart breaking a little watching him slide into the sad bundle of cloth that probably did very little to cushion him against the hardwood floors. “I’ll sleep on the floor.”“No.”“No?”Itachi reached up and yanked the chain on the lamp, casting darkness around the room. “Goodnight, Sakura,” he said.Sakura’s eyes widened a little. She wasn’t spoiled by any means, but she certainly didn’t like to be told no. And ignored on top of that! She tossed her covers aside and stepped down onto his bedroll. She could see in the dim light cast through the window that he was glaring at her again, but she didn’t care.She crawled in beside him, curling her body around his. She felt him stiffen up immediately, and though it was a little bit of a blow to her ego, she was satisfied by how rattled he seemed to be.“What are you doing?” he hissed.“Sleeping on the floor.”“Sakura,” he said, his tone low and warning.“We are so getting two rooms on the way back,” Sasuke said.“If it bothers you,” she said to Itachi, “You can sleep in the bed.”And she could see that he was indeed bothered by it – the intimacy of sleeping next to her was probably too much for him at this point. Certainly Sasuke’s presence added an uncomfortable note to the mix as well.“Get back in the bed, Sakura.”“No.”She almost felt a little guilty and if she didn’t think he’d be uncomfortable with it, she would gladly have crawled into the bed with him. They were perfectly still for a moment, Sakura’s chest pressed snugly against his strong back. She could easily have fallen asleep against him, she thought.But eventually, when he correctly assumed that she would not be moving, he slid out of the bedroll and up into the bed. Grinning triumphantly (and missing the heat of his body), Sakura fell asleep..The next morning they were back on the road again. Itachi had avoided speaking to her for most of the morning and just seemed to be in a bad mood. Sasuke also seemed to be aware of his mood and gave him a wide berth. Sakura took his lead (he knew Itachi much better than she did) and gave the elder Uchiha some space as well.She couldn’t help but think that she was the reason for his sour mood. Had forcing him to sleep in the bed been a bit too much? It hardly seemed fair for him to be angry about that since he had intended to do the very same thing to her.Or maybe he was still upset about the Stone-nin touching her. Sakura didn’t think it had been a big deal, but Itachi had seemed overly concerned about it. But what was the point in agonizing over it? What’s done is done, she thought. They couldn’t do anything about it now.Unfortunately, she had plenty of time to stew on it, though. They had already been running for several hours in complete silence – horribly tense silence. If Sasuke hadn’t been with them, she might have tried to talk to him, but all she could do was stare at his back several paces ahead of her.His posture was rigid and tense and he looked a lot more like the Itachi she had met in Toyeiki – the one she should have been afraid of. In fact, she thought, she certainly wouldn’t have wanted to cross his path as an enemy now. Even without being able to see his face, he was downright terrifying.“Sakura,” Sasuke said, breaking the silence with a quiet voice. He was speaking only to her, but they both knew Itachi could hear them. “I have a favor to ask you when we get back to Konoha.”She flicked her eyes over to him. He was looking straight ahead as he ran alongside her, his expression unreadable. “What is it, Sasuke?”“You are close with Tsunade-sama,” he ventured. “I was wondering if maybe you could convince her to grant citizenship to Suigetsu and Juugo.”“Who?”“The shinobi who were with me when I planned on killing Itachi,” he said.“Oh,” she responded dryly. “When you kidnapped me.”“Right,” he said, though he didn’t seem very apologetic. “If I had known you had the hots for my brother back then I would have chosen a different medic.”“I didn’t have the hots for your brother back then.”“Sure.”She glared at him before casting a glance at Itachi who seemed to be paying them no attention, but she knew he was still listening.“Do they want to be citizens of Konoha?” she asked.“They just want a place to call home,” he answered. “They suffered a lot more than I did with Orochimaru. They are powerful shinobi who will be great assets to Konoha.”She considered that more a moment – that they were not actually missing-nin, but people that had been experimented on by Orochimaru. She wasn’t particularly fond of them after being kidnapped, but they hadn’t hurt her. They didn’t deserve to be outcasts.“You care about them.”“They were my teammates,” he said with a shrug. “The same as you and Naruto.”She didn’t know why that made her feel angry. It shouldn’t have, because she knew that in whatever weird way it was, Sasuke cared about her. But he had left the village, told them for forget about him, and made no attempt to be their friend. Yet for these two he would cash in a favor and make peace with them.Was Naruto aware of this? Did he care that after everything he’d put them through, Sasuke seemed to care more for these two random shinobi than he did for his own childhood friends?He was looking at her with curiosity and a little speck of hope that made him look very childlike. She felt sick to her stomach for a second, but she pushed that feeling down.“I’ll see what I can do, Sasuke,” she said.“Thank you.”.After several more hours of running, the sun was high in the afternoon sky and beat down an incredible heat on the trio. Sakura was beginning to feel exhaustion again, hardly able to keep up with the impossibly fast Uchihas.In the last hour and half they’d been running, Sakura noticed that Itachi’s mood seemed to have picked up. He no longer seemed quite as tense and occasionally he would turn his head to look back at her and Sasuke. His Sharingan was activated, so Sakura made a point to catch his eye each time she could. He hadn’t seemed to notice the other day when they’d been making out in her kitchen that she looked directly into his bloodline limit.She thought maybe he had forgotten that she had ever been afraid of his eyes.But the last time he turned and caught her eye, she noticed his eyes were their usual coal black. He halted to a stop.“We’re here,” he said.Sakura suddenly became very nervous because she wasn’t particularly interested in facing Kabuto again. She wasn’t exactly afraid. She had Itachi and Sasuke to back her up and that was more than enough.But she had a crucial part to play now. She would have to exercise her acting chops. Would she be able to fool Kabuto? She had been adamant that she would never join him. Why would he believe she had randomly changed her mind?“Are you alright, Sakura?” Itachi asked.She nodded, but she definitely didn’t feel alright.“Let’s go.” ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Kabuto’s bunker was empty. It didn’t come as a surprise to Itachi. It had been several months, almost half a year, since he had been there. Still, though, he hadn’t expected it to be so thoroughly cleaned out.“When Orochimaru left bases behind he always left them furnished,” Sasuke said, peering through the cell bars into the dusty but otherwise empty rooms. “Sometimes even with prisoners. I’ve never seen one cleaned out like this.”“Whatever he was working on here must have been important,” Itachi said. He looked over at Sakura who was running her finger through some dust on a nearby bookshelf. He watched her scrape some of it into a glass tube and push a rubber stopper into it.When she caught him watching her, she tossed him a similar tube. “If you find any kind of substance – running water, a puddle, anything – collect some of it. I’ll analyze it when we get back to Konoha.”She handed a couple of tubes to Sasuke as well. Itachi was a bit impressed with her foresight. He had assumed that this would be a dead end, but maybe her research would give them another lead.“What are you hoping to find in these samples?” Sasuke asked.“I don’t know,” she answered, “But if this was where Kabuto created that disease, there could be any number of things in the samples. Even in the air.”Itachi didn’t think the air would harbor much of anything. Kabuto was a highly skilled medical shinobi – he wouldn’t have allowed the air in his bunker to be contaminated.But, Itachi thought, whoever cleaned out the bunker might have.“That reminds me,” she continued. “When we get back to the inn, I’ll need to check all of our lungs. Especially yours, Itachi. Can’t risk you getting sick right now.”After a rigorous amount of searching, collecting samples, and careful exploring of the bunker, Itachi made the decision to head back to Konoha. Their mission, while not a failure exactly, had been unproductive. Their only lead now was whatever clues were hidden in the collected samples.Itachi kept the lead as they ran back toward the inn they had stayed in that night. He couldn’t deny that he was still in a bad mood, and he hated himself for it. He wasn’t the kind of man to let his behavior be affected by his emotions, but he just couldn’t shake the coldness he felt.Though Sakura’s teasing the day prior had been affectionate and not meant to rile him up, he found himself annoyed with her. And with Sasuke as well, for encouraging her. It was one thing for her to say things like that in the privacy of the village. But when they were on a mission, in their uniforms, it was highly unacceptable to behave in such a way.But she had dropped it when he asked her to.He didn’t want to feel annoyed with her. But she was making it very hard. At the tavern he had gotten the sense that she was enjoying the fact that he was quite obviously jealous. Well, maybe jealousy wasn’t the right word. He definitely did not like watching men hit on her, but Sasuke didn’t seem to enjoy it very much either. It was the way she leaned into their touches, let them whisper in her ear, and smiled at them with brightness that should have been reserved for him.Of course he realized how ridiculous that was. She was very good at what she was doing, and it was for the good of the mission. She didn’t mean any harm by it, even if she did revel in his reaction to it.It wasn’t until that Stone-nin touched her that a spark of very real, very painful jealousy burst in his chest. It was not Sakura’s fault in any capacity, though he didn’t feel her reaction was violent or angry enough. He had touched her in an incredibly intimate way. She had slapped him for merely looking at her, yet this guy with the audacity to touch her so grotesquely got off with just a broken wrist?That man was scum, and Itachi knew it. But he had a courage that Itachi was severely lacking in. He saw what he wanted and he just took it without asking. Granted, it had not been welcome, but what made him able to just reach out and touch her – a stranger to him? How could he do such a thing while Itachi shook like a leaf just thinking about her?If Itachi attempted to touch her like that, she would not break his wrist. In fact, she would welcome the advance. He knew it. She made it very clear. So why was he so afraid to do it?“We’re getting two rooms this time,” Sasuke said once the small town was just coming into view on the horizon.“Fine,” Itachi said..“Sakura can have the single,” Itachi said, passing the room key to her. “You and I can take the double.”“No way,” Sasuke said. “I want the single.”“Sasuke, be a gentleman.”“Whoa,” Sakura said, pressing the key into Sasuke’s hand. “I will be the gentleman. Enjoy your single room, Sasuke-kun.”“I will,” he said, sticking out his tongue at Itachi.The look on his face must have been livid, because Sasuke immediately bolted into his room while Sakura withered and shrank away from him.He took that moment to study her. She looked absolutely exhausted. It must have been difficult for her to keep up their pace. He remembered how slow she had been several months ago and he doubted her speed had improved very much since then.He felt a pang of guilt for forcing her to keep up a pace she was likely not comfortable with, and then for feeling so annoyed with her when she hadn’t really done anything wrong.Sharing a room with her wouldn’t be too bad, he though. They had two separate beds, fortunately.“I’ll be happy to have a bed this time,” she said, grinning at him as he unlocked the door to their shared room. “I can’t believe you made me sleep on the floor.”He glared at her, not in the mood to be amused.“I call first shower,” she said as soon as the door was open. She disappeared into the bathroom, leaving Itachi alone.And he was very grateful for the reprieve from her. He had thought that after their conversation in her kitchen things would feel different, better. He thought that maybe he could be smoother, more like the man she thought he was, or wanted him to be, or whatever iteration of Itachi was the one that could kiss her whenever he wanted to.They had made real progress. They had spoken about a potential future. Their relationship was one that could feasibly work. One that they both wanted.But nothing did feel different. He still felt nervous. He still felt like he was going insane. He knew what his next step was. He had to put moves on her. Itachi didn’t know any moves. Itachi had never used moves before. For the millionth time, he lamented over how he had no clue what he was doing.He rifled through his pack while he listened to the sounds of the water running. He tried not to imagine Sakura in the shower, naked and soapy. Would she be angry if he joined her? Would she pause her routine to let him touch her and kiss her?He felt a hot blush rising in his cheeks as he pulled out his change of clothes and a couple bags of tea. He brewed some tea for the both of them, letting it steep while she showered.When she finally emerged from the bathroom, he was both relieved and disappointed to see that she was not draped in nothing but a towel, but had changed into another of Naruto’s shirts and a pair of spandex shorts just barely long enough to peek out from beneath the hem of her shirt.“All yours, Uchiha-sama,” she said, ringing out her wet hair with a towel. “Oh, you made tea. Thank you.”He had placed two mugs on the nightstand between the beds and had taken a seat on the bed closest to the door. He felt a mixture of shock and annoyance when she picked up the mug on his side, the one half empty, the one that was clearly his, and took a generous sip.“Peppermint is quickly becoming my favorite tea, Itachi-kun,” she said, pressing his mug into his hands and then kissing his forehead affectionately. He set the mug aside and clenched his teeth. She smelled deliciously sweet and clean, and a few droplets of water from her hair splashed down onto his hands, which were fisted tightly over his knees.Moves. He needed to show her some moves.He lashed out his hand and caught one of her wrists and brought her hand to his face. He kissed her palm tenderly before standing up and looming over her with clear intent. He pushed her back until her legs hit the bed behind her and she crashed down onto it.The look of shock on her face greatly amused him, and the image of her sprawled out on the bed before him, hair haloed around her made him want to activate his Sharingan.And well, she had seemed much more tolerant of that lately, so he did. He let his eyes bleed into red, roving them over her body before letting them settle back on her face. Her eyes had widened, not just a little. She looked innocent and adorable, though he knew that she was anything but innocent.She didn’t look away from him, and he saw the determined set of her jaw, the way her brow furrowed and unfurrowed. She was still uncomfortable with it, but she wasn’t afraid of him.He leaned down, hovering over her with his hands pressed down into the mattress on either side of her head. He watched her close her eyes – she wanted him to kiss her. She wriggled beneath him, but it had no effect. He was not touching her. When their lips were only a hair apart, not touching unless either of them made even the tiniest motion to, he whispered, “Try not to get into any trouble while I’m in the shower.”And then he was off her, retreating into the safety of the bathroom with his heart hammering in his chest.But it wasn’t really much safer in there. Her scent lingered in the damp air and her clothes were piled up carelessly by the door – a reminder that she had just been naked in the very spot he was standing.Was she in the other room now, imagining him naked in here? Was she daydreaming about kissing him? Was she even thinking about him at all?Surely she would be. Itachi considered his brash actions a moment of complete bravery on his part. She did the grabbing, the kissing, the teasing. But this time he had turned the tables on her. Would she recognize that for what it was – a move? He felt silly all of a sudden, for being so smitten and so nervous.He was Itachi Uchiha. He fought in a war when he was only four years old. He graduated the academy at age seven and joined ANBU by eleven. He was a genius, a prodigy. There was no game he would let Sakura Haruno best him at.With renewed determination, Itachi quickly finished his shower and wrapped his towel around his waist. He could play dirty if he had to.But when he exited the bathroom, the lights were off and Sakura’ form was bundled underneath the covers on her bed. He didn’t even know it was possible to feel such a relieving form disappointment. She was obviously tired from their full day of running. How could he be annoyed with her for wanting to sleep?“Oi, Itachi-kun,” she mumbled from under her blankets. In the darkness he was able to see her wide green eyes peering at him from her intricately wrapped cocoon. “Where are your clothes? How can I sleep knowing you’re naked?”He quirked a small smile and retrieved his clothes from where he’d left them folded neatly on the bed. “I apologize, hime,” he said. “I’m getting dressed now.”She made a small noise of disappointment, but he chose not to read too much into it. They had a lot more running to do tomorrow and she would need her rest. He shouldn’t be keeping her awake.He dressed quickly in the privacy of the bathroom and returned to his bed. At least he tried. There would be plenty more opportunities for flirtation when they weren’t on a mission.“Itachi-kun?”“Yes?”“Goodnight.”He rolled over, feeling vaguely like she wanted to say something else. He couldn’t quite pinpoint what the problem was, but he felt very dissatisfied. A few seconds ticked by in the darkness. He could hear Sakura’s breathing on the bed beside him.With a brash and ill-made decision, Itachi slinked out of his own bed and pulled the covers that were bundled around Sakura. She shivered at the sudden intrusion of cold air and craned her neck to give him a wry look. Gently, he positioned himself beside her, curling his body around hers like she had done to him just the night before.If there was any tension in her body before, it melted completely away as she pressed her back into him. She was viscous and smooth, melting against him in a way that made him absolutely positive that she was meant to fit there against him like that, designed only for him. She let out a content sigh when he wrapped his arm around her and settled his hand against her neck.He kissed the back of her head and closed his eyes.“Goodnight, Sakura.”.Itachi wanted to believe that sleeping next to Sakura would be peaceful and give him a more restful sleep than he had ever had before. It seemed like a romantic notion, and he wanted very much to drift happily into his dreams while firmly latched around her.But it turned out that sleeping next to a girl was much more stressful than he thought. Sakura had fallen asleep almost immediately after he had joined her, which was probably a good thing. Itachi had spent a good portion of the night just trying to get his heart rate under control. When he had finally begun to drift off, Sakura shifted so that she was facing him and hiked her leg over his waist, pressing herself impossibly close to him.The position was far from unpleasant, but the sinful way her smooth, smooth leg brushed against a particularly sensitive portion of his anatomy left him completely incapable of falling asleep. Every so often she would make a noise, a soft groan, a whimper. She would cling tighter to him and nuzzle her face in his chest. Just what exactly was she dreaming of?Itachi felt cursed, unable to enjoy what should have been a pleasant moment. If the Stone-nin were in his position right now, what would he be doing? Would he touch her like he had before?Feeling a little hopeless, Itachi brushed her bangs away from her face and pressed his lips to her forehead. She stirred against him – he could feel her stretching out, her bones popping and cracking.“Itachi?”He stilled, unsure of what to do. “I didn’t mean to wake you,” he said.Her hand, which had been curled up in a loose fist on his chest, flattened out as she smoothed her palm over his pectoral muscles. “Itachi, your heart is racing,” she mumbled. “Are you feeling okay?”Before he had a chance to answer, she sprang upright into a sitting position and turned back to face him. The alarm on her face alarmed him as well and he sat up with her.“I forgot to check your lungs!”He sighed and fell back against his pillow. She kept her flattened palms against his chest and he felt her chakra invade him. “Sakura,” he said, watching her with one eye cracked open. “I’m fine. You can check in the morning.”“I just need to make sure your lungs are clear,” she said.He closed his open eye and let her check his lungs. After years of having little to no medical treatment in spite of his very serious condition, Itachi was grateful to have a medic as skilled as Sakura concerned about him. He had almost forgotten what it felt like to be sick, so he could indulge her in this.“You’re good, Itachi-san,” she said, withdrawing her chakra.He opened his eyes to glare at her.“I mean Uchiha-sama.”He grabbed the back of her head and pulled her into a chaste kiss and then let her settle warmly against his side again. “Go back to sleep, Sakura,” he said.“Sakura-hime.”“Sakura-hime.” By the next morning, Itachi had been able to capture an astounding two and a half hours of sleep. It would certainly make the trip back to Konoha a bit more taxing, but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle.If anything, he was grateful for the practice of being close to her, of touching her and keeping his heart from imploding.He could hear Sakura and Sasuke chatting behind him as they ran. Probably teasing him again as they were wont to do. He paid them no attention this time.He briefly mused about whether normal people felt like this when entering romantic relationships, or if he was just odd – emotionally stunted in some way. Had his father felt this way about his mother? He couldn’t imagine Fugaku being so nervous about Mikoto. But maybe he had been that way before they were married, before they’d had children.With a sharp pang of regret and nostalgia he thought he had quashed a long time ago, Itachi missed his parents. Mikoto would have loved Sakura. Fugaku would have given him sage advice about how to handle her.He shook his head to clear those thoughts from his mind because there was no use in thinking about it now.“Are you alright, Itachi?” Sasuke asked, pulling up alongside him.It hurt Itachi too much to look at his brother just then, so he merely nodded and pushed farther ahead.“Is it about Sakura?” Sasuke whispered, keeping up Itachi’s pace.Itachi could sense her presence behind them and he wondered what she was thinking. Did she pick up on his change in mood the way Sasuke had? Did she think it was about her?“When you were just a baby, Father and Mother left you in my care while they went on an errand,” Itachi said. “It was my first time ever watching you alone and I was terrified that I would mess up somehow.”Sasuke cocked his head curiously.“I was responsible for your life and that was a strange feeling,” Itachi continued. “I had killed before, taken life away, but I knew next to nothing about preserving it.”Itachi spared a glance at Sasuke who was looking straight ahead as they ran, but he could tell he was still listening.“We are tools, shinobi. Our lives are given and taken, and at times it feels very meaningless,” Itachi said. “Why is any one life valued higher than another? Why is life valued at all?”Itachi suddenly felt very cold.“But it all became clear that day I had you in my care,” he continued. “Your life is valuable to me. Your life was worth protecting, worth taking the lives of others for. So that was what I did. I sacrificed the lives of our family, our clan, for yours. It may have been the best choice for Konoha, but when I made that decision I was only thinking of you.”“Itachi…”“I see both Father and Mother in you,” Itachi said. “Lives I took to protect yours. It’s hard to look at you sometimes. I wonder if I made the right choice.”“When you put it that way it sounds selfish,” Sasuke said with a dry chuckle.“I prevented a war and saved many lives. But looking back I believe the lives I took in exchange may have been more valuable,” Itachi said. “There is no one I would hesitate to kill in exchange for your life.”“Not even Sakura?”Itachi considered that for a moment. Exchanging Sakura’s life for Sasuke’s? Was her life worth more to him than Sasuke’s was?“Not even Sakura,” Itachi said.Sasuke caught his eye. “That’s a little messed up, Itachi,” he said. “Why are you telling me this?”“As shinobi, we are meant to protect Konoha and all the lives in it,” Itachi said. “But it is more important to protect the people you love. The lives worth more.”“What are you saying?”“I don’t know, Sasuke,” Itachi said with a huff. “I miss Father and Mother. I wish they were still here.”“Oh,” he said. “So what happened when I was a baby? Did I get hurt or something?”“No,” Itachi said, giving him a sideways glance. “Everything went fine. I would never let you get hurt.”Sasuke smirked..Their return to Konoha was met with an overly excited Naruto. They had only been gone for a few days, not even a week, but Naruto had acted like he hadn’t seen them in years.He had greeted Sakura and Sasuke with unparalleled warmth and had even given Itachi a winning smile and an affectionate pat on the back. Itachi had carefully watched his interactions with Sasuke, both because he was genuinely curious about the nature of the relationship and because he hoped to glean some insight into how he should perhaps be behaving with Sakura.After reporting back to the Hokage tower with the disappointing news that their mission had garnered no new information, the four of them went to the teahouse near the Uchiha compound that Sakura had mentioned to Itachi when he had first returned to Konoha.It was an odd feeling being in such a cozy and intimate setting with the people he cared so much about. Even before he had left Konoha, he had never been in a position for this kind of thing. Between clan meetings, reporting to the Sandaime, and ANBU missions, Itachi had hardly had any time to develop any real friendships besides what he had with Shisui.The other children at the academy had not liked him. His genin team had been taken from him. The only person who had really given him the time of day had been Izumi. Kakashi and Tenzo had been good comrades, but could he really have considered them to be friends?Kisame had also been a good comrade. Kisame had teased him in much the same way that Sasuke or Sakura would. Did that mean they were friends? He certainly didn’t hate the shark-nin, in spite of their current status as enemies.Itachi considered that his connections with all of these people were not meaningless. They were important and they had shaped him. He couldn’t say why the value of human life had suddenly become a concern for him, but when he weighed his love for the village against his love for the people in his life…Well, he had chosen the village over his family. He looked around the table – Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke. They were his family. And he would not choose the village over them if he were forced the make that choice. If this made him selfish, then he could admit that he was selfish.He felt a warm hand settle on his thigh and he glanced to his left where Sakura was smiling at him with a bit of a puzzled expression. “Earth to Itachi,” she said. “What are you thinking about that’s got you so spaced out?”He stared at her, unblinking. He wondered what she would think of his current thoughts, or if she would be upset if she knew what he had said to Sasuke about choosing his life over hers. Of course that decision would be difficult to accept. He could no longer imagine a life without Sakura in it.And maybe that would change one day. Maybe in the future he would grow to love her more than he loved Sasuke. It seemed impossible to even think about. Could he love anyone more than he loved Sasuke?He glanced at Sasuke who was watching Naruto with one of the softest expressions he had ever seen on his stoic little brother. Naruto was chatting animatedly about something one of the Hyuugas had done in their absence – nothing particularly engaging. Yet Sasuke was watching him like he was the sun, the most important thing in the world.Had Sakura ever looked at him like that? Had he ever looked at Sakura that way before?“Itachi?”Her expression had grown more worried and for a reason he couldn’t quite explain, that made him happy.“I apologize, hime,” he murmured low, for only her to hear. “I was lost in thought.” ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Sakura was relieved and a little bit disappointed when they found Kabuto’s bunker empty. She had not been looking forward to facing him again, especially considering the false pretense she would have had to put up. She was, however, curious about what he was doing and what she could do to prevent it.That was why she spent every second of her free time after their mission in the labs, analyzing the samples she had collected. It was tedious work that required a lot of her concentration and patience, so she made sure to take her time and be very careful.For several days, she found nothing out of sorts with any of the samples, but at some point she chose to compare her notes from Toyeiki with her notes from the samples. In doing so, she found a specific pathogen that seemed to infect via water. It was different than the one that had infected so many people in Toyeiki, yet from a microscopic view it looked very similar.Sakura didn’t know what that meant, but between shifts at the hospital and assisting Tsunade with her Hokage duties, she attempted to figure it out. Was the original disease able to spread through different means? Or was this a completely different infection? Could chakra be infected through this waterborne pathogen?After nearly two weeks of spending her nights at the lab, Ino began to come visit her. She had grown tired of waiting for Sakura to come home each night and had brought her food and flowers to spruce up the place.Sakura was grateful for her company. Though she was surrounded by people every day, it got a little lonely working by herself. Ino had always had a good sense of when Sakura needed her, so she appreciated the thoughtful gestures.Ino still seemed pretty down about the Sai situation and Sakura wished that there was something she could do for her. No amount of nights out partying would resolve this issue, but unfortunately for Sakura, she didn’t know what would.Setting her up with another man seemed disrespectful and highly likely to backfire. Besides, she didn’t know any eligible bachelors anyway. Instead, Sakura did what she could to make Ino’s life a little easier each day.Ino continued to stay randomly at Sakura’s apartment, so Sakura made sure to keep her favorite foods stocked. She picked up after Ino’s messes without complaint and she would lay out her clothes for the next day. She left her little notes in her pockets – things that would cheer her up and remind her that she was loved.It seemed to work. Ino’s mood had drastically improved in the weeks following Sakura’s mission, in spite of the fact that Sakura didn’t have too much extra free time to spend with her.After coming home late one day having been down in the labs working, Sakura wasn’t surprised to find Ino curled up on her couch with a steaming mug of tea and an open book in her lap.“Hey, pig, how are you?” Sakura asked, peeling off her medic’s coat and letting it crumple on the floor by the door.“Not bad, Forehead,” she replied with a smile. It was a genuine smile – one that she seemed to be giving more and more lately. “I made some dinner for you. There’s a plate in the microwave.”They had settled into a comfortable coexistence, just the two of them – almost like an old married couple. Ino had been especially helpful in picking up some of Sakura’s slack with Yamato and Sachi. Her busy schedule had demanded much more of her time than she was used to giving, so lately she had been having to rely on Ino to pick up Yamato from school or watch Sachi while her parents were busy.Even though she was exhausted and desperately needed a day off (and she could take one if she really needed one), Sakura was content. Her day-to-day life was relaxed and comfortable and there wasn’t much to complain about.“So what’s been going on with the whole Danzo situation?”Except that. Sakura settled down on the couch next to Ino with her warmed up plate of food and crossed her legs underneath her.“His trial is in a couple of weeks,” Sakura said, chewing a bite of her eggroll. “Tsunade-sama says I’ll have to be a witness in his trial. I’m not really sure what that means.”And she still had that pesky problem of their previous conversation. Best-case scenario, her problems solved themselves. If Danzo was ordered to be executed, then she wouldn’t have to worry about him coming after Sasuke and Itachi. It was unlikely, and Sakura knew that. But she couldn’t help but hope for such a thing.She thought about what was likely to happen. Danzo would go free but be removed from the council. That wouldn’t really do as much good as Tsunade seemed to think. He would still be a threat to the village, and to Sasuke and Itachi.And it definitely wouldn’t be enough to quell Sasuke’s thirst for revenge. The young Uchiha had been pretty reserved so far – probably because Itachi made things much easier for him. It was easier for him to forget the pain when Itachi was there.If Danzo escaped a death sentence, would Sasuke attack him? Would Itachi condone that behavior? She couldn’t know for sure, but she desperately wanted to prevent a fight between them. Danzo had far more sway than the Uchiha did. Even if he were removed from the council, the citizens of Konoha still respected his name. He still would have ROOT.But she couldn’t convince herself to ask them to leave the village. It was their home. They didn’t deserve to be kicked out.She considered that she should tell someone what Danzo had told her. She should tell Tsunade. She really needed to stop keeping secrets from the Hokage – especially ones regarding the safety of the village. And she also should probably tell Itachi. He was smarter than her, had more experience with this sort of thing. He would know what to do.But would he be angry with her for keeping it from him?“Sounds stressful,” Ino said. “Glad it’s not me.”Sakura gave her a half-hearted thump on the back of her head.“Ow, ow, sorry,” she squealed.“I don’t want to think about that right now,” Sakura said. “Distract me with something else.”“You know Tsunade is going to make you come to that clan ceremony thing.”“Clan ceremony?”“Yeah, to elect a new council made up of all the clan heads,” Ino said flippantly. “Didn’t she tell you? I hear it’s suppose to be on the hush hush, but I heard her telling Shizune that after Danzo is removed from the council, she wants to create a council with all of the clan heads in addition to a few civilian elects.”“That’s kind of bold of her, isn’t it?” Sakura said. Tsunade was a good Hokage, but this seemed like a bit much for her. The status quo was easy. How would Konoha react to such a massive political change? “I can’t believe she didn’t tell me.”“Well, you’ve been cooped up in the labs for weeks,” Ino said.“I guess I should go talk to her.”Ino looked away. “She puts too much pressure on you sometimes,” she said. “Between your missions, shifts at the hospital, assisting her with Hokage duties, and now forcing you to go to the clan ceremony – it’s too much for one girl to handle.”Sakura smiled. “That’s how you feel, huh?” she asked. “It isn’t anything I can’t handle. I like being busy. Besides, she hadn’t even asked me to go to the clan ceremony yet.”“You know she will, though,” Ino said. “She’s going to make you do all the work she should be doing while she’s off somewhere getting drunk.”Sakura laughed. “Yeah, that’s probably true.”“I heard that the Kazekage will be there, too,” Ino said. “All the kages were invited, but Gaara was the only one to agree to come.”“Not surprising.”“Seems like overkill, doesn’t it?” Ino asked. “All the kages? They don’t have anything to do with Konoha politics.”“Yeah, good point. I wonder what Tsunade is up to.”“And you know who else will be there…”Sakura raised a brow.“Itachi.”She hadn’t thought about him in a while. It felt strange to think it had been several weeks since she had seen him.“What?” Ino asked, seeing the puzzled expression on her face. “Did something happen with you guys?”“Uh no,” Sakura said. “I just haven’t seen him in a while. I’ve been so busy these past couple of weeks.”“Then you must be looking forward to seeing him again,” she answered.And Sakura supposed she was..The next day, Sakura was blessed with an afternoon off. She finished her morning shift at the hospital, and instead of going down to labs as she had been for the last several weeks, she picked up Yamato from the academy and took him down to the training fields.“I was beginning to think you had forgotten about me,” he teased once they had gotten close to the training grounds.“Of course I couldn’t forget about you, Yamato,” she said with a grin. “How could I forget about the number one student at the academy? The student with sharpest aim?”Yamato beamed at the compliment and put his hands behind his head in that boastful sort of way that reminded her of Naruto. He had an unfair advantage, really. He had training with Naruto, Itachi, and her (though she could admit that she didn’t have too much to add).But Sakura was proud nonetheless that Yamato had risen so quickly to the top of his class. At this rate, he would make a finer ninja than she was.“Alright, Yamato, what would you like to work on today?”“Taijutus,” he said confidently. “No weapons. No ninjutsu. Chakra permitted.”“You know that’s my specialty, right?”“Of course,” he said, still beaming. “That’s why I picked it.”She didn’t wait for any further explanation before she was attacking him, punching and kicking without holding back. Yamato was quick, and with more practice he would surely be faster than her by the end of the year. But for now, she was a fair bit quicker than he was and was able to land blow after blow on him.He blocked them by using a chakra buffer against his skin where it contacted hers, just like she had taught him to do. She was rather impressed with his ability to regulate his chakra usage so that he was not wasting any in absorbing the impact of her hits.And soon enough he was pushing her back with attacks of his own, forcing her to defend instead of attack. Sakura fell into defense mode, blocking his punches and parrying when she could.She was enjoying herself immensely. Her time cooped up in the hospital and the labs had put her a bit out of practice and sparring with Yamato was a great way to kill two birds with one stone. She could enjoy some leisure time with him while getting in a good workout.“Your chakra control is improving, Yamato,” she said breathlessly, blocking a particularly nasty punch aimed at her face.“Iruka-sensei has been teaching us how to be chakra efficient,” he said, still raining down blows, “So that we don’t waste it.”Sakura, having had enough of being on defense, pushed him back with a rough shove and swept her leg under his, knocking him to the ground. He was back to his feet in a matter of seconds, his arms up to protect his face from her onslaught of punches and high kicks.They exchanged blows like this for a while, more like a dance than a fight, intricate, graceful and well choreographed.Sakura aimed a harsh punch toward his chest – one she knew would knock him pretty far backwards with the amount of chakra she put into it. He caught it with his hand as she expected, but unlike she had expected, he had not used any chakra to buffer the impact.She winced as she felt the bones in his hand crunch beneath hers. “Yamato, are you—”He cut her off with his other fist aimed right for her face. Lacking the speed to block it, she took the full force of it in her temple and fell back to the ground with a grimace.“That was sneaky,” she said with a hint of pride in her tone. “You let me break your hand to distract me.”“One of the best reasons to spar with you,” he said with a grin. “You can always heal my wounds after.”She sat up, wincing. She could feel tenderness around her eye and it had begun to swell shut. It would definitely bruise if she didn’t heal it soon, but she wanted to take a look at Yamato’s hand first.“Come here,” she commanded. “Let me see it.”He crouched down in front of her and extended his hand. Broken bones took longer to heal than wounds or bruises, so they got comfortable in the grass while she let her healing chakra do its work.They chatted amicably about how his studies at the academy were going, Sachi and her parents, and life in general. It had been so long since she had seen Yamato that she had nearly forgotten how at ease she felt around him. He reminded her so much of Naruto at that age – and having regretted how she treated the poor blonde back then, she felt a duty to be there for him.“You’ll be graduating soon,” she said to him after a comfortable lull in conversation had filled the air around them. “You’ll get a team. You’ll start going on missions. Are you excited?”“I suppose,” he said weakly. “I’ll be excited when I get to take real missions instead of babysitting gigs.”Sakura laughed. “It’s all part of the process.”“Yeah, I know,” he said. “I hope it goes by quick, though. I can’t wait to join ANBU.”Sakura blinked. She hadn’t realized that he was interested in joining ANBU. Her first instinct was to stop him, to convince him to change his mind. ANBU was a dangerous job. Itachi had been ANBU – she didn’t want Yamato subjected to a fate like his.“ANBU,” she said slowly, testing out the syllables on her tongue. “That’s ambitious.”“You don’t think I can do it?”She gave him an eye-crinkling smile. “Of course you can do it, Yamato,” she said. It wasn’t her place to decide such a thing for him. If ANBU was what he wanted, she had no doubt he could achieve it. “No question.”“So,” he said in an obvious attempt at changing the subject. “Are you going to try to join ANBU? Or become a jonin?”She released his hand, having finished the healing process. He pulled it into his lap and gave each finger a good flex. She watched him as she turned his hand over testing each muscle, each joint while she thought about her answer.It wasn’t as though she had never thought of either of those things before. She wanted to become a jonin, but she would have to have a recommendation for that. It might not be hard to get one if she chose to take more missions, but just working at the hospital it wasn’t likely that the position would fall into her lap. She would have to put some more effort into it.As for being ANBU, she didn’t know if that was something she could handle. ANBU did some dirty work. She appreciated those who were able to do it, but she didn’t know if she herself was capable. After learning about Itachi’s secret mission, she wasn’t sure if she would be a good fit for ANBU.“I’d like to be a jonin someday,” she said after careful deliberation. “But I have a lot of other things on my plate right now. It’ll have to wait.”“If you wait too long I might beat you to it,” Yamato said, grinning cheekily.“Nothing would make me prouder.”Yamato laughed and sat back on his forearms in the grass. A gentle breeze rolled past them, kicking up the fallen leaves and rustling their hair. In spite of the several imminent dangers honing in on her – Danzo’s trial, Kabuto, the clan ceremony – Sakura felt deeply content to be sitting there with Yamato.She took the opportunity to study his face. He seemed much older than he actually was. Much like Itachi, Yamato seemed to have aged prematurely in the face of all the stress in his life. Sakura felt he took the death of his parents rather well for someone of his age. It must have been hard for him, especially having to take care of Sachi as well.Yamato was a bright and energetic boy and Sakura felt extremely lucky to have him in her life. She felt a swell of affection for him in her chest, and Sakura felt a strong urge to crush him into a bear hug.But she resisted the maternal temptation and gave him a warm smile instead.“Do you want to go to Ichiraku’s?” she asked. “My treat?”“Better not,” he said with a shake of his head. “I’m going to dinner with a few of my classmates later today. Don’t want to spoil my appetite.”“Fair enough,” she said, hiding her disappointment with an even warmer smile..“Status report on Kabuto’s samples?”“Making progress as expected,” Sakura answered. “I’m finding remnants of the original disease in a new pathogen – this was waterborne instead of airborne. I’m not sure what this means, exactly, but with some more research I think I might find out how it can be used as a poison.”“Do you think that’s the way Kabuto intended for this pathogen to be used?”“I believe based on this research, that he was attempting to find a way that the previously vetted disease could be transmitted via a plethora of different ways. Water, air, insects, physical contact,” Sakura explained. “Unfortunately, knowing that I created a vaccine, Kabuto likely is using a completely different bacterial infection right now.”“A disease spread through so many different means would be impossible to contain.”“Biological warfare at its best.”“Then we must find and stop Kabuto before he can put this plan into place.”Tsunade frowned and rubbed her brow with the back of her hand. She looked tired, Sakura thought, and she must have been since Sakura couldn’t be there to help her with her Hokage duties. She even looked sober.“Are you feeling alright, Tsunade-shishou?”Tsunade looked up at her pupil with narrowed eyes. “I told you about the clan ceremony, didn’t I?”Sakura blanched. “Well, no,” she answered. “Ino told me a little bit about it.”Tsunade cursed. “I meant to tell you,” she said. “Danzo’s trial is a week from today. After his trial is over, I plan to replace the council entirely. The new council will be made up of the clan heads plus a few civilians that are chosen by me. In the future, I plan for this newly set up council to elect the new Hokage.”Sakura blinked in surprise. “You mean you won’t pick the next Hokage?”“One elected by the council will be one chosen by the people,” she explained. “I think things will be better this way.”“But it hasn’t been a problem so far,” Sakura said, not fully understanding why Tsunade would want to implement such a drastic political change. “Why go through all this effort to fix a problem that doesn’t exist?”“There is a problem, Sakura,” Tsunade insisted. “The Uchiha clan never had a voice. They were historically pushed back away from the central running of the village, in spite of being a founding clan. By giving the Uchiha clan – every clan – an equal vote in the village’s political affairs, we create a democratic system based on everyone’s best interest. Not just mine. Not just the strongest clan.”Sakura looked down at her feet. She didn’t entirely trust in her mentor’s idea, but she didn’t have the courage to argue with her.“I know it seems impossible, Sakura,” Tsunade said. “But this change will be good for everyone. Just have a little faith in me.”Sakura nodded. “What do you need from me, Tsunade-shishou?”“I’ll need you to take minutes during the council meetings from now on,” Tsunade said. “Usually I would give that responsibility to Shizune, but she has enough on her plate right now. Everything said during those meetings is completely confidential, so you cannot discuss what you hear with anyone. Not Naruto, not Sasuke, not Kakashi. No one.”“I understand.”“I’m hoping that you will get elected to the council in the future,” Tsunade continued. “You are well respected among your peers and as my student you know a lot about how the Hokage’s office is run. Pay close attention during the meetings and give input when asked, but do not offer it.”“Yes, Tsunade-shishou.”Sakura felt herself reeling a little. Tsunade was essentially giving her a political career. Another task to add to her ever-growing list. As if her plate weren’t already full enough.But this was something she could actually get behind. The problems they had with Danzo, the corruption behind the scenes in Konoha – she was now in a position to tame things like that. She could make a real change in the way Konoha operating now.She had a feeling that there would be some major repercussions for Tsunade’s decision, but for a moment, Sakura felt a great sense of importance. She could do this.“Your first order of business is to schmooze all the clan heads,” Tsunade continued. “The clan ceremony will be a good opportunity for you to do that. I will announce there my decision regarding the council, so I need everyone to be in a good mood and I need everyone to like you. You’re going to be my little pink mascot.”“Pardon?”“I’m rough around the edges, I know,” Tsunade said with a rueful grin. “And you have quite a temper, too, but I’ll need you to keep that under control. You’re cute. Use that to your advantage.”“I’m afraid I don’t follow…”“I really need to you garner favor with the clan heads, Sakura,” she said impatiently. “Flirt, give them good conversation, bat your eyelashes – whatever you have to do. Get them to be on my side – our side. It would look ridiculous if I instate a democratic council that immediately impeaches me or questions all my decisions. Just schmooze them.”“Uhh,” Sakura groaned with bemusement. “Okay, I think I can do that.”“Great. Now I’ve invited the Kazekage to this ceremony because if this is successful, he might implement such a thing in Suna as well,” Tsunade said. “So, if you can, make sure to impress Gaara, too.”“Why does it matter if Suna implements a democratic council?”“It will strengthen our alliance, but it isn’t necessary, I suppose,” she answered. “I invited all the kages to come, but Gaara was the only one interested.”“Don’t you think it could make us look vulnerable to let the other nations know we’re in the midst of a large political change?” Sakura asked, suddenly very concerned. They weren’t too far off the heels of the third shinobi war. Another war could be detrimental.“Don’t worry about that,” Tsunade said. “This entire deal is probationary for now. I am still Hokage and my word is still final. If this doesn’t work out like I plan, I will strike the ordeal and we’ll go back to the way things were.”Sakura didn’t think that sounded practical, but she didn’t mention that to her mentor who was pouring herself a cup of sake and looking quite pleased with herself.“You seem overwhelmed,” she said before downing the entire glass.“It’s a lot to take in.”“Sakura.”Sakura looked up at her shishou.“Sakura, I want you to know how proud I am of you for all that you’ve done this past year,” she said earnestly. “You successfully created a vaccine for a biological weapon. You uncovered one of Konoha’s darkest secrets. You keep up with your shifts at the hospital and taking care of those damned orphans all while simultaneously working in the labs – and Ino told me you’ve been working on some new jutsus.”Sakura felt her face heating up. Tsunade was not usually forthcoming with her compliments. It was rare to get one at all from the surly blonde, let alone a laundry list of achievements.“I’m impressed,” she said. “And I want to reward you.”“Reward me?” Sakura laughed. “Shouldn’t you be punishing me instead? I was a part of a plot to kill Danzo. I worked with a Konoha defector behind your back.”Tsunade waved her hand dismissively. “You were absolved of those sins when I beat the shit out of you during that spar,” she said. “Now, what do you want, Sakura? How can I make your life easier?”Sakura bit her lip. What could she possibly ask for? She had never been more content with her life than she had been for the past several weeks. There was nothing she really wanted.Except… She recalled her conversation with Yamato.“I want to be a jonin.”Tsunade’s eyebrows flew up in surprise. “A jonin?” she mumbled. “Well, usually the rank of jonin is given at the recommendation of your teacher. But I suppose that I am your teacher. I don’t think Kakashi would disagree that you deserve the position. I hereby grant you the rank of jonin.”Sakura let a smile creep onto her lips before flying to the other side of the desk and wrapping her arms around Tsunade’s neck.“Thank you, shishou!” she exclaimed. “I won’t let you down.”Tsunade pushed her student away with a wry, but amused look. “I know you won’t. Now get going. I’m sure your busy ass has somewhere it needs to be.” ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- While Kabuto was still at large with no lead on where he might be, Konoha’s safety risks were fairly low. Danzo was still imprisoned. Akatsuki was virtually gone while Madara must have been recuperating from the loss of all his manpower. Konoha was safer than it had been in a long time.And what that meant for Itachi was boring missions.Being back on the mission roster during peacetime was not nearly the rush that being in Akatsuki had been. Not that Itachi would dare say that he missed it. He definitely did not. In fact, being as pacifistic as he was, Itachi didn’t really miss fighting all that much at all.Stealth missions were fun. They offered a whole host of excitement and intrigue. Itachi was best with infiltration, gathering intel.But this was not a stealth mission and there was no intel. In fact, if this mission did not involve a person of high importance, it could only be classified as D rank.Escort the Daimyo’s daughter across Fire country. It was a humiliating task for a shinobi as accomplished as Itachi, but he couldn’t turn down a mission. Not when there were so few to take.It was a wonder that the Daimyo would hire a man like Itachi to protect his daughter. A clan killer. A man capable of killing his own family surely shouldn’t be given the care of a young woman whose potential for grating on his nerves seemed to be endless.Fortunately, this was an ANBU mission, so his identity remained unknown. For all they knew, he was the Hokage herself.“ANBU-san, tell me your favorite color.”Itachi elected not to answer this demand, as he had with all the previous demands. She had incessantly pressed him to talk for the few hours they had been on the road. So far he had not uttered a word to her, but he could feel that it was only a matter of time before he politely asked her to shut up.“ANBU-san, is your favorite color red like your eyes?”He narrowed his eyes at her through the slits in his mask.“Oh, ANBU-san, you don’t scare me,” she said with a shrill giggle. “You’re here to protect me – don’t act like you can intimidate me.”Anyone not intimidated by him was foolish indeed. She had an unwavering trust in him that he found too disconcerting to spend much time thinking about.Itachi studied her for a moment, because something about her voice reminded him of Sakura. She was hardly eighteen, maybe younger. She had delicate features and bouncing brown curls.A young noble like her would certainly be a fine target. Her youth and beauty would give her allure. She was rich and loved – an easy mark for someone strapped for cash.“Tell me, ANBU-san,” she said, fanning herself with an ornately decorated fan. “Do you have a girlfriend back home?”Again, Itachi refused to answer. But it seemed that the young woman was determined to get an answer for this particular question. She crawled to the edge of her cart near to where Itachi walked beside it. He kept his gaze forward.“ANBU-san,” she said, drumming her fingers impatiently on the wood.When he still did not respond, she reached her hand out toward his face. He saw with his Sharingan her intent to remove his mask so he caught her wrist and held it.“Tell me about you girlfriend,” she said, unperturbed by the rough way he was currently restraining her arm. In fact, Itachi felt a twinge of disgust when she seemed to lean into his touch and sigh.He released her, shoving her gently back into her seat in the cart. “I don’t have a girlfriend,” he said.“He speaks!” she exclaimed giddily, clapping her hands like he had just performed some impressive feat. Itachi narrowed his eyes, if that were even possible.He had considered lying to her – telling her that he did have a girlfriend. The closest thing he’d ever had to a girlfriend was Sakura, who he had not seen in several weeks. And she was not his girlfriend.It was torture, really. It seemed cruel and unfair on fate’s part to have let him share a bed with her, to be close to her and touch her and then take her away again. He saw how busy she constantly was. She was important to the village – they needed her more than he did.But damn if he didn’t need her too. Ironic how he had wanted to get some space from her, to clear his head of her. The thrill of lying next to her, of being wrapped around her body so intimately had left quite an impression on poor Itachi. He felt high and giddy just thinking about it. She was like a drug he was craving – that adrenaline, that spike of nerves that felt so awful and yet so intriguing at the same time.Twice he had come to her apartment since their mission. The first time she had not been there. He had sensed the presence of the Yamanaka girl inside, but instead of asking her where Sakura was, he left. Later he learned that she had been in the labs working on the samples they had collected from Kabuto’s bunker.How admirable for her to be working so late into the evening, he thought when he learned this.The second time he had visited, he once again felt the Yamanaka girl there. Feeling bold and a little discouraged at the same time, Itachi had peered inside her window for a brief second to see Sakura curled up on the couch with the blonde’s tear streaked face in her lap.There would have been no tactful way to interrupt whatever had been happening then, so Itachi left again.He hadn’t gathered the courage to go see her again. He wanted to, of course. He thought of her far too often while missions were slow, while nothing was happening. She was happening. She was the only thing he could keep his mind on.“How could a handsome man like you not have a girlfriend?” the Daimyo’s daughter demanded.He had not removed his mask at any point since meeting her, and the girl had no way of knowing if he was handsome or not. Nonetheless, Itachi felt heat rising to his cheeks and he was grateful that they were covered.“Are you allowed to have a girlfriend, ANBU-san?” she asked. “Or are ANBU forbidden from pursuing love?”Itachi did not respond.“How tragic that would be,” she continued. “I hope that’s not true. Oh! Do you have a girl back home that you love and cannot be with? How awful that must be! She must be very beautiful for a man like you to love her. Do you think she loves you back? Does she know that you love her? Do you have secret rendezvous with one another between you—”“Please,” Itachi interrupted sharply. “Be quiet.”“Do you hear something, ANBU-san?” she whispered.“Yeah, you.”She looked stunned for a moment before that emotion was whisked away and replaced with indignant coldness. She crossed her arms with a huff, and Itachi was amused in spite of himself.“Forgive my rudeness,” Itachi apologized, but he offered no explanation or further groveling.“‘Forgive my rudeness, hime,’” she corrected.Itachi halted. The cart moved on without him, the incensed hime pouting but otherwise paying him no attention. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise that a person who actually had claim to such a title would demand to be called one, but Itachi felt hesitant to call this girl a name he had reserved for Sakura.Even the way she had said it reminded him so much of her…“Forgive my rudeness, hime,” he amended as he caught up with the cart.Luckily for Itachi, the hime pouted silently for the rest of the trip..“Why are you so dressed up?”Itachi spared a glance for his brother while he straightened his shirt. He had been subjected to Sasuke’s relentless teasing about his escort mission – he wasn’t interested in having Sasuke mock his formal attire, too.“Clan ceremony,” he said tersely.“Clan ceremony? Why wasn’t I invited?”Itachi shook his head. “Only the clan heads were invited, Sasuke,” Itachi answered. “Tsunade-sama is going to reveal to us new information about the council.”Itachi watched Sasuke’s face darken. Danzo’s trial had come and gone without much fuss. It had hardly seemed like there was a point in having one at all when Tsunade passed her judgment with little to no regard for the opinions of the rest of the council members.She had still been more lenient than Itachi cared for (and Itachi was not a vengeful man). Danzo had been banned from Konoha and had a seal of his own design placed on his tongue so that Konoha’s secrets would be safe.Itachi had been away on a mission during the trial, but both Naruto and Sasuke reported that Sakura had been livid when she exited the courtroom. When they pressed her for information she refused to speak. He couldn’t imagine what had her so outraged. He wished he could have witnessed the trial himself. He was curious as to what part Sakura played in it.On the heels of Danzo’s banishment the council needed an overhaul. Thus, formal invitations to a clan ceremony where Tsunade would explain the future of the council and Konoha’s political climate were sent out.Itachi was not looking forward to going. He did not do well at events like these. He supposed he would have to get used to them being the clan head. He should have been used to them already at this age – an heir to such a prestigious clan.Instead, his stomach was filled with dread. He couldn’t imagine a scenario where the other clan heads reacted favorably to his appearance. He was well aware that he was still despised by the rest of the village.“But you’ll tell me everything when you get back?” Sasuke asked.“Of course.”.It could have been worse, Itachi thought. Everyone had gathered at the Hokage tower in one the lower rooms reserved for events like these. It appeared that more than just the clan heads had been invited. Jiraiya, Kakashi, Shizune, and several more people he did not recognize also flitted about the floor, mingling and enjoying themselves. He also recognized Gaara – odd looking without his sand gourd on his back. He hadn’t expected the Kazekage to be here.If Itachi hadn’t felt so uncomfortable being there, he would have been amazed that such a strange crowd of people could possibly have gathered for a formal event like this one. Even Kakashi, so unusual without his Icha Icha book, looked relaxed.From his position against the wall, Itachi watched as the guests interacted with one another – spotting each clan head and rehearsing what he might say if they approached him.“Itachi.”He glanced to his left.“Tsunade-sama.”“Don’t be such a wallflower,” she said. “You’re a big part of why this is even happening.”“What exactly is happening?”She leaned against the wall next to him, crossing her arms. “You’ll find out,” she said. “And if you could do me this solid: don’t be all intimidating and cold. Try to… get people to like you.”Itachi narrowed his eyes because that was a ridiculous thing for someone with a temper like hers to suggest, but he kept his mouth shut.Across the room he saw a flash of pink and his eyes were drawn in immediately. She looked both confused and stunning when she entered the room, her gaze panning slowly as she looked for something, someone.She had dressed to kill, apparently. Itachi couldn’t draw his eyes away from her form fitting red dress long enough to notice that she had curled her hair (a respectable length now) and put on a substantial amount of makeup.She smiled an obnoxiously and unfairly bright smile when she caught sight of the Kazekage and Itachi watched as she made her way over to him. He smiled back when he saw her (Itachi couldn’t recall ever having seen the Kazekage smile) and gave her a firm handshake.A handshake, Itachi thought with relief. Not a kiss on the cheek or a hug.He immediately felt rather foolish for even thinking about such a thing.“In fact,” Tsunade said, reminding him that she was, in fact, still there. “If you could play up the whole victim thing, that would be fantastic. I know the massacre must be fresh in your mind after the results of Danzo’s trial.”“Right,” Itachi said, keeping his eyes fixed on Sakura as she flitted away from Gaara and over to Kakashi who ruffled her hair affectionately. She shoved him too roughly away from her and wagged her finger at him, chiding him, no doubt, for having messed up her hair. “The lenient results of the trial.”“Please,” she scoffed. “I practically gave him a death sentence. A decrepit old man like him isn’t going to last long out there.”“You should know better than to underestimate him.”Tsunade grunted and kicked herself off the wall. “Enjoy this party, Itachi,” she said. “At least try to have a good time.”Itachi watched her walk away. He couldn’t imagine enjoying himself here.If anything, he felt even more uncomfortable knowing that there was something Tsunade needed from him. Why should he have to play his victim card? Why would he need people to like him?She had also claimed that he was an important reason that this event was even happening. What could that mean? Just what exactly was she planning?“Itachi-kun.”She approached him along the wall, resting her shoulder against the wall next to him. Her body was facing him and before he could stop himself, his eyes traveled the length of her body and back up before landing on her face.She was looking at him with a raw admiration that made his stomach twist up into knots. He watched her eyes take a similar journey to his, lingering on his chest and shoulders.“You look nice, Itachi-kun.”She looked nicer, he thought, and he wanted to tell her but he had lost the ability to form words. He couldn’t tell whether it was the prolonged absence of her or the fact that she looked phenomenal, but whatever it was made it difficult to process thoughts.She reached out and grabbed his hand, entwining their fingers like it was a completely normal thing for her to be doing. They were far enough away from everyone else that no one would notice unless they were paying specific attention. Itachi could think of no reason why their relationship (if it could even be called that) should be a secret, but his first instinct was to push her away.And yet… He wanted for Gaara to turn and look at her – to see her standing so near to him with their hands twisted together.She moved a step closer to him and fluttered her lashes – lashes that were black and much longer than he remembered.“Your lashes…”“Oh,” she said. “It’s mascara. I forgot I was wearing it.”Having regained his voice, Itachi leaned into her touch and tightened his grip on her hand. “You look beautiful, Sakura.”She smiled warmly, more warmly than she had at Gaara, and pressed a kiss to his cheek.“Why are you here?” he asked her. “Do you know what’s happening with the council?”“I do, but I’m sure Tsunade-sama will tell you in good time,” she answered. “I’m here to schmooze you.”“Me?”“Well, all the clan heads,” she said, brushing a lock of hair away from her face. “But I’ll tell you a secret, Itachi-kun. You are my favorite.”He leaned a little closer because, well, that was nice to hear and he could feel her thumb rubbing gentle circles into his wrist. After another moment he felt her chakra in his system, checking for injuries he may have sustained during their time apart from one another.He felt the headache he didn’t even know he had dissipate.“And you’re my favorite,” he nearly whispered back.“Your favorite what?” she asked with a grin.“Pink-haired medic.”She giggled and smacked him playfully in the arm.“I missed you, hime.”Her brow furrowed and it almost seemed like she was upset. Maybe that had been too bold of him to say. Or maybe she hadn’t missed him.“I’m sorry I’ve been so busy,” she said and he could sense the guilt in her tone. “I’ve neglected a lot of things these past couple of weeks, but I apologize for letting you be one of them.”“Well,” he said in a mock serious tone, “I somehow managed without you.”She quirked a brow at him and her lips twisted into a smirk. “Is that so?” she asked. “Well, since it appears you don’t need me, I’ll take my leave.”She turned on her heel to leave, but he caught her by the elbow and pulled her back toward him. She didn’t seem surprised.“No,” he said. “Stay.”She leaned in close to him with that infuriating smirk still etched in her face. She let her curls fall forward over her shoulders and Itachi caught a whiff of her vanilla scented shampoo and something else that was uniquely her.“Aww, you really did miss me,” she cooed.He made a noise of agreement with the back of his throat. Tsunade had told him to enjoy himself tonight. That pipedream was quickly becoming reality. If only he could steal her away, take her somewhere more private where he could kiss her. There was a gleam in her eye that he wasn’t used to seeing and he wanted to fully explore what it meant.He trailed the tips of his fingers down the length of her arm. It seemed impossible for a person’s skin to feel so much like silk. He watched in fascination as goosebumps spread down her arm. She suppressed a shiver and licked her lips. Her eyes were glassy and bright, and Itachi began to realize the effect he had on her. His mind was racing with others ways he could elicit reactions from her.But he could not do that here.“Don’t you have schmoozing to do?” he asked, his voice low and heated just to watch what it would do to her.“Mm,” she sighed, fluttering her lashes again. “Why don’t we both ditch this place? We could head over to Ichiraku’s. Get something to eat.”“Tempting,” he said, because it really was.“Maybe when this is over,” she said wistfully because they both knew they should stay.“Whatever you want, hime,” he said, leaning down and pressing a quick kiss to her temple. It amused him to see the cogs whirling in her head as she attempted to put together this strange new way he was acting.“I don’t know if you know this,” she said, swallowing a lump in her throat. “But you’ve gotten quite good at this flirting business.”He laughed because the idea of him being flirtatious was kind of funny. But her reactions encouraged him and his affections for her had somehow grown in their absence from one another. He could flirt with her all day if she let him.“Have you been practicing?” she demanded.“Obviously,” he drawled. “I didn’t get this good at it overnight.” It didn’t hurt that the shrill sting of his nerves had calmed down somewhat, enabling him to stand near her and touch her without feeling as though he were about to have a heart attack.“Save some of it for later,” she said with a wink. “I have more schmoozing to do. Don’t just stand here looking depressed.”“I’m not depressed,” he said because he felt anything but depressed while standing next to her. But she had already disappeared, floating away to where Hiashi and Inoichi were chatting.He immediately felt her absence again and realized exactly how much he had missed her. He had been back in Konoha for almost seven months. For the first two of those, he’d spent time with Sakura almost daily.The things that had initially kept them together (his health, Yamato and Sachi) were no longer quite so pressing, so necessary. Would he have to come up with excuses every time he wanted to see her?He watched her throw her head back and laugh at something Inoichi said. He smiled down at her, obviously charmed – and why shouldn’t he be? Itachi saw the familiarity between them. He was her best friend’s father. Itachi could tell from their interactions that they must have been like family to one another.But it wasn’t just Inoichi. She seemed to know everyone. All those who were lucky enough to get a portion of her time laughed with her, smiled brightly – even the surly Hiashi was not immune to her charm.“She’s looking pretty good tonight, isn’t she?” asked a voice to his right.Itachi resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Jiraiya.”“She certainly stands out in this crowd of old bags,” he joked. “I suspect that’s why Tsunade had her come.”“Schmoozing, as I understand it,” Itachi said.“One of Sakura’s many talents.”Jiraiya leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms. Itachi noticed that his eyes lingered on Sakura, too. He couldn’t really blame the sannin – he couldn’t look away from her either.“It was pretty sneaky on Tsunade’s part to get all these old men to care about what she says by dressing up her hot student and letting her flirt with everyone,” Jiraiya said. “If I were a weaker man, she might already have buttered me up too.”“No offense, Jiraiya-san,” Itachi said. “But I don’t think you’d stand a chance against her.”“You think?”“I think you’d be in a much worse mood if she weren’t giving you something entertaining to look at.”Jiraiya’s booming laughter filled the air around him. Itachi smiled, too, caught in the infectious jovialness Jiraiya seemed to ooze.“That’s certainly true,” he said. “She might be pretty, but that girl is nothing but trouble.”“Why do you say that?”Before he could answer, the sound of Shizune clapping interrupted them. “Attention, everyone!” she said. “The ceremony will now commence. Everyone please report to the council chambers.”.Itachi was far from a conniving schoolboy, but that didn’t mean that he could just let go of the fact that Sakura had walked into the council chambers with her arm around the Kazekage’s.It was platonic, sure. Itachi knew that. She was playing her part, doing what Tsunade asked of her. But technically, Itachi was also one of the men she needed to be schmoozing and he didn’t quite feel schmoozed enough.As everyone began to take their seats, Itachi approached them, wearing what he hoped was his most stern and intimidating face. The Kazekage’s eyes followed him as he approached, but Itachi did his best not to feel unnerved by it.There were many reasons why Gaara should not like him. He probably should have kept his distance and done his best to avoid any kind of conflict.“Uchiha-sama,” Sakura said as he approached. “You’re looking quite serious.”He gave Gaara a respectful nod before turning his attention where it belonged. “I need to speak with you regarding my eyes, Sakura-san.”“The ceremony is about to start, Itachi-kun.”Itachi ignored the butterflies that sprang up in his stomach. She had never called him that in front of anyone else before.“It will take just a second,” he said. “You don’t mind if I steal her away, Kazekage-sama?”Gaara looked as though he did mind, but he returned Itachi’s nod without a word.“Excuse me, Gaara-sama,” Sakura said to him with a shallow bow.“Gaara,” he corrected.“Gaara,” she said. Itachi could have winced.He dragged her away to the seats he had chosen for them and sat her down to his left. The rest of the seats began to fill up quickly and the room started to quiet down.“What’s the matter with your eyes, Itachi?”“Well, you see,” he whispered, leaning close to her ear. “There was something wrong with them. But the problem seems to have gone away.”She narrowed her eyes, but he saw the faint quirk of her lips.“I see,” she whispered back. “Sometimes just my presence is enough to fix things.”“I’d better keep you close, then.”“Looks like you’re already doing a pretty good job,” she murmured. “Poor Gaara is just as uncomfortable being here as you are, you know.”Itachi said nothing because he didn’t really care about Gaara.“I’ll just have to make it up to him later,” she said.He snapped his eyes over to her and gave her a sharp look. She stifled a giggle behind one hand and placed the other on his thigh under the table.“I’m only kidding, Uchiha-sama,” she said. “But I do enjoy how cute you look when you’re jealous.”“I don’t look cute,” he mumbled. “And I’m not jealous.”“Let’s begin, shall we?” Tsunade said loudly from the head of the table.And the room fell silent. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Sakura had heard all of the things Tsunade was saying before, so she wasn’t paying careful attention. In fact, she was rather bored sitting in the meeting. She should have been taking notes, like she was supposed to. But taking notes was almost more boring than doing nothing at all and Tsunade wasn’t going to be reading them anyway.Unlike Sakura, everyone else in the room, including Itachi was paying careful attention to Tsunade’s every word. Sakura understood this. She was dropping quite a bomb on them.She could feel how tense and unnerved Itachi seemed to be, so she kept her hand on his leg, unmoving so as not to distract him.This was a big deal for the Uchihas. A clan that had been nearly outcast, looked down on by the rest of the village – they would now have an equal say in Konoha’s political affairs. Itachi’s words, his advice would hold weight. And how could anyone deny that he deserved such power?With a pang of wistfulness, Sakura mused that Itachi would have made a good Hokage.“He’s a clan killer,” Hiashi seethed. “Regardless of the reason, he’s done brutal and horrifying things to citizens of this village.”“We’re not going to dwell on the past, Hyuuga,” Tsunade said. “Since his return he has been nothing short of gracious. It’s the unfair treatment of his clan that got him into that mess in the first place.”Hiashi looked like he wanted to argue. Sakura could see the tension in his jaw as he clenched his teeth.“What about his clan?” Chouza asked. “There are only the two of them left. That’s hardly even a clan at all. They are no longer the respectable people they once were. Should we really be giving them a seat on the council?”“The seat has been given,” Tsunade said tensely. “That is not up for discussion. However, I do think you make a good point. Itachi.”Itachi, who had been sitting silently with a stony expression and fists clenched in his lap, looked up at the Hokage with dark, serious eyes. “Yes, Hokage-sama?”“You told me when you came back that you wanted to restore your clan,” she said. “Do you still plan on doing so?”“Yes, Hokage-sama.”“And do you have any concrete plans for moving forward with the task?” she asked. “Like a specific girl you might have in mind?”Sakura felt a hot blush rising in her cheeks. She knew that Tsunade was aware of some kind of relationship between the two of them. She didn’t know if she knew any of the details, but it wasn’t the kind of thing she could slip past her mentor.Itachi seemed at a loss for what to say. She, too, was curious to see what his answer would be, but she could understand his current predicament. If he said her name, they would be pressured into marrying and having children as soon as possible. Though he seemed to be much bolder with her as of late, she didn’t think they were ready for that kind of talk yet.And if he said no…“The Uchiha bloodline is strong,” Gaara said from beside Tsunade. Every set of eyes in the room turned to look at him. “If you rush his decision, he might choose poorly. He will need a strong wife if she is going to be the Uchiha matriarch.”“You’re right, Gaara,” Tsunade said. “But his seat on this council is contingent upon his clan. No clan, no seat.”“Tsunade-sama, don’t you think that’s a little unfair?” Sakura asked. She felt Itachi’s eyes on her, but she couldn’t look at him.Tsunade narrowed her eyes at her student. “I’m hearing the feedback of the rest of the council and I think it’s only appropriate for Itachi to reestablish the Uchiha clan as a prerequisite for his seat,” she said. “However, because I trust him, I will allow him to have his seat now as long as he is married within the year.”“A year?” Sakura squeaked. She felt Itachi’s hand cover hers in her lap. He gave it a reassuring squeeze.“I believe that is fair, Hokage-sama,” Itachi said.“Good,” she said with a tense smile. “Moving on.”Whatever else Tsunade had to say was completely lost to Sakura. A rushing sound filled her ears and for a second she thought she might have gone deaf. Did Itachi expect her to marry him within the year?They hadn’t had sex. They hadn’t declared love for one another. Hell, they hadn’t even been on a date. If somewhat awkward flirting and a night of sexless sleep was enough to build a marriage on, then they were all set.A year ago she was still pining after Sasuke. A year ago Itachi was still an enemy. Could she love Itachi a year from now? Could she be his wife?And children! The entire point of the rushed marriage would be to produce heirs, children that will carry on the Uchiha name. That would be her responsibility! Would he expect her to pop out baby after baby? Would she have to stop working and taking missions?She felt her entire body trembling as she clung tighter to Itachi’s hand still in her lap. His hand was warm and steady – the complete opposite of hers. Itachi was not difficult. It would be quite easy to love him. And if anyone deserved to be loved, it was Itachi.“It will be okay, hime,” he whispered to her, brushing his thumb over the back of her hand in soothing circles.As long as he was there with her, it would be..The meeting had gone on for another hour and Sakura could not be more ready to leave. Everyone else also seemed to be in a bit of a bad mood, though Sakura couldn’t understand that. Tsunade had just given everyone a power that they did not have before, yet all they could think about was the fact that they did not want Itachi Uchiha to have it, too.Itachi, Sakura thought, was actually perfect. She watched him as he worked the room at the conclusion of the meeting, greeting everyone with polite smiles and firm handshakes. She knew he wasn’t quite as unaffected by their words as he pretended to be.He had much more grace and tact than she did. She sulked quietly in the corner until everyone else had left.“Sakura,” he said cautiously as he approached her. The Hokage tower had been emptied and it was just the two of them left. She had made it apparent that she was waiting for him, but he still seemed overly pleased that she had not yet left.“Itachi,” she said with a little more sting than she intended. “It’s either all or nothing with you, isn’t it? I don’t see you for weeks and then when we meet again I’m supposed to be marrying you.”“I did not enjoy not seeing you for weeks,” he said with bemusement. “If it were up to me, I’d make sure to see you everyday.”Her heart squeezed in her chest. “Itachi…”“Come with me,” he said, extending his hand to her. “I want to talk to you.”She took his hand and let him lead her out of the Hokage tower. When he turned back away from the village, she knew he was taking her to the stone faces. She used to go up there a lot to sit on the Sandaime’s head when she was younger. Everyone did. It seemed to be a popular thinking spot.He led her to Tobirama’s head – an interesting choice, she thought. She sat down beside him, letting their legs brush together.The moon hung high and the stars that peppered the sky seemed much brighter than usual. There were no clouds and for a moment it felt like they were sitting in space with nothing else around them.Contentedly, Sakura leaned against Itachi and sighed deeply.“I understand if you don’t want to marry me,” Itachi said beside her. “That is a lot to ask of you.”She turned her face toward him and if she hadn’t been looking for it, she would have missed the flash of pain on his face.“What makes you think I don’t want to marry you?”“You were freaking out in there.”“I wasn’t freaking out,” she defended.“It’s okay,” he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her closer to him. He kissed the top of her head. “I was freaking out, too.”“You were?”“Of course,” he said. “Don’t I have reason to? Marriage is scary – and though you know I am exceptionally fond of you, I don’t feel quite ready for that yet. I know you don’t either.”Sakura smiled, though she knew he couldn’t see it. “I’m exceptionally fond of you, too.”“Sakura…”“I know, I know,” she said. “This is serious.”“I could give up my seat on the council,” he suggested. “Then Tsunade-sama would have no way to force my hand.”“No, you deserve that seat.”“If I have to choose between you and the seat, I choose you.”She shoved him away from her angrily. “First of all, you don’t have to choose. In fact, it seems like we’re a package deal. Second, if you did have to choose, you should choose the seat. You have a platform now to stave off the corruption that got your clan in trouble in the first place. I wouldn’t let you give that up.”“I don’t want you to marry me just so I can have the position on the council.”“I never said I would marry you.”Silence settled around them, thick in the chilly night air. Sakura turned her back toward him and looked out at the village below her. They were all so lucky to have Itachi protecting them. They shouldn’t be forcing him to make decisions like these.“I have a duty to my clan, Sakura,” he said, his voice low. “I have to have an heir. I have to have a family.”“I know you do,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around her legs and resting her chin on her knee.“You are the person I want to do that with,” he continued. Sakura felt tears brimming in her eyes. She brushed them away angrily with the back of her hand. Tsunade shouldn’t have listened to everyone else. She should have let them take their relationship at their own pace.She could love Itachi. It would be easy. But would it be a mistake to move too quickly? They hardly knew each other. What would the repercussions be?“But I understand if you want to break this off now,” he said quietly. “You have done so much for me already – I cannot ask you for something so big.”“Itachi, you don’t want marriage to be a favor I do for you,” she said. “And I don’t want to marry you as a favor. I want to marry you because I love you. And I don’t want to break this off because I think I might love you.”She turned back to look at him and was slightly amused to see a dumbstruck look on his face. She couldn’t recall ever seeing a look like that from him so she felt a bit of pride knowing that she was the one who caused it.“Itachi, don’t think that my hesitancy is because of you,” she said, moving to her knees and pulling his hands into her lap. “I do want to be with you. I’m just scared. I’ve never been a wife or a mother before, and if I marry you I’ll be expected to be exceptional at both. I’ll have to quit taking missions, maybe even my job at the hospital. It’s just a lot to take in.”Itachi laughed and the sound surprised her. “Now you know how I feel,” he said. “The expectation to be exceptional – it’s unpleasant, I can tell you that.”Sakura furrowed her brow.“Listen, Sakura, I won’t ask anything from you that you aren’t willing to give. If you don’t want to marry me a year from now, then we won’t get married. But I don’t want to lose you,” he said.He pulled her hand up to his lips and kissed the back of her hand. “You look beautiful and confused,” he said.She leaned closer to him, breathing in his scent. “I don’t know what to do,” she confessed.“Neither do I,” he said. “But we don’t have to figure it out right now. Right now can just be about me and you.”He slipped his fingers into her hair around her face and pulled her in for a kiss. And suddenly none of it seemed important. The meeting, the marriage – it all floated away. She gripped his forearms tightly and breathed him in, kissing him with more control than she had ever cared to use before.Itachi pulled her into his lap and turned her around so that her back was pressed into his chest. She could feel the warmth of his body juxtaposed by the frigid winds that whipped through their hair. He circled his arms around her and kissed her temple before resting his chin on the top of her head.Sakura sank back into him and entwined their fingers together. They sat in silence for a while, watching the moon, the stars together.“So,” Itachi murmured into her hair. “You think you might love me, huh?”“Maybe,” Sakura replied coyly. “It’s too soon to tell.”“Well, I think I might love you, too.”“You think?”“It’s too soon to tell.”Sakura laughed and then shivered when she felt him exhale against her ear. He tightened his arms around her. “Are you cold?” he purred. Sakura laughed again and elbowed him gently in the ribs.“Since when do you have moves, Itachi-kun?”“I’ve always had moves, hime,” he said. “I’ve avoided using them on you. They can be a bit overwhelming.”“And jokes, too!” she giggled.“Not a joke,” he said, pressing a kiss to her temple. “I invited you up here so I could seduce you.”She giggled again and turned around in his lap, wrapping her legs around his waist. “Is that so?” she asked.He might have been joking – Sakura couldn’t know for sure. But the look he fixed her with sent a sharp stab of heat straight through her body nonetheless. His eyes were dark and heavy lidded as he peered at her through impossibly long lashes. Sakura had seen that look before on other men, but it had never affected her until now. She yearned to just grab him by the hair and pull him into a fierce kiss, but she was curious to see what he would do next.“I really did miss you, hime,” he said, pressing a kiss against her throat. Sakura arched her neck back, pressing her chest closer to his. “I tried to visit you a couple times, but you were busy.”His hands trailed down her back and along her thighs, smoothing over the thin material of her dress. More boldly than Sakura remembered him to be, he slipped his hands underneath the hem of her dress and let his fingers skim along her bare thighs.Sakura let out a shaky breath and rolled her hips forward. “You came to visit me?” she asked, watching him squirm beneath her. “When?”“Not important,” he said, leaning into her and pressing his lips to hers. He was torturously slow and gentle, but more heated, more intense than he usually was with her. His fingers sank into her hips, squeezing the bare skin just above her panties. He pressed her down hard into his lap.She gasped at the pleasurable sensation, giving him the opportunity to deepen the kiss. She clung desperately to him, high on the pleasure, high on him. He pulled his mouth away from hers and began to trail hot kisses along her jaw, her neck, her bared shoulders. He grinded her down into his lap again, eliciting a groan from her.She threaded her fingers into his hair, pulling his head down to where her shoulder met her neck. He obliged, pressing hot kisses to the skin there.“Itachi,” she whispered. It was probably a protest that she had been about to utter, but it vanished from her mind completely when she felt his hand wander out from under her dress to experimentally cup her breast.She gasped and arched into his palm. She felt him smile against the skin of her neck. He brushed his thumb across her nipple over the thin fabric of her dress. The feeling was electric and sent a shock of pleasure right down to her core. She whimpered softly and bucked her hips against him.“Itachi,” she groaned.“Yes?” he mumbled, nuzzling her neck.“Are you going to fuck me on the Nidaime’s head?”He paused, likely not expecting her to say such a thing. His face was still against her throat and she felt the brush of his lashes against her skin as he blinked.“Should we stop?” he asked softly.“We should… we should go somewhere else,” she suggested. “Someplace that’s not a big, cold rock.”He pulled back to look at her. “Okay,” he said. “We can go wherever you want to.”“Your place.”She saw the hesitancy on his face.“Sasuke isn’t there,” she said. “He’s with Naruto.”“Okay.”.Sakura was giddy because she was pretty sure she was about to fuck Itachi. Finally! Ever a gentleman, Itachi had walked her back to his place. She felt the urgency to run there by rooftop, but that was impossible in a dress like hers, so instead she held his hand and walked calmly beside him.Itachi seemed to sense her excitement and found plenty of excuses to touch her on the way to the Uchiha compound. By the time they had reached his front door, Sakura was quivering with anticipation.“You seem pretty excited,” Itachi said cautiously as they entered his kitchen. She realized then that he was nervous. The walk seemed to have cooled him down a bit and she could see the worry in his eyes.“Yeah, well,” she began. “This Itachi with all the moves really gets me going.”He looked flustered and Sakura found it adorable. “Let me make you some tea,” he said, pulling a mug out of the cabinet.“No,” she said, stepping between him and the cabinet. She pulled the mug out of his hand and set it on the counter beside her. “I don’t want tea.”His eyes narrowed and she could feel heat emanating off of him. His face hardened a little and he seemed to have found some resolve. Without much warning, he hooked his hands under her thighs and lifted her up onto the counter. He stood between her legs, gripping her hips so tightly that it hurt.“What do you want, Sakura?”She hitched her legs around his hips and braced her hands against his shoulders to pull him into a kiss, but when their lips were almost touching he pulled back away from her.“Tell me,” he said.“I want you.”He pulled her face in to kiss her, but this time she was the one who stopped him.“Wait,” she said, and he let go of her immediately. “Tell me what you want. And be specific.”“I want to kiss you,” he said and then kissed her. She kissed him back, lingering and sweet. “And I want to touch you,” he continued, sweeping his fingers along her collarbone and down her arms.She caught his wrists and placed his hands on her waist. She wanted to ask him where he wanted to touch her, to make him tell her all the things he wanted to do to her or that he wanted her to do to him.But then he slinked his hand away from her waist and up under her dress again, smoothing over her legs and coming back to her hip. His hand was dangerously close to an extremely sensitive bud of nerves and she twisted her body in an attempt to bring it closer.He pressed a kiss to her temple, then her cheeks, then her lips. Sakura felt herself melting, swooning. In all her time pining after Sasuke she had never felt like this – so on fire, so electric. Her hands flew to his hair where she entangled her fingers and held his face to hers so she could keep kissing him.She never wanted to stop kissing him. She could feel the heat from his hand still under her dress and though he was only holding her hip, she could feel his hand trembling. She edged herself forward on the counter until there was no space between their bodies.His hand crept up toward her breasts until the fabric of her dress kept him from moving any higher.“Just take it off,” Sakura said, breaking their kiss just long enough to say it before she had latched her mouth onto his again.Itachi complied, gathering the fabric of the skirt up in his hands so he could pull it up over her head.“Wait, don’t,” she said, grabbing his hands. “You’ll mess up my hair. Just unzip it from the back.”“I’m going to mess up your hair anyway, hime,” he said, watching her hop off the counter. She spun around so he could unzip her. She felt his fingers at the nape of her neck and he dragged the zipper pull down the length of her back slowly, mesmerized by the reveal of her creamy skin. “How did you get this zipped up in the first place?”“Ino zipped it,” she said, her tone bordering on impatient. When he reached the bottom of the zipper, she pulled the thin straps off her shoulders and let the dress fall down to pool at her ankles.Now, Sakura wasn’t self conscious about her body. She was a kunoichi – her body was a weapon. She was toned and fit.But she suddenly felt very nervous with Itachi’s eyes on her nearly naked body. She was fit, yes. But she lacked the feminine curves that Ino and Hinata had. She didn’t have wide hips or round breasts. Itachi’s eyes roved over her, lingering on her exposed breasts for some time before coming back up to her face. She found his awestruck look to be encouraging, so she took a step forward into the circle of his arms.He brushed the hair away from her face and captured her lips in a searing kiss. She began to unbutton his shirt and she could feel her fingers trembling as she did so. In fact, it made it quite hard to work the buttons.“Let me,” he said, grabbing the collar of his shirt from behind his neck and yanking it over his head. With that one swift motion, he was standing shirtless in his own kitchen.And now it was Sakura’s turn to appreciate. And boy, was there a lot to appreciate. Sakura was no stranger to the male body and as a medic in a shinobi village, she had seen some pretty good ones. Hell, everyone she treated had a nice body.Itachi was lean. Though he had been quite thin in Toyeiki due to his illness, Itachi had put on a healthy amount of weight since then. Those spars and training sessions with Sasuke had really paid off. She openly ogled him, marveling at the broadness of his shoulders, the defined muscles of his chest, his abdomen. She skimmed the tips of her fingers along his abs, watching them contract against her cold touch.When she returned her gaze to his face she saw that she was not the only one distracted. His eyes were glued to lower parts of her as well.“Too small, aren’t they?” she asked, only half joking.“What?”She cupped her breasts, lifting them up and letting them fall. “These,” she clarified. “Little mosquito bites.”“You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, Sakura,” he said, taking a step back to more fully appreciate her. She wilted a bit under his scrutiny, but the lust in his eyes sent heat coursing through her veins.She felt cold without his body close to hers, but he didn’t seem interested in re-approaching her yet. She watched his eyes as they travelled up and down her body, lingering on her legs, her breasts. Growing somewhat impatient with his staring, she pursed her lips.Itachi caught the motion and smirked at her, highly amused. “Do that thing where you cock your hip out,” he commanded. “You know, when you’re being all sassy.”“I am not sassy,” she said quite sassily. But she was eager to please him, so she did as he instructed anyway, cocking her hip and giving him a dry look.Itachi laughed and scooped her up off the floor. She wrapped her legs around his waist instinctively, giggling when he pressed butterfly kisses over her throat and collarbone. He pressed her back up against the wall behind her and kissed her hard, nearly bruising her lips.He was far less restrained than he usually would be at such a point and Sakura wondered where his change of heart about sex had come from. Perhaps it had been due to their prolonged absence from one another. Or maybe his carefully controlled urges had reached a boiling point.Whatever it was, Sakura hoped he never stopped kissing her like this. She kissed him back hungrily, greedily, gripping his waist tightly with her thighs. The feeling of skin on skin was electrifying and Sakura bucked into him to alleviate the pressure she felt building up in her core.Sensing her discomfort, Itachi brushed his finger across the thin cloth covering the last bit of her. She gasped and arched back into the wall, her head hitting the plaster behind her with a dull thud. He rubbed slow, deliberate circles, pressing firmly into her and then following with a ghosting of his thumb. She was going to explode. She was going to spontaneously combust. She writhed against him, moaning and arching. When she opened her eyes she found him watching her with concentration and little bit of awe.He pulled his hand away from her crotch, much to her dismay. “Itachi, don’t stop,” she begged breathlessly.But he circled his arm back around his and cupped her from underneath. She had soaked through her thin panties and she could feel his fingers already slick against her. Gently, more cautiously than Sakura cared for, he nudged aside her panties and began using his fingers to explore her.It wasn’t for purely sexual reasons, Sakura figured. He was touching her, exploring her, trying to understand this part of her anatomy than he had never seen before. Hell, it had taken Sakura quite a while to understand her own vagina, so she could understand Itachi’s curiosity.She winced when his fingernail scraped against her clit – a jolt of the most pleasurable pain Sakura had ever experienced.“Did I hurt you?”Sakura shook her head and let her eyes fall shut as he continued to explore.“You’re so wet,” he said, breathlessly. “I didn’t realize that you—”Whatever he had been about to say was cut off when Sakura pressed her lips to his impatiently. She needed more. She bucked her hips against him – a real feat as he held her against the wall. Caught by surprise, Itachi grabbed her face, threading his fingers into her hair. She felt her own slickness against her cheek as he touched her and she had no idea such a thing could turn her on so much.“I’m sorry,” he said, wiping her cheek with the back of his hand.She groaned and grabbed his wrist, pulling it away from her face. She caught his eye and was surprised to see him still looking quite nervous and a little confused. She had never done this before either, but she had already lost herself to the sensations. There was no worry – Itachi wouldn’t judge her.Did he think she would judge him?Tentatively, she brought Itachi’s hand to her face and took his pointer finger in her mouth. His eyes widened almost comically, and if Sakura hadn’t been so heated and high she might have laughed. She sucked hard, tasting herself on him, tasting his skin, using her tongue to feel the texture of his fingerprint, the ridges behind his knuckles.“God, Sakura,” he said, releasing a shuddered breath.She moved his hand away from her mouth and down to her crotch again. She used her hand to press his hard against her while she grinded into it, shivering against the waves of pleasure that were continuing to build up in her core.Then suddenly his heat was gone. He dropped her to the floor and quickly tossed her his shirt from where he had discarded it on the counter.“Itachi, what—”“Sasuke.”With no need for further explanation, she pulled his shirt over her head and smoothed down her hair.The front door opened unceremoniously and Sasuke entered, looking rather annoyed. With a sigh, he tossed his pack on the floor and turned toward the kitchen where he saw his half naked brother standing with his half naked teammate. His teammate who happened to be wearing his brother’s shirt. Probably only his shirt.“What the fuck, guys?” he demanded with a scowl. “In the kitchen? What’s wrong with your bedroom?”“It’s not what it looks like,” Itachi said.“It looks like you were about to fuck my teammate in the kitchen.”“Oh. Then I guess it is what it looks like.” ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Itachi did not like being caught off guard. Usually he could sense Sasuke’s presence the moment he entered the compound but he had been terribly distracted. Very, very distracted.Even now, finding himself in an incredibly uncomfortable and confusing situation, he was still distracted. He couldn’t get the feeling of Sakura out of his head. The slickness of her sex – God, he didn’t know women got that wet. She was practically dripping! And the way she writhed and groaned and melted at his exploratory touch. He had just been testing the waters, gauging her reactions. And what glorious reactions they were.And the image of her sucking on his finger would be forever burned into his memory. He didn’t know such a thing could be so alluring, so enticing, but God he wanted to fold himself up in her and get lost.“I’m so sorry, Sasuke,” he heard Sakura say pleadingly. “I thought you were with Naruto.”“I was,” he said, sniffing the air with disdain. “We, uh… We had a little disagreement.”“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked. Even in his hormone driven stupor, Itachi had the frame of mind to give her an incredulous look.“Ew, no,” Sasuke said. “I’ll just… I’ll just come back later.”“Where are you going?”“Let him go, Sakura,” Itachi said, finally getting a tighter grip on his sanity. He could only imagine how uncomfortable Sasuke was. He certainly would not have enjoyed walking in on his brother in a similar situation with Naruto.“But he’s—”She was cut off by the sound of the front door slamming behind Sasuke. Itachi bent down and scooped Sakura’s dress off the floor and took her hand in his. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s go to my room.”“But…”He paused, waiting for her to say something else, but she remained silent.“But what?” he asked. “Would you like me to take you home?”“What?” she snapped. “No. I just— That was kind of weird.”“Yeah,” he agreed. “It was. But he’s gone now.”“Aren’t you worried about him?”“He’ll be fine.”“How do you know?”Itachi sighed and rubbed his temple impatiently. “Whatever is wrong with him can wait,” he said. “It would only make things awkward for him to have stayed to talk about it.”“You’re right,” she said with more sass than Itachi wanted to hear. “I’m sorry. I got you turned on so I can’t stop now, right?”“You can stop whenever you want to,” he said tensely because it seemed like she said that sarcastically, which annoyed him. “And for the record, I got you turned on.”She was silent for a second, her eyes fierce like she was angry, but there was an underlying urgency in them, a heat that couldn’t be extinguished now no matter how irritated she felt. Itachi nearly smirked but he didn’t want to provoke her further – not when they were standing incredibly close to a precipice he had finally prepared himself for.“You’re not wrong,” she said after a moment. She was quiet again and there was a faint blush glowing on her cheeks. “You’re pretty good for someone who’s never done this before.”“I could say the same to you.”“Well I’m no stranger to my own body.”“Pardon?”“I mean I know how to get myself off,” she said with absolutely no trace of embarrassment. And maybe that was how it should be, but he couldn’t imagine speaking so frankly about masturbation. He had only done it once before – he certainly wouldn’t call himself experienced at it.And he’d felt disgusted with himself immediately afterwards, guilty even.But the idea of Sakura masturbating… Well, he didn’t find that so disgusting. In fact, he was intrigued.“Show me,” he said.“Pardon?”“Show me what you do to yourself,” he said. “I want to see.”The confident Sakura who claimed to be an expert at self-pleasure withered before him, blushing and looking bashfully down at her feet. Itachi couldn’t resist smiling, amused by her one eighty.But to his surprise, she didn’t protest.“Okay,” she said. “I’ll show you.”Itachi’s heart began hammering in his chest because that sounded incredibly intimate and erotic. He took her hand and led her to his bedroom, trying hard not to show how nervous he felt. It seemed strange that he would still feel so nervous about this. Sakura hardly seemed bothered at all. If their roles were reversed here, would he masturbate for her if she asked him to? He couldn’t imagine doing that in front of her.But Sakura wasted no time pulling his shirt over her head and situating herself on his bed. It was the first time he could recall her ever being in his bedroom and it seemed so much smaller with her in it. She was so pink compared to the blacks and navies he had chosen to decorate with. And she looked so small on his bed, but something about seeing her there, nearly naked and looking at him like he was the best thing she’d ever laid eyes on made his heart swell in his chest.“Usually I light some candles,” she said with a shy smile. “And I have a vibrator at home, too, so I suppose this won’t be entirely accurate.”He wanted to ask about the vibrator, because that was definitely interesting. How often did she use it? How did she use it? Was it an integral part of her pleasure? Was he going to let her down by not being able to vibrate himself?But he lost focus while she began rubbing herself with straightened fingers. He inched closer to the foot of the bed, watching with rapt attention as she stroked her slender fingers over her soaked panties. Her breath became short and somewhat labored and she quickened her pace, circling her fingers, pressing them against herself and then circling them again.She pulled the fabric to the side, exposing herself to him in a way she never had before. Itachi had never seen a vagina before and so he wasn’t sure what they were supposed to look like, but he found himself vaguely confused because it wasn’t at all what he had expected.He didn’t have too much time to process that confusion because watching Sakura slip two fingers into herself sent any of the blood that was left in his brain straight down to his cock, which was now throbbing uncomfortably against his pants. She pumped them in and out, groaning and rocking into her hand.He chanced a look up at her face – the first one since they’d entered the room, and found her eyes locked onto his. She moaned and bit her lip, arching backward and bringing her free hand up to her breast and giving it a rough squeeze. She released her breast and raked her fingers through her hair, pushing it out of her face.“Sakura,” he rasped.He watched her slow her pace down, slower and slower until she was completely still. “Yes?” she asked, panting slightly.“What do you think about?” he asked. “When you’re touching yourself?”“You,” she answered without missing a beat.Itachi didn’t quite believe that. If she was experienced enough to have a vibrator and be a self claimed expert, she no doubt had been masturbating long before he came into the picture.“Really?” he asked, his tone not as dry as he would have liked because he was now watching her return to stroking her clit, which was now exposed and engorged. “Just me? Or us?”“Us,” she said, her eyelids drooping shut before she fluttered them back open again to look at him.“What do we do?”“You want to hear my dirty sex fantasies?” she asked with a tone that indicated that she knew he did.He nodded.“Tell me yours first,” she demanded. She let out a high-pitched moan, apparently having touched herself in a particularly sensitive place. Itachi was itching to touch her now, to elicit those noises from her with his own fingers.“I don’t have any,” he said. It was a lie.“That’s ridiculous,” she said, slipping two fingers back inside herself with a pleasured groan. “What do you think about when you’re jerking off?”“I’ve only done it once,” he answered, knowing that she would not believe that. “And I thought about you.”She stopped, freezing with her fingers still sheathed inside her. “Really? Just once? When?”He sat down next to her on the bed. He could smell her, could see her wetness on his sheets. “After I helped you clean your room,” he said. “You went out partying with Ino and I came back here and sat where you are now and masturbated.”That wasn’t so bad, he thought. He could talk about sordid things like that. At least with Sakura, he could.“What was I doing to you?” she asked, eyes wide with curiosity. “What were you thinking about?”“I wasn’t, umm, imagining you so much as remembering you,” he said, a little flustered because this was an entirely new thing for him. “You had straddled one of my legs in your bedroom and I could feel how hot and wet you were. I couldn’t stop thinking about it.”She rose up to her knees, inching toward him and then positioning herself over his thigh. “Like this?” she asked.He couldn’t answer, but Sakura was smiling so he supposed she knew what she was doing to him. Reverently, he ran his hands over her legs and up to her hips and then gripped her hipbones tightly and shoved her down into him roughly. She cried out and threw her head back.“Itachi,” she groaned, settling her hands on his shoulders and grinding down on his leg. “Tell me what you want me to do to you.”“I…”“Tell me,” she repeated. She was now sliding herself up and down the length of his thigh, spreading her moisture all over him in a way he should have found gross but actually found incredibly hot.“I don’t know,” he said, because he really didn’t know. She could keep doing this all night and it would probably do the trick.“Take your pants off,” she commanded. Her bossiness was amusing, but he couldn’t spare the mental energy to tease her about it so he just did as she instructed, taking off his undergarments, too, so that he was completely naked.Itachi hadn’t seen many other men naked before, so he didn’t know if there was something unusual about his cock. The way Sakura was gawking at him made him feel incredibly insecure. Surely she had seen many of them before in her line of work. Was his weird looking? Was it too small?“Sakura?”She blinked rapidly and looked away from his crotch. “Sorry,” she said, a redder blush than he had ever seen on her dusting her cheeks. “I just… There’s no way that will fit inside me. Who knew that shy, sexually frustrated Itachi would be packing that impressive piece?”It was Itachi’s turn to blush, then, and there were just too many things about that sentence to be able to focus on just one.She reached out and touched his cock tentatively with the tip of her finger. It twitched and she giggled before stroking the pad of her finger down its length.“Don’t act like you’ve never seen one before,” he said, mostly joking.“I’ve never seen one in action,” she said, circling her fingers around his girth and giving him a gentle squeeze. He contorted his face and suppressed a groan and the urge to buck into her hand. “And I’ve never had to… milk one.”If he’d been feeling a little less aroused he might have laughed. All he could manage properly was a wide-eyed smile in her direction.“What did you do?” she asked, still gripping him, not too tightly. “When you were remembering me. Show me how to do it.”If her hand wasn’t already around his cock he might have protested. He wasn’t nearly as bold as she was and it seemed like a highly inappropriate thing to do in front of a lady.However, this particular lady was licking her lips as she cocked her head curiously and studied his somehow very intriguing genitals. And he supposed he could understand her curiosity because she was sitting with her legs crossed and having discarded her panties, there was a certain part of her anatomy that was quite thrillingly exposed to him.He was torn between wanting to explore her, to touch all of those folds, that engorged swell that seemed to bring her so much pleasure to touch, and wanting to curl his fingers around hers and stroke himself with her slender hand.She gave him another squeeze, harder this time. He bit back a wince because he was so painfully hard that it kind of hurt.“I’m sorry,” she squealed, and she might have pulled her hand away if Itachi hadn’t placed his hand over hers and held it there.“It’s okay,” he said, “Not so hard.” And whatever embarrassment he felt about jerking it in front a pretty lady flew out the window. He used her hand to pump himself, marveling at how smooth the skin of her palm was compared to his. If just her hand felt this soft, what would other parts of her feel like?He let his eyes fall shut and groaned. It was a more wanton sound than he had ever made before and he thought briefly that he would wake up at any moment because surely this was a dream. How could anything feel this good?Feeling dangerously close to coming undone, Itachi slowed down his pace and opened his eyes. Sakura, hand still wrapped around him, was looking into his face with wide eyes that likely mirrored his.“Does that feel good?” she asked. Laughable that she’d even need to ask. He pulled her into his lap and kissed her hard, clinging to her face with trembling hands. She fervently responded to his urgency. She wriggled down into his lap, pressing her wetness against his cock. They both responded immediately to the contact, gasping into each other’s mouths.She moaned his name and Itachi never imagined his name could sound so sweet, so hot. Their kisses slowed down, but remained heated. He could feel their skin in all the places it touched – nearly everywhere. It was fire, electricity.She reached her hand down between them and gripped his cock again, now wet with her slickness.He paused. She paused, looking at him with concerned eyes. “Can I?” she asked, and he knew what she was asking for and he’d already resigned himself to giving her anything she asked for. But somehow, in his pleasure-fogged mind he still realized that they were on the edge something important now, something that would change things between them indefinitely.His hand fell to her waist, the curve of her hips. When he didn’t answer, she gave him another light squeeze. His eyes fluttered shut, and he didn’t want to deny her. He wouldn’t deny her this any longer. And he could admit to himself that he wanted it, too. Obviously he did. How could he not?“Please, Itachi,” she begged. “I want you so bad.”He nodded and then kissed her, because he didn’t trust himself to speak. Not needing any more encouragement, she positioned herself over him and slowly sank down onto him.She broke apart their kiss with a sharp moan. If he hadn’t been looking at the expression of sheer pleasure on her face he’d have thought she was in pain. She sank down a little farther, screwing her eyes shut.Her velvety heat swallowed him as she sank all the way down, taking his entire length inside her. Itachi bit back a groan and buried his face in her neck, pressing an occasional kiss to her collarbone when the sensations allowed him to.He could see now why sex was a big deal. There was nothing he could describe the incredible sensation with. No combinations of adjectives could properly explain the pleasure, the pure bliss he felt.She was perfectly still against him, her hands threaded in his hair, holding his head against her chest. He felt a fluttering of her muscles around his hardness and groaned loudly into her throat. Sakura giggled.He pulled back to look at her. “Are you okay?”She nodded. “I just need a second to adjust,” she said. “You’re so big.”“Does it hurt?”“A little.”He made a move to pull her off him, gripping her hips tightly. She stopped him with a shake of her head. “Don’t,” she said. “Just give me a second.”He let go of her and propped himself up on his hands behind his back. He wondered what that felt like for her, to be filled up by him. He watched her face as she adjusted to his size, the fluttering of her eyelashes, the way she bit her lip. After a minute he began to feel her muscles contracting around him again.She raised her hips toward his chest and then sank back down again, letting out a pleasured groan. Itachi watched while she did this several more times. The sensation was incredible and the urge to buck into her, to flip her over and just pound into her was so strong her thought for a second that he might actually do it. But he was no barbarian and he didn’t want to hurt her.Her pace was agonizingly slow as she circled her hips around him. She seemed to be enjoying herself very much, moaning and arching her back. She tilted her head back, exposing the column of her neck to him. He took the opportunity to kiss her there because that seemed like an appropriate thing to do.“Itachi,” she whispered and grabbed her breast roughly with one hand and gave it a rough squeeze. Taking her cue, Itachi reached out and cupped her breast, brushing his thumb over her pert nipple. She cried out and arched back. Itachi felt the fluttering of her muscles again. Feeling emboldened and extremely turned on, Itachi kissed the valley between her breasts and then the top of one and then took her nipple into his mouth.He sucked gently and then swirled his tongue around her pebbled skin. She moaned again, bordering on a scream this time and quickened her pace. Her hips rose and fell as she grinded against him, riding him harder and harder with each thrust of her hips.It was all Itachi could do to cling onto her and enjoy the ride. A hot stab of pleasure was coiling up in his abdomen and his vision began to swirl. Desperately he grabbed her face and kissed her over and over again, swallowing her moans and cries of pleasure.Her pace became frantic and her cries elevated an octave. She was coming, and though she had done most of the work he felt a surge of masculine pride. Why, he wasn’t exactly sure. And he couldn’t spend the required brain energy on thinking about it because he was quickly following her.The contractions of her orgasm were his undoing. A hot eruption of pleasure made him groan and buck wildly into her as she came down from her high, holding him and letting him finish. He ejaculated inside her and for a moment he wondered if she could feel it – if it felt strange to her.She collapsed on top of him and he held her, shifting them over so he could rest against the headboard. He felt himself soften inside her, but she made no move to remove him. Instead she clung to him like a koala, nuzzling his chest and neck, stroking lazy patterns across his abdomen. She pressed a kiss to his chest, just above his nipple, which hardened when she breathed over it.“Itachi,” she mumbled. He kissed the top of her head.“Yes?”“That was fucking awesome.”He smiled and rested his cheek against her hair. It really was..The next morning Itachi awoke with Sakura still curled up on top of his chest. He extricated himself from her grasp with much difficulty. Sakura, while sleeping like a rock, was still harboring little Itachi inside her, and pulling himself free had been quite unpleasant. The resulting deluge was enough to turn his stomach.But, being the gentleman that he was, Itachi filled a bowl with warm water and laid out a washcloth for her for when she woke up. It didn’t seem appropriate to wash her himself while she was asleep and naked, so he would let her handle that on her own. He would have to remember to wash his sheets today.He went down to the kitchen to make himself some breakfast. It felt a little strange knowing that she was in his bedroom sleeping soundly. He usually had his mornings to himself.As he began chopping ingredients, he wondered what might change in their relationship now. He realized that the timing might have been very poor. It didn’t seem like a good idea to sleep with someone on the same night they were told that he would have to marry soon. He had been so hesitant to be intimate with her before for a multitude of reasons, one of which was that he didn’t know what these consequences would be. Would everything remain as it was between them? What would be different now?The front door opened and Itachi turned to find Sasuke looking pretty haggard with dark circles under his eyes and his hair a mess.“Sasuke, what happened to you?”Groggily, Sasuke eyed Itachi, his gaze lingering on the plated omelets in his hand. With a roll of his eyes, Itachi extended the plate to his little brother.“I had a rough night,” he answered, taking a seat at the kitchen table.As Itachi set down a plate in front of him, the sounds of a not-so-stealthy ninja running through the house echoed down the halls. Sakura burst into the kitchen, wide eyed and panicked.With a shock of possessiveness that he wasn’t even aware he had, Itachi noticed that she was wearing his clothes – a navy shirt with the Uchiha emblem on the back and a pair of his black pants that were much too large for her. The Uchiha colors looked good on her, he thought.“I’m late for my shift at the hospital,” she said. “Oh, Sasuke. Good morning.”There was an uncomfortable moment of silence while the two teammates sized each other up.“I made you breakfast,” Itachi said, breaking the tenseness and holding out a plate for her. She might not have remembered, but the first time he cooked for her he had made her omelets. It seemed fitting to make them for her now.“Sorry, Itachi, I can’t stay,” she said. “But thank you. That’s really sweet. You’re really sweet.”She pressed a kiss to his cheek, and with her red dress tucked under one arm, she made for the front door. “Bye, Itachi,” she called from the door. “I’ll wash and return your clothes to you.”“Bye, Sakura,” he answered, but the door had already shut behind her.With a twinge of disappointment, Itachi turned back to his brother who was watching him with a raised eyebrow.“Thank you for breakfast, Itachi,” Sasuke said. “That was so sweet of you.”“Knock it off,” Itachi snapped, sending a glare in Sasuke’s direction.“She sure seemed in a hurry to get out of here,” he mused. “What did you do to her?”Itachi narrowed his eyes.“Hey, I’m only joking,” Sasuke said. “Give me a break. I stayed out all night so you could be alone with her.”“You didn’t have to do that.”“You were fucking her in the kitchen, Itachi.”Itachi rubbed his temples. He could feel a headache coming on. “Yeah, sorry about that,” he said. “It won’t happen again.”Silence descended on them. Itachi joined Sasuke at the table with the plate he had made for Sakura. They ate in silence for a while, each brother deep in his own thoughts.“Tell me about the clan ceremony,” Sasuke said when he finished his last bite.“Okay.” ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- “Who the hell are Suigetsu and Juugo?”“Sasuke’s friends,” Sakura answered. “They were his teammates when he… when he was out of the village.”Tsunade’s eyes narrowed. “The ones who helped kidnap you?”“Yes,” Sakura said, eyes sparkling with determination. It had been to her deep embarrassment that Sasuke had caught her with Itachi. She had promised him weeks ago that she would ask Tsunade this favor. This was the least she could do now.“Tell me why you could possibly care about these delinquents who deliberately tried to hurt you,” she demanded.“They didn’t try to hurt me,” Sakura said defensively. “And they aren’t delinquents. They were Orochimaru’s experiments. They didn’t commit any crimes against Konoha.”Tsunade pursed her lips. “You’re doing this because Sasuke asked you to.”“Yes,” Sakura answered. “I owe him a favor.”“Well I don’t.”“Please, Tsunade-shishou,” she begged. “You can hold me personally responsible for anything that goes wrong.”“Why would something go wrong, Sakura?” Tsunade asked. “Do you think they’re going to do something wrong if I let them live here? Why should I grant you this favor if you don’t even trust them?”“No, no!” Sakura said, “I do trust them! Well, I trust Sasuke. Please, they’re not going to do anything wrong.”Underneath her desk, Tsunade tapped her toes impatiently. “They had better not,” she said. “They have my permission to live here, but I expect you to help them assimilate. Do you understand me?”“Yes, Tsunade-shishou,” she answered.“Good. Now get out of my office,” she said. “But tomorrow morning I want you to report here instead of the hospital. I have something I’m going to teach you now that you’re a jonin.”“Yes, Tsunade-shishou,” she repeated..After leaving Tsunade’s office, Sakura went home to shower. She had felt disgusting all day throughout her shift having not been able to take one that morning, and even though Itachi had been thoughtful enough to leave her a washcloth, she needed a real good scrub.Because she had fucked Itachi.They could have been doing that all along, she thought. She should have fucked him back in Toyeiki. Ino had been adamant that the first time was always awkward, but Sakura didn’t feel like it had been awkward at all, even in spite of Sasuke’s impromptu appearance.Itachi had been so sweet and wide-eyed. Sakura was beginning to understand Itachi’s personality, his moods. He had been nervous – that she could tell. She was nervous, too. But he had also been determined, which was never a quality he had mixed with physical intimacy before.The more she thought about it, the more she realized how selfish she had been. She could admit that she had been mostly focused on her own pleasure. Itachi hadn’t seemed to mind, but she would have to remember to do better next time.She inwardly squealed at the thought of a next time.She hopped out of the shower and quickly dressed herself in her red vest, black shorts, and pink apron. She eyed the green jonin vest she had tossed over the chair in the corner of her room. She had yet to wear it, having no occasion where it would be appropriate. She hadn’t revealed to anyone yet that she had become a jonin and she wondered what the best way to do it was.Sasuke and Naruto still needed to take the chuunin exams. Maybe it was best to keep her new promotion to herself until they started to catch up.“Hey, forehead, you here?” she heard Ino call from the living room.Sakura poked her head out from her bedroom. “I’m just about to head out to a run a quick errand,” she replied. “But it’ll only take an hour at most. Do you want to grab dinner when I get back?”“Sure,” Ino said, plopping herself down on Sakura’s couch. “I need some best friend time.”.Sasuke hadn’t been at Naruto’s apartment. Neither had Naruto, for that matter. So Sakura found herself banging on the door of the main house in the Uchiha compound.Itachi swung the door open, looking a little irritated. But she beamed at him anyway because had he always looked so good? Ino had also claimed that sex really changed things in a relationship and Sakura hadn’t believed her at first. It wasn’t that big a deal, was it? But Itachi did look different to her now. He looked… well, she just wanted to kiss him.“Hi,” she said, feeling herself grinning goofily but completely unable to help it.“Hi,” he answered, a grin spreading across his face, too, the irritation melting away. Good, she thought. It hadn’t been because of her.“Is Sasuke around?” she asked.She immediately regretted asking as she watched the grin slide right off his face, replaced with confusion and then irritation again.“I just have something I need to tell him real quick,” she amended.Itachi pulled the door open wider, propping it open with his foot. “He’s in the kitchen.”With more caution than was probably necessary, Sakura sidled past him and into the entryway. It might have been wiser for her to move straight into the kitchen, because whatever was happening between her and Itachi was still weird and new and she didn’t really know what she was doing.But she did know that she didn’t want to barge into his house uninvited, asking for his brother and completely ignoring him. So she turned back around and curled her fingers loosely into the fabric near the collar of his shirt and stood on her tiptoes to give him a mostly chaste kiss on the mouth.She felt his ire melt a little, maybe not completely but she couldn’t be sure. He kissed her back, holding her elbow loosely and stroking the skin there with his thumb.“I missed you,” she said when they broke apart. After having not seen him for several weeks, saying that to him after not even twelve hours apart probably seemed kind of clingy, but he smiled – well, smirked really.“Did you?” he asked in a very un-Itachi like fashion – almost coyly, flirtatiously.“Of course,” she replied. “I’m sorry I left in such a hurry this morning. I wish I could have stayed for breakfast.”She couldn’t tell if it was because of what she had said, but his mood seemed to darken again.“Anyway,” she said, drawing her eyes away from him. “Let me just go talk to Sasuke real quick.”Itachi pressed his lips into a thin line, but nodded to her.She found Sasuke at the kitchen table, fiddling with a tomato. He picked at its stem in an angry fashion, his face just as dark and irritated as Itachi’s had been.“Sasuke, you’ve got a storm cloud over your head,” Sakura said with way too much pep. “But I have some good news for you.”“I’m not in the mood, Sakura.”“Well, get in the mood because I just did you a huge favor,” she said. He spared a glance up at her, which was more like a glare. “I asked Tsunade about Suigetsu and Juugo. She said they’re welcome here. I’ve even been tasked with helping them assimilate.”“What?”“It was actually pretty difficult to convince her to let them in,” she went on. “You should be thanking me right now.”“Thank you?” Sasuke asked, seething. At that moment, Sakura picked up on the bubbling rage in his face that had nearly reached a boiling point. “What the fuck have you done?”“Umm,” she started in an unhealthily sarcastic tone. “I did exactly what you asked me to do. Remember?”“That was weeks ago, Sakura,” he said, nearly yelling. “Do you want to know why Naruto and I were fighting? It was because he thinks I spend too much time with them. And now you’ve invited them to live here!”“You asked me to!”“This is just great,” Sasuke said. “Naruto is fucking mad at me and now I have to deal with their stupid asses on top of it.”Sakura crossed her arms with an exaggerated huff. “This isn’t my fault, you know.”“Well, if you hadn’t dragged your feet on the issue we wouldn’t be having this problem right now,” he said pointedly.“Yeah, we would have had it weeks ago instead,” she said, also nearly yelling now. “Because that would be so much better, right?”“Come on, Sakura,” Sasuke said. “I asked you to do one fucking thing for me and you screwed it up. When do I ever ask you to do things?”“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” Sakura demanded. She didn’t even know it was possible to feel such blinding rage. How could he be angry with her for doing exactly what he asked her to do? “Can you just go?” Sasuke said with an exasperated sigh. “You’re really pissing me off right now.”As much as she wanted to stay, just to piss him off even more, she felt angry tears prickling at the back of her eyes and she didn’t want him to see her cry. So she fled. She threw the door open and made it nearly off the porch before she felt fingers wrap themselves around her upper arm.“Sakura, wait.”She didn’t want to turn to face him. She was crying, probably puffy and her nose was running. And God, he’d already seen her cry plenty. They didn’t need to make a habit of this.“Sakura.”She turned to face him. He didn’t recoil at the sight of her, so she took that as a good sign. But then again, Itachi was nothing if not gracious and tactful. He could be inwardly disgusted by her.“I heard everything,” he said. “Are you okay?”“Shouldn’t you be asking Sasuke that?”He gave her a pointed look. “He was a real asshole to you.”She looked away from him, not able to come up with a meaningful response to that.“Do you want me to put some old fish in his pillowcase?” Itachi asked with a childish grin. “Or I could fill his shoes with toothpaste.”She cracked a smile.“I could just stop buying tomatoes,” he continued. “Or I won’t cook for him anymore.”“Or, you could keep cooking for him, but add special ingredients to his food,” she suggested with a grin. “Like maybe a laxative.”He smiled at her recommendation and pulled her into a hug. “How about we go get some dinner?” he asked. “We can go to that teahouse. Or one of those restaurants we passed in the civilian district.”She rested her cheek against his chest, breathing in his scent. “Mm, that sounds good,” she said. But then she remembered Ino waiting for her at home. “But I can’t. I’ve got plans with Ino.”She couldn’t see his face, but she could feel his body sag with disappointment. The second meal she had declined from him in one day.“Let’s get dinner tomorrow,” she offered.“Okay,” he said. It was difficult to tell from the neutrality of his tone, but he sounded appeased.“My treat.”“Okay, but I’m going to pick a really expensive restaurant.”“Go ahead,” she said with a grin. “Get the most expensive thing on the menu. But I will expect you to put out.”He laughed..“My baby’s all grown up and having sex,” Ino gushed.They had chosen Ichiraku in a fit of spontaneous originality and now sat perched on the wooden stools with bowls of ramen half eaten in front of them. Sakura rolled her eyes as she took another bite, shaking her head.“So give me all the details,” Ino demanded. “I want to know everything.”Sakura ordinarily did not trust Ino with gossip like this. Sakura wasn’t one for gossiping anyway. She occasionally enjoyed a nice blather about Konoha drama, but she usually could make better use of her time.However, she was dying to talk to someone about her romp in the hay and Ino was very knowledgeable about these things.“For starters,” Sakura began, “He has a huge dick. Like, enormous. Kind of painful, actually.”“Oh, shit,” Ino said. “Who would have thought?”Sakura murmured her agreement, having had very similar thoughts when said appendage had first been revealed to her.“So did he pin you down to the bed? Push you up against the wall? How did it all start?” she asked.“No,” Sakura said, a blush rising in her cheeks. She didn’t know what Ino would think about the fact that she’d masturbated for him and she didn’t really want to tell her. “After the clan ceremony we went up to Tobirama’s head. He wanted to talk to me about something.”“Oh yeah? Talk?” Ino asked in a way that made it clear she did not believe that was what he wanted at all.“We did have something important to talk about,” Sakura said defensively. “About the clan ceremony.”Ino inched closer to her, waiting for her to continue.“It was so romantic up there,” Sakura said with a dreamy sigh. “It was like sitting in outer space. And then we just started kissing.”“You had sex on Tobirama’s head?”“No, we went back to his place.”“Come on, Sakura, you have to give me more than that,” Ino said, wiggling her eyebrows.“Well, Sasuke interrupted us at one point,” Sakura said. “We were in the kitchen, already half naked when he walked in. He seemed really upset.”“That must have been weird for him.”“I suppose,” Sakura said. “But he was a real dick to me today so I don’t really care.”“What did he do?”Sakura twisted her lips up before taking another bite of ramen. She probably shouldn’t tell Ino Sasuke’s business. It was one thing to talk about her sex life, but it was completely uncalled for to go spilling Sasuke’s personal secrets to Konoha’s biggest gossip.“I shouldn’t say,” Sakura said. “But we’re mad at him now, just so you know.”“Okay, you know I’ve got your back,” Ino replied..The next morning Sakura reported straight to Tsunade’s office instead of taking her usual route to the hospital. It had been a while since she had learned a new technique from her shishou and she couldn’t help but feel excited.At a certain point Sakura realized that she would never have the power that Sasuke and Naruto did. She would always be behind them just by the very nature of her birth. She wasn’t an Uchiha prodigy with a coveted kekkei genkai. She wasn’t harboring a fox demon that gave her immeasurable chakra.She could work as hard as possible and still never catch up with them.But they were both genin while she had been promoted to jonin. She was the most skilled medical ninja in the village. The village needed her; she was important. It was hard to feel too down on herself about it when, for once, everything seemed to be going rather well with her career.“Ah, Sakura,” Tsunade said. “You’re here.”“Good morning, Tsunade-shishou.”“Tsunade waved her hand, beckoning Sakura closer. “Come here,” she said. “Are you ready to learn this new jutsu?”Sakura nodded enthusiastically. “What kind of jutsu is it? Medical?”Tsunade shook her head. “It’s a fuinjutsu.”“Fuinjutsu…?”“Yes,” Tsunade replied. “Take a look at the rhombus on my forehead. You’re going to learn how to create one for yourself.”Sakura paused because she hadn’t been expecting that. She had been expecting some sort of revolutionary medical technique, or maybe an offensive jutsu of some kind. A fuinjutsu certainly wouldn’t be her specialty, but she supposed with her level of chakra control that it wouldn’t be too difficult.“It’s a yin seal,” Tsunade explained.Sakura knew what it was. She had been curious when she first met Tsunade, a stranger who was replacing the beloved Sandaime, about the glowing diamond on her forehead.She had known that it was a seal of some kind. She had learned after a little bit of probing research that it was a seal that stored chakra.“It requires a precise control of chakra,” Tsunade said. “Shizune was unable to maintain hers as she doesn’t possess perfect chakra control. But you do.”Sakura gave a nod of understanding.“Essentially, it will give you the ability to fall back on a massive reserve of chakra if you end up in a dire situation,” Tsunade said. “And I want to stress to you that you should absolutely not use the seal unless you absolutely have to.”“I understand, Tsunade-shishou.”“You’ll need to be storing, adding a little bit of chakra to the seal everyday for several years before it will be sufficient enough to use,” she further explained. “And eventually I will teach you how to use my mitotic regeneration technique.”Sakura felt it would have been rude to express her disappointment. She felt guilty for even just feeling it. This was an impressive technique to be learning – one that Shizune hadn’t been able to use. Tsunade believed she could do it, so she should feel proud of herself.But instead she felt a little bit let down. She wouldn’t even be able to use the technique for several years. And now she was going to have a damn rhombus on her forehead. As if its magnitude wasn’t already enough.Nonetheless, Sakura listened diligently to everything Tsunade had to say regarding the seal. She was attentive, every bit the studious girl who had excelled at the academy when she was younger.Tsunade showed her precisely how to direct chakra to the location on her forehead, how to keep it stored there, and how to increase its capacity over time. In spite of finding the technique itself to be a little dull, Sakura found the process fascinating to some degree. Over time, Tsunade had said that her natural chakra reserves might shrink. Though Sakura said nothing about it, she thought she could find a way to prevent that from happening.So by late morning, Sakura was ready to head down to the hospital for her shift and spend a good bit of time thinking of how to prevent chakra reserve shrinkage.But just as she was leaving, Tsunade stopped her with a firm clearing of her throat.“Sakura, wait,” she said. “There is one other thing I wanted to talk to you about.”Judging by the tone of her voice, Sakura considered that it wasn’t something good. She turned back around to face her mentor with a smile.“You and Itachi…” she began.Sakura wanted to look away from her – she felt her cheeks heating up. But she had nothing to be ashamed of or embarrassed about so she held Tsunade’s gaze determinedly. “It was none of my business, so I never asked,” Tsunade said. “But things have changed now. I know there is something going on between you two.”“Yes,” Sakura agreed. “There is.”“Is it serious?”Was it? She was fairly certain that Itachi would say yes. Frankly, she would probably say yes, too. But if she told Tsunade that their relationship was serious, would she start to pressure her into marriage?“I strongly suggest that you take a good hard look at what you’re doing, Sakura,” Tsunade said with a sternness Sakura hadn’t heard since she had first asked Tsunade to be her mentor. “Marriage to Itachi will drastically change the direction of your life. You just became a jonin. Are you going to quit taking missions so you can have his children?”She had a point, but the patronizing tone she spoke with made Sakura tremble with repressed rage. It wasn’t like Sakura hadn’t thought of that before.“Before the clan meeting,” Sakura began, “We had discussed whether or not I would be a suitable Uchiha matriarch.”“So it is serious.”“We agreed that we would take things slow and worry about that stuff later,” Sakura continued.“You don’t have that luxury anymore.”“He would marry me right now if I suggested it,” Sakura snapped. She didn’t know if that were true or not, but it seemed like the kind of thing Itachi would do. “But it isn’t wrong for us to want to take things slow.”“It isn’t,” Tsunade agreed, narrowing her eyes. “But Itachi has a duty to his clan and to the village.”“Well, now he has a duty to me, too.”“Does he?”“I want to take things slow, and Itachi respects that,” Sakura said, jutting her chin out boldly. She wouldn’t let herself be pushed around, not even by Tsunade. She would get married on her own time – when she and Itachi decided it was best.“I gave him one year, Sakura. You know that.”“I know.”“If you decided not to marry him at the end of the year, he’ll have to marry a stranger,” Tsunade pointed out.“Why would he have to marry a stranger?” Sakura demanded. “Would you really make him do that? After everything he’s done for Konoha?”“The council will make him, Sakura,” Tsunade said with an exasperated sigh. “That’s why I designed the council. This isn’t just my decision. They want Itachi married. They want Uchiha children. We’re lucky they forgave him for his crimes at all. If a marriage, a family is what’s required to make things right then he should be happy to do it.”“His crimes?” Sakura said, her voice shrill. She was dangerously close to losing her temper – something she’d never done with Tsunade before. “He was protecting us!”“He was protecting Sasuke and you know it,” she retorted. “Do you think he would have done what he did if Sasuke’s death was inevitable? Yes, he prevented the coup. He saved a lot of lives. But he did so with selfish interests. If Itachi hadn’t done it then Danzo would have and he would not have spared Sasuke.”“Why does that matter?”“The council, the rest of the village – they’re right to be afraid of him,” Tsunade said. “I trust Itachi, I do, but I can see why they would be wary of a man who is capable of murdering the people he loves in cold blood.”Sakura didn’t respond immediately, because one, she could hear the blood rushing in her ears and the tenseness in her body told her that she needed to calm down. And two, she didn’t know how to respond to that. Itachi had said the very same thing to her – that he was capable of vilifying actions and he was dangerous.But the Itachi she knew would never hurt her. He hadn’t hurt her. He was sweet and kind and cared for her in a way that no one else in the village did.“If the council is so worried about what he might do, then why do they want him to start a family so badly?” Sakura asked, pleasantly surprised by the calm quality in her voice.“As afraid as they are of him, everyone knows that this is a shinobi village,” Tsunade answered, matching Sakura’s calmness with her own. “Things are always more complicated than they appear. Itachi committed crimes, but so have the rest of us. His were just against his own family. A family that could make us a stronger village. The Sharingan is an invaluable tool to have at our disposal.”Even though it seemed pretty fucked up from Sakura’s perspective, to force two people into marriage so they could breed warrior children who would fight for their village, Sakura kind of understood.“Would you be happy?” Tsunade asked. Sakura looked up at her, dragging her eyes away from the floor by her feet. “Would you be happy being his wife? Being the Uchiha matriarch?”Sakura shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t know.”“Sakura, if you were anyone else I would force you to break up with him,” Tsunade said with an almost wistful sigh.“Why?”“I know you care about him. I know he’s important to you so I won’t make you do that,” she said. “But if you don’t plan on marrying him at all… If you wouldn’t be happy to be his wife then you need to break it off. It will only hurt worse if you let the relationship fester.”“Why do you think I wouldn’t want to marry him?” Sakura asked, puzzled. “Itachi said the same thing.”“He did?”“Yeah, after the ceremony he gave me an out,” Sakura answered, her emotions deflating a little. “He told me he didn’t expect me to marry him – that he understood if I wouldn’t.”“What did you tell him?”“I want to take things slow, but I’m not opposed to marrying him.”Tsunade took a deep breath in a held it for a moment before releasing it slowly. She steepled her hands in front of her face and fixed Sakura with a determined gaze. “Listen, Sakura,” she said. “You’ve got a year. You just became a jonin. Think about what it is you want to do. You can join ANBU. You could start developing your own medical jutsus. But once you’re married, you’ll have an entirely different set of responsibilities. You’ll have to give up a lot. You’re already spreading yourself so thin.”Sakura nodded, letting Tsunade’s words sink in.“Make smart decisions, Sakura,” Tsunade said. “I’ll be here to give you advice if you need it.”“Thank you, Tsunade-shishou.” ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- In spite of having a rough day, Itachi was in a good mood. The day prior, having started out on an excellent note with Sakura wrapped snuggly (and somewhat damply) around him, had only gotten worse with each passing hour.Sakura had left in a hurry, of course. He knew she was busy so he didn’t take it personally, but it was still unpleasant after having had sex with her (or anyone) for the first time that night.So instead he had eaten the breakfast he had prepared for her with Sasuke. Naturally, Sasuke wanted to discuss the clan ceremony at length, which led to a lot of bickering.First Sasuke had been angry with the council and Hokage. They were the ones forcing Itachi to do something he didn’t want to do. This was not the first time such a thing had happened and it seemed Sasuke really felt some sympathy for his older brother.But then he couldn’t see why Itachi wouldn’t just marry Sakura now. It was in everyone’s best interest, he claimed. The restoration of the Uchiha clan was more important than whatever Itachi was feeling. He would get over it. He liked Sakura, didn’t he? Why wouldn’t he marry her?That was the wrong question to be asking, Itachi thought. There was no doubt in his mind that he would marry Sakura. Of course he would. Rather, the question should be why wouldn’t she marry him?But he knew the answer to that, too. She would marry him. Someday. Maybe. Well, he was still a little unsure.Either way, the conversation with Sasuke had not gone well and he had stormed out of the compound in search of Naruto. Naruto – who he still had not made up with after their fight.Itachi had been privy to a rant about that as well. He didn’t have much advice to offer, and he was too afraid that the sound of his voice might have dissuaded Sasuke from continuing to open up about her mysterious relationship. And being deeply curious about it, Itachi listened with rapt attention.He only caught bits and pieces, the severely disjointed deluge of information coming from someone who was practically foaming at the mouth.Juugo needed him, he had claimed, to be his cage. And Suigetsu was a good friend who had stood by Sasuke when he needed him most. Naruto was being selfish, blowing things out of proportion. Yes, he snuck away every once in a while to pay short visits to his mismatched friends. It didn’t mean he loved Naruto any less.Itachi stopped listening for a moment after that because he hadn’t realized that Sasuke loved Naruto. It was a somewhat new concept for him because the only person he could really claim to love was Sasuke. Did he love Sakura as well? He thought he might.And speaking of Sakura, she had made everything so much worse by going to Tsunade and getting Juugo and Suigetsu probationary citizenship. How could she have done such a thing? What was she thinking?It was that moment that Itachi chose to speak and let Sasuke know exactly how wrong he was to be mad at her for that.Which led to more bickering.Itachi did not like to fight with his brother, so he busied himself with cleaning instead. He washed the sex off his sheets. He scoured every pot and pan in the kitchen. He did laundry.And he was tired. He hadn’t intended to argue with his brother for the better part of the day (and also yesterday), so he was left feeling a bit dissatisfied with the amount of work he had gotten done, which was none. He had errands to run, things to do before his dinner with Sakura later that night.But unfortunately, those things would have to wait. Sakura would be finishing up her shift at the hospital soon, so he needed to get ready.He showered quickly and put on some of his nicer clothes. They were going to an expensive restaurant, after all. And if it was going to be Sakura’s treat, then he couldn’t show up empty handed so he made his way to the Yamanaka’s flower shop. Flowers were a standard gift to bring for something like this, he thought. They weren’t too serious, but they showed effort.He had expected Ino to be there and she was. It was his good fortune that she was because Itachi realized he didn’t know what kind of flowers Sakura liked.“Itachi-san,” she greeted when she saw him, flipping her long blonde ponytail over her shoulder. There was a curious knowing in her gaze, one that deeply unsettled him. “What can I do for you?”“I’d like to get some flowers for Sakura,” he said. “Do you know what kind of flowers she likes?”Ino sighed kind of dreamily and drummed her fingers along the countertop in front of her. “Sai used to buy me flowers sometimes,” she said wistfully.Itachi didn’t know what to say to that, and he began to feel slightly uncomfortable. For a few moments, Ino was in a daze, gazing far off into the distance with her head in the clouds.After what he hoped was a polite minute, Itachi loudly cleared his throat.“Oh, sorry, Itachi-san,” she said. “I kind of spaced out there.”He assured her that it was no problem and watched as she turned behind her to fiddle around with the flowers behind her. He watched with partial interest as she arranged some stemmed flowers together in a bouquet, tying them together with pink ribbon and then wrapping them with a swath of red silk.“Here you go,” she said, extending the bouquet to him. “She’ll love these.”“Thank you, Ino-san.”He paid for the flowers and left..He wasn’t sure why he felt so nervous when he knocked on her door. He’d already had sex with her, so it seemed the hard part should be out of the way. But for some reason, his stomach was doing flips while he waited patiently for her to open the door for him.He fiddled nervously with the ribbon around the flowers until she swung the door open, looking rather flustered.“Itachi,” she said, smiling brightly at him in a way that exacerbated the stomach flips. “Sakura,” he replied with a smile of his own. Somewhat awkwardly, he extended the bouquet of flowers to her. “These are for you.”Still smiling, she furrowed her brow with confusion. “You bought me white lilies?” she asked. “Why white lilies?”Itachi floundered a bit because he hadn’t expected her to ask such a thing. Perhaps he should have come up with a flower that held some significance or symbolism. Or maybe he should have asked Ino what lilies were supposed to represent. They didn’t represent something morbid like death, did they?“Cherry blossoms seemed a bit cliché,” he answered.“Ino helped you pick these out, didn’t she?”That couldn’t have been difficult for her to figure out, but Itachi still felt heat bloom in his cheeks. Perhaps he should have chosen chocolates instead. “She did,” he answered.Sakura burst into laughter, throwing her head back. She laughed until tears sprang up in her eyes and then doubled over and laughed some more.Obviously missing the joke, Itachi twisted his lips and waited. He might have been annoyed if her laughter hadn’t been so pleasant to listen to.“What’s so funny?” he demanded when her laughter had subsided.“Nothing, Itachi-kun,” she said, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek. “Let’s get going. I’m starving.”. This was their first official date and the timing couldn’t have been worse. Word had begun to spread around the village that Itachi was in desperate need of a wife. Itachi didn’t have much experience with the civilian district, but he remembered that the area was a breeding ground for rumors and gossip.So it came as a surprise to neither of them that many people pointed and whispered about them as they walked through the market. Itachi, true to his word, had chosen a rather expensive restaurant – one he remembered passing the day he had gone grocery shopping with Sakura.It was almost a refreshing change of pace. He would much rather be ogled because he was on a date with a pretty girl than because he was a clan betraying murderer.Sakura, however, seemed a little bit more disturbed by the staring. He didn’t miss the worried expression on her face – the crease between her brows. She was bothered.“We can leave if you want to,” Itachi offered just as they sat down. He had asked the hostess for a private booth in the back, and with a little intimidation factor from his Sharingan, they were immediately shown to their seats. “We can go back to my place and I can cook dinner for you.”“No, no,” she said. “This is perfect. Sorry if I’m a little distracted. I’ve got a lot on my mind right now.”“Are you okay?”She sighed and bit her lip, but she didn’t look unhappy. The dim lighting around her made her hair look like it was glowing and she looked like a bubble of brightness in the darkness of the restaurant. Belatedly, he realized that the muted sheath dress she was wearing was navy blue and he wondered if that had been intentional.“Yeah,” she said. “It’s just that I have so much going on right now. I’ve been working on my offensive medical jutsus, Tsunade is teaching me a fuinjutsu, and I just got promoted to jonin. Plus I still have my shifts at the hospital and I now I have to deal with—”She cut herself off before she could finish the sentence, but Itachi knew what she was going to say. She still had to deal with him. With the little issue of impending marriage.“You got promoted to jonin?” he asked, focusing on something positive instead. “That’s impressive. Congratulations.”Her smile widened at his praise, which made Itachi feel lighter than air.She chatted animatedly about Naruto some more, throwing in an occasional story about Sasuke as well. For his benefit, he assumed, she told stories about Team 7 before Sasuke left, regaling him with the tales he had wanted to hear all the way back in Toyeiki when seeing his brother again was an unknown, or worse – a death sentence.Only this time he could laugh at Sasuke’s little quirks. He could smile at Sakura without fear of her suspicion. He could reach across the table and touch her hand, twining their fingers together.It occurred to him that if he hadn’t met her in Toyeiki that he would be very much dead right now. He would never have made reparations with Sasuke. He would never have come back to Konoha. She paused in the middle of her story and looked up at the light fixture above them. Itachi followed her gaze, but found nothing of interest. She continued to stare unblinkingly for a moment while Itachi watched with his head cocked in curiosity. Then she sneezed into her elbow.Itachi felt himself grinning widely because that was weird and adorable and now she was blushing.“Looking at bright lights helps me sneeze,” she explained.“How cute.”She rolled her eyes, but she was grinning so he took her hand and brought it to his mouth so he could kiss her palm.“Can I ask you something?” she asked, blushing still.“Of course.”“Yesterday when I came over to talk to Sasuke you seemed kind of upset…”So he hadn’t hid that quite as well as he had hoped. He’d been arguing with Sasuke, which was the reason for his poor mood, but he didn’t really want to tell that to Sakura because it sounded juvenile. And she might ask what they had been arguing about – which had been the looming marriage deadline. Not a subject he wanted to broach with her right now.When he didn’t respond after a moment, she raised an expectant brow. “Why were you upset?” she finally asked.He shook his head and gave her a tiny smile. “Nothing you need to concern yourself with,” he answered. “Just family stuff.”He had expected her to be disappointed, maybe a little frustrated. What he hadn’t expected was for her to be angry. She didn’t say anything, but he could tell by the fuming expression on her face that he had really upset her.With body language that was a bit too frosty for Itachi’s liking, she continued to pick at her food, not so much eating it as pushing it around her plate.“Sakura,” he said in that tone he might have used if he were reprimanding Sachi.She didn’t seem to like that either.“What?” she snapped.“I didn’t mean to upset you,” he said.“Why won’t you tell me why you were upset?”Maybe it would be better to just tell her, he thought. But inwardly he felt that it was wrong of her to expect him to divulge any information she wanted to her. However, he could use that selfishness to his advantage.“I’ll tell you why I was upset if you tell me why you laughed at the white lilies.”It seemed that even just being reminded of the lilies was funny, because Sakura cracked a smile and then started giggling, which was much better than the pouting she had been doing before.“White lilies represent chastity,” she said with a humored grin. “You know. Purity. Ino was messing with you.”Itachi felt his cheeks flame up because that was certainly not an appropriate flower to give to someone he had literally just had sex with. But then it occurred to him that for Ino to have played such a prank she had to have known about him and Sakura sleeping together.“You told her?” he asked accusingly.“Yeah, she’s my best friend,” Sakura replied with a shrug. “I tell her everything. She’d been hounding me about losing my virginity for a long time, so it would have been downright cruel not to tell her.”Itachi didn’t agree with that. He was a fairly private person and he couldn’t imagine sharing information like that with anyone. Well, maybe her. But that was different.“What exactly did you tell her?”Sakura grinned at him. “Are you fishing for compliments, Itachi-kun?” she asked teasingly. “I told her you were so big that it hurt.”“It hurt?” Itachi asked with concern. “Why didn’t you tell me?”Her smile softened and she reached out and grabbed his hand, linking them together on top of the white tablecloth. “It did hurt,” she answered. “In fact, I’m still sore. But it was a good hurt. I liked it.”A flush of heat travelled from his chest all the way up to his ears and some part of him was deeply thrilled both that it hurt and that she liked it. Somehow that combination was enticing.“Can’t you heal yourself?” he asked. “So you aren’t sore?”“Oh, sure,” she said with a dismissing wave. “But it’s good to let my body heal on its own sometimes. You know, so I don’t start to feel like I’m immortal. Besides, I like the subtle reminder throughout the day.”“Reminder?”“That I had sex with the great Itachi Uchiha,” she said with a charming grin that would have made Itachi’s knees buckle if he had been standing.Her directness about it was both refreshing and terrifying. Not that he thought they shouldn’t ever mention it, but her eagerness, how much she had enjoyed herself, the fact that she was still glowing from it – it was a bit overwhelming.“Now tell me what you were so upset about.”“I was arguing with Sasuke when you came over,” he explained. “That’s why we were both in a bad mood.”“Oh.”She cast her eyes down to her plate and continued to push her food around. He wished he could have known what she was thinking just then. The sadness that flickered across her face was curious – he wondered why she’d feel sad. He wanted to ask her, but he didn’t. It seemed as though she wasn’t going to ask specifically what they had been arguing about, much to Itachi’s relief. They ate in silence for a few minutes, neither of them quite knowing what to say. The waitress dropped their check at the table and Sakura quickly snatched it up like she thought he might try to take it.She pulled a stack of ryo out of her pocket and laid it on the table. Itachi caught her eye over his glass of water and gave her a dry smirk.“Thank you,” he said softly.“Come on,” she said, pulling him out of his seat. “Let’s go for a walk.”.Itachi was caught off guard when instead of walking back through the civilian district, Sakura led him through the Konoha gates.“Where are we going?” he asked as he followed her into the thick trees.She gave his hand a gentle squeeze, tossing him a sweet smile over her shoulder. “I want to show you something,” she said.He wanted to protest because it was getting rather dark and being outside the village reminded him too much of when he was a missing-nin, unable to come home. There were probably ANBU making rounds even now – a thought that set him on edge.It wasn’t like he couldn’t be outside the village at all. He went on missions still. He just felt like they were doing something wrong by being outside the gates after dark. Like he was a child who should have been home in bed already.Sakura dragged him along through the trees, stopping every once in a while to gaze upward into the treetops.“What are you looking for?” he asked.“You’ll see.”She led him about a mile or two into the forest, stopping at the base of a particularly large tree – one that towered well above the rest. Without the aid of chakra, she began to climb the tree, hefting herself up amongst the branches.“What are you doing?” he asked her, dodging a branch she had inadvertently snapped from the tree and let fall below her.“Come on,” she answered. “We’re climbing the tree.”He followed without any further questions, taking her lead and also avoiding the use of chakra. It was somewhat exhilarating being behind her while she climbed a tree in a rather short dress. He could see parts of her that should have been covered and he knew that she must have been aware of that.He supposed it must have been intentional – that she had planned to take him to dinner and then lead him up into a tree wearing a navy blue dress and what he suspected were red panties.And upon closer inspection, as they neared the top of the tree and Sakura came to a stop, they were indeed red.Sakura shifted herself on the branch she sat on, moving over so that Itachi could share the branch with her. It was wide enough for them to both comfortably sit on without fear of losing their balance.Itachi braced himself against the trunk of the tree, lifting his arm so that Sakura could settle herself underneath it. Their backs were to the village and all they could see were trees tops stretching around them like fluffy green clouds.Without the lights from the village, the stars seemed even brighter. Itachi found himself mesmerized by the colors – the swirls of indigo and violet, the nebulas and clusters of shining lights that dotted the sky.“This is what you wanted to show me?” he asked.She nodded and snuggled closer to him, leaning against his body and trusting that he wouldn’t let them fall. “Yeah, isn’t it pretty?” she said.He murmured his agreement against the wisps of her hair that blew around his face in the gentle breeze.“How did you find this tree?” he asked.“When I was little I was out here picking flowers with Ino,” she said. “And I lost her somehow so I thought if I climbed up the tallest tree I would be able to see her.”“But you can’t see the ground from here.”Sakura laughed. “Yeah, I didn’t find her. I was too distracted by the view. It was light outside then and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The sun was starting to set and I could see the moon already. I stayed here for a long time. Ino ended up leaving without me.”“This is a pretty big tree for a little girl to climb,” Itachi said. “What if you fell?”“I didn’t fall,” she said with a hint of sassiness. “I’ve been up here millions of times. I might fall out of other trees. But not this tree.”“Millions of times, huh?”“Yeah, I like to come up here to think.”Itachi understood that. He had had a very similar perch in Akatsuki’s base in Rain – one high up in one of the tallest buildings where he could see the entire village.They fell into a comfortable silence. Itachi listened to the sounds around him – crickets down below, the way the wind rustled the leaves. Sakura’s breathing was even and Itachi found himself matching his breaths with hers.“What are you thinking about now?” he asked, suddenly curious.She sighed contentedly and wrapped her arm tighter around him. “Well, I’m thinking about how much I like you. And how glad I am that you’re back in Konoha now. And how having sex with you was literally the best thing ever. And how happy I am being next to you.”Itachi’s chest constricted almost painfully and affection surged up in him.“I remember right after you’d come back to the village you told me I was pretty,” she continued. “On the bridge after I slapped you. I remember thinking how crazy it was for you to say that after I’d just hit you. But you were so sweet. And I felt so bad about it.”She turned her face to the side and kissed his cheek. “I still feel guilty about it,” she said, her lips still against his skin.“If I recall correctly,” Itachi said, taking on a bit of Sakura’s sass. “You asked me if I really thought you were pretty. I didn’t just call you pretty out of the blue.”Sakura laughed. “Of course not,” she said. “Your heart might have exploded.”“Hearts are fragile things, Sakura,” Itachi said solemnly.“Yes, yes, they are.”“But I feel pretty confident now that you won’t slap me now, so I’d like to tell you that you are, indeed, very beautiful,” he said. “Especially in this blue dress. Did you wear it just for me?”“Sure did,” she said smugly. “I saw the way you were looking at me when I was wearing your clothes.”“The Uchiha colors really suit you.”“Every color suits me, Itachi-kun,” she said cheekily. “I just happen to know that you like me best in navy and red.”“You don’t look so good in orange,” he said with a grin.She elbowed him in the ribs.They sat in silence for a few more minutes, enjoying the view and each other’s company. Eventually, Sakura sat up and yawned, stretching her arms over her head like a kitten.“We should get going,” she said. “I have to work in the morning.”Itachi followed her down the tree trunk, still grinning like an idiot as she watched her swing expertly through the branches. When she landed in the grass he saw her look up and freeze, her posture rigid and tense.His hackles immediately raised, he activated his Sharingan and landed beside her in the grass.“Sakura, dear, I appreciate the effort but I think you know I meant a little bit farther away from the village than this.”“Fuck off, Danzo,” she replied. “I never agreed to anything.”Thoroughly confused, Itachi flicked his eyes between Sakura and Danzo, who had somehow managed to sneak up on them. Feeling rather alarmed, Itachi latched onto Sakura’s arm, pulling her closer to him and stepping in front of her.“Oh, don’t worry,” Danzo said, hobbling forward on his cane. “I don’t plan on hurting her.” ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Sakura should have seen this coming. She knew Danzo was out here, lurking around the perimeter of the village. She knew Danzo had unfinished business with the Uchihas. She should never have taken Itachi out here. She had put his life in danger. She had made a mistake.“Since you wouldn’t do what I asked you to do,” Danzo said, his one visible eye narrowed and looking directly at Sakura. “I’ll have to do it myself.”Itachi was standing in front of her now, and she didn’t need to see his face to know that his Sharingan was activated. She could feel the sourness of his mood rolling off him in waves. Any of the endorphins that had made their appearance while they were canoodling in the tree were long gone, replaced with fury that was thick enough to feel in the air.Sakura truly regretted having brought him out here.“Itachi, you really are a loyal shinobi,” Danzo said. “You were one of the very few Uchiha with a solid moral fiber.”Itachi bristled. Sakura minutely felt the compulsion to agree with Danzo on that one, but she wasn’t knowledgeable enough about the Uchiha clan to make such a speculation. Itachi, it seemed, highly disagreed.“Shisui was loyal,” Itachi countered. The tone of his voice was different somehow – more like the one he had used with her back in Toyeiki. This was Itachi the Shinobi. “Shisui cared about Konoha and because of you he’s dead.”“I didn’t kill the boy,” Danzo said, and Sakura could tell from his tone that he knew Itachi knew that.“You took his eye.”“His plan wouldn’t have worked,” Danzo countered. “I was only saving you time in the end.”“Not me,” Itachi said. “You. You were saving yourself time. You were glad to be rid of us. That’s why you’re here now, isn’t it? To finish the job?”“Wrong,” Danzo said. “I’m not here to kill you. In fact, you should ask your girlfriend why I’m here. I’m here to do what she wouldn’t.”Sakura winced because she really didn’t want to explain to Itachi that she had hidden something like that from him for so long. To her, it didn’t really matter what she did – the result would be the same. Itachi and Sasuke would remain in Konoha. Danzo would be killed, because there wasn’t another option, was there?There was no world in which she would ask Itachi and Sasuke to leave their home. There was no way she would let Danzo get away with what he had done.Itachi didn’t turn to look at her, but she saw the way he tensed up in front her. She took a step closer to him, fisting her hand in the fabric at the back of his shirt.“We have to get out of here,” she whispered to him. “We can’t fight him right now.”He ignored her.“What is it that she wouldn’t do?”“Tell him, Sakura.”“Don’t speak to her,” Itachi said fiercely. The vehemence in his tone almost scared her. “I’m asking you.”Danzo laughed and took a step closer to them, prodding the grass in front of him with his cane. “Don’t be so intense, Itachi,” he said. “I’m not here to hurt either one of you. Unless you refuse me.”“Refuse you?”“I want you to leave,” he answered. “I want you to abandon Konoha and never return. I don’t want to ever see another Uchiha step foot in this village again.”Feeling bold and angry, Sakura stepped around Itachi and pointed an accusatory finger at Danzo’s chest. “Just what the hell do you have against the Uchihas anyway?” she demanded. “They’re a founding clan. They have an unparalleled kekkei genkai. They are an asset to the village. Why do you want them gone so badly?”Itachi’s fingers curled around her arm and pulled her gently back behind him. She didn’t protest, but she was still seething.“I’m not leaving Konoha,” Itachi said. “And neither is Sasuke.”“Then as I told Sakura,” Danzo began. “I’ll have to kill the both of you.”“Itachi—”Before she could say anything more, Itachi swooped her up and began to run. She had been about to suggest that they run, so this worked out perfectly for her, but she did note that it was a bit humiliating for him to have picked her up instead of letting her run on her own. Being snatched up off the ground like a sack of flour was not something that a kunoichi should routinely be subjected to. Danzo wasn’t even following them.He took her up to the village gates and then expertly leapt over them. Once they were on the safe side of the wall, he set her down. He looked absolutely livid and though Sakura wanted to talk to him – they certainly had things that needed hashing out now – she couldn’t bring herself to speak.“Sakura,” he began in a voice that reminded her very much of her father when he was angry with her. “What was that about?”“Don’t be angry,” she said. She realized then that that probably wasn’t the best way to start off what she was going to say. She watched a flicker of something she didn’t recognize in Itachi’s face.“Do I have a reason to be angry?”“I spoke with Danzo before his trial,” she answered. “He specifically asked to speak to both me and Naruto. Naruto refused, but I met with him anyway.”“Why?”“Because I was curious,” she said. “I thought he might share some useful information with me.”He stared at her blankly.“He basically told me that I needed to convince you and Sasuke to leave Konoha and that if I didn’t, he would kill you,” she said, tumbling over the words too quickly so that they came out a jumbled mess.He swallowed and she saw a look of pain settle on his face – not a flash, but a lingering. “Why didn’t you tell me?”“I thought about it. I know you’re a lot smarter than me, a lot better at this kind of stuff,” she said in a blatant attempt to butter him up. “But you seemed so happy and I didn’t want to put more stress on you. Things were starting to go well for you and for us and I figured it would be a long time before he tried to do anything.”He stood still for a long time. Even though his eyes were on her, she could tell that he was looking straight through her, not seeing her. She didn’t know what he was thinking – if he was upset with her. His expression was completely blank.Nervously, she bit her lip and sighed. This was not at all how she had hoped this whole Danzo thing would go. Hopefully he would choke on his food tonight and save them all from having to deal with him.Itachi cleared his throat and Sakura looked up at him. His brow had furrowed and with his Sharingan still activated he looked rather menacing.“Are you angry?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.He took a step toward her and gripped her chin with his fingers, tilting her face up to his. “Not with you, hime,” he said. A wave a relief washed over her. She could have cried.She reached forward and wrapped her arms around his waist, holding him tightly. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled into his shirt.He pushed her away gently and kissed her forehead. “Go home,” he said.“But, Itachi—”“Now, Sakura.”If he had been anyone else in any other situation she would have protested. She wasn’t particularly fond of the sternness in his tone, or the fact that he’d given her an order. But something in his face, the darkness she hadn’t seen in his eyes since she’d first met him, told her that it would be best to do as he said.So she did..Sakura tossed and turned all night. She wasn’t the type to usually have trouble sleeping, but with so many things weighing heavy on her mind she was having a hard time shutting off her brain.After a fretful four hours of sleep, Sakura sent a message to Tsunade informing her that she would be unable to come into work. It wasn’t something she had ever done before – the best medic in the world didn’t get sick. She hoped Tsunade would understand and not be too upset with her.She couldn’t focus properly on sleeping so there was no way she could be at the hospital, or working on her jutsus, or whatever it was she should have doing about the fact that she had not taken notes at the clan ceremony and therefore would have nothing to give Tsunade when she asked for them.And thinking about Itachi was absolutely out of the question. Guilt wracked her and she worried that either he might do something drastic or that Danzo would make another attempt on his life.With so many pieces of her life being the source of her stress, Sakura chose to spend the day with Yamato and Sachi rather than do anything productive. They were the one responsibility that never caused her any stress.So she had scooped them up from her parents’ house and taken them down to the brook just underneath the stone faces. The morning air was balmy and warm, not trace of the biting chill that sometimes clung to the night air. It was the perfect day for a swim.Sachi, who had grown quite fond of music in all her time living in the civilian district, had brought along a little plastic flute. In spite of Sakura’s annoyed protests, Sachi steered clear of the water, choosing instead to march around with her flute, blowing discordant notes in her direction.Bemused and exasperated, Sakura kept a rueful eye on her while she simultaneously watched Yamato, who had been learning water jutsus from Kakashi and was practicing making water clones.It didn’t quite keep her mind as occupied as she would have hoped. She sat near the bank of the brook, dipping her toes into the warm water. It was almost always like this with Yamato and Sachi – they hardly spoke to one another when they were together. In Toyeiki she had taken on a parental role with them – both she and Itachi had. But now with her parents taking care of them, it was difficult to know where she fit into their lives.Yamato had Naruto, Itachi, Kakashi, and a plethora of people from the academy to teach him things about being a ninja. Sakura didn’t really have anything extra to add to that since Yamato didn’t seem all that interested in medical ninjutsu. She wasn’t his mentor, his teacher, his mother, or his guardian. So what was she? His friend? His sister?And Sachi was still far too young to be close to in any meaningful sense. Although, she got the sense that Itachi felt a certain bond with her that Sakura didn’t really understand. In Toyeiki it had bothered her because it seemed inappropriate, but now it bothered her because she wanted to have it, too.It had probably been a while since they had seen each other, Sakura thought. Maybe if Itachi was still in a bad mood the next time she saw him she could offer to bring Sachi around at some point.Drifting into her thoughts, Sakura leaned back on her forearms, toeing the water experimentally. While she contemplated diving into the water, she felt a gentle splash of water break on her arm.“Why do you always look sad?” Yamato asked from her right, flicking another light splash of water at her.“I’m not sad,” she answered.“Then why do you look sad?” he asked.She shrugged. “Maybe it’s just my face.”“Nah, you have a pretty face,” he said, prompting a pink tinge across cheeks. “Except when you’re sad. You look all… mopey.”“I’m not mopey.”“You can tell me what’s wrong, Sakura.”“Nothing’s wrong,” she insisted, sending a fistful of water in his direction. “In fact, I became a jonin recently. You inspired me.”“That’s great!” he exclaimed. “Pretty soon I’ll be one too! Then we can go on missions together. Wouldn’t that be awesome?”“You want to go on missions with me?”“Yeah!” he said. “Iruka-sensei said that every team needs a medic. You’re the best medic in the village – why wouldn’t I want you on my team?”Sakura laughed. “I just thought you’d prefer to have someone closer to your own age on your team with you. Aren’t there any aspiring medics at the academy with you?”“Sure,” Yamato said with a roll of his eyes. “But they aren’t nearly as good as you are.”“No one is.” Sakura said with mock seriousness.Yamato gave her a wry smirk that bled into a full-blown grin.“You’re good for my ego, Yamato-kun,” Sakura said with a smile. “I always feel better after talking to you.”A particularly sharp and high-pitched note from Sachi’s flute made the both of them wince and glance over at her. She teetered dangerously close to the water, walking with her feet in a perfect line along the muddy bank.“She sure likes that flute a lot,” Sakura observed.“Mom and dad don’t let her play it in the house,” Yamato answered. “She’s probably really excited to have a chance to play it.”Sakura blinked her eyes in surprise. She had never heard Yamato refer to her parents as mom and dad before. Did that make them siblings?“I think they’re going to push her into pursuing music,” Yamato said. “Even though she doesn’t seem interested in it at all, they really don’t want her to become a ninja.”Sakura nodded in understanding. “They didn’t want me to do it either.”Yamato looked up at her, squinting against the brightness of the sun. “But you did it anyway?”She nodded again. “I really wanted to do it. They didn’t stop me. They tried to talk me out of it, but they didn’t make a big fuss about it. I know they were just worried about me. I can understand why. I’m a pink haired waif. It’s a huge surprise that I’m a successful ninja.”“What does being a pink haired waif have to do with you being a ninja?” Yamato asked.Sakura smiled. “It’s just an unexpected juxtaposition – ninjas are usually big brawny men.”“Like Itachi-san.”Like Itachi-san. Sakura had never really thought of Itachi as big and brawny, but she supposed he would look that way to Yamato. Especially considered the circumstances of how they met.“Yamato-kun,” Sakura said, her voice a low murmur, just barely audible over the rushing water. “Are you ever afraid of Itachi?”He furrowed his brow and pursed his lips. Sakura could tell the question caught him off guard. “I was afraid of him when I first met him,” he answered. “Because I thought he was going to kill me.”“And you’re not afraid of him now?”“He wouldn’t hurt me,” Yamato said confidently. “I have no reason to be afraid of him.”“But doesn’t it ever bother you that he was sent to kill your father?” she persisted.“He wasn’t the one who killed my father,” Yamato said. “It was that shark guy. And he would have died anyway. I know my father did something bad. Lots of people wanted him dead. I can’t hold a grudge against Itachi for that. Especially since he helped Sachi and me afterwards. He could have just left us there. He had no obligation to take care of us, but he did anyway.”Sakura inhaled deeply. The two people in the village who had reasonable cause to be afraid of Itachi were the two people who feared him the least.“Why are you asking me about this?” Yamato asked curiously.Sakura exhaled. “The higher ups in the village don’t like Itachi,” she answered. “They’re afraid of him. They think he’s dangerous.”“They obviously don’t know him very well,” Yamato pointed out.That was true, Sakura thought. Itachi was pretty reclusive. While he was always polite, he never ventured into ‘friendly’ territory. The person who knew him best was probably Sasuke. And Sasuke was certainly not afraid of him.“Does it bother you?” Yamato asked. “That they fear him?”“It bothers me that they don’t trust him,” she said. “He and his clan were treated very unfairly. It sucks that he’s still having to deal with it. I wish everyone would just move on and leave the past in the past.”“What happened?” Yamato asked. “In the past, I mean. That made everyone so afraid of him.”Sakura winced. That was not a story she wanted to tell him. She didn’t think Itachi would take too kindly to him knowing about the massacre either.“Sakura, what are you doing here?”Yamato and Sakura whirled around to see Kakashi standing behind them, his hand casually stuffed into his pocket, but his posture rigid.“I took a personal day,” she answered, confused by the urgency in his tone. “So I could spend some time with Yamato and Sachi.”“No,” Kakashi said. “I mean why aren’t you at the hospital?”She furrowed her brow. “I just told you. I’m taking a personal day.”“You don’t know…”“Know what?” Sakura asked, getting to her feet.“Sasuke and Itachi are in critical condition,” he replied. “I assumed you knew.”“What?” she breathed, sliding her feet into her sandals. “What happened? I have to go see them.”“Tsunade-sama is with them,” he assured her. “They’ll be okay.”“What happened?”“I don’t know.”Sakura turned back to Yamato, who was watching her with wide, expectant eyes. Sachi was behind him, still obliviously playing her flute.“I have to go, Yamato,” she told him.“Yeah, of course,” he said. “Go. I’ll take Sachi home.”She kissed his forehead. “Thank you.”.“What the hell are you doing here? I thought you were taking a personal day.”“Every time I take a personal day Itachi ends up in the hospital.”Tsunade pursed her lips and gave Sakura a disapproving look. They stood in the hallway outside the in-patient room where Sasuke had been moved. According to one of the nurses, his condition had stabilized and he was no longer critical.Itachi, however, was still critical and somehow still conscious.“How can I help?” Sakura asked.Tsunade rolled her eyes.“I’m serious,” Sakura said.“You know you can’t operate on them,” Tsunade said. “But you can, however, take a look at their eyes. Itachi’s eyes are pretty messed up again. Once his condition stabilizes you can see him.”“Who’s with him now? How is he? How are his lungs? He’s still very susceptible to infections, so you need to be careful if there’s been any kind of damage done to his lungs or heart.”“Sakura, stop,” Tsunade said irritably. “Shizune is with him. He’ll be fine. Go see Sasuke to distract yourself. He needs his eyes checked.”Tsunade didn’t wait for her reply before she was storming down the hallway, heels clicking against the marble tiles.With an impatient sigh, Sakura knocked brusquely on Sasuke’s door and entered without waiting for his reply. She wasn’t really in the mood to be around Sasuke – she was still quite angry with him for being angry with her.But she was glad to know that he was safe.“Sasuke,” she said when she caught sight of him on the patient table, fiddling with the white paper underneath him. “Glad to see you alive and in one piece.”He said nothing. He didn’t even look at her.“Still mad at me, I see.”She stood in front of him, putting her hands on his chest. She shouldn’t have been diagnosing him, but she just wanted to check and see what injuries he may have sustained and if they had been properly treated.“Will you at least tell me what happened?” she asked. “You weren’t on a mission. I know that much.”He glared up at her while she worked. For a moment it seemed like he wouldn’t respond, but then he rolled his eyes. “We killed Danzo.”She faltered for a moment, and she was sure he could feel the random pulse in her chakra. “You and Itachi?” she clarified.He gave her a look that suggested he thought she was an idiot.“Itachi came and got you?” she demanded. “And then you left together to go kill Danzo?”He nodded, eyes wide while he watched her put the pieces together. She clenched her fists and pulled them away from Sasuke. Itachi had gone behind her back after he’d ordered her to leave. He went back outside the village to kill Danzo. He hadn’t wanted her there.But he had wanted Sasuke there instead.“You seem mad.”“I’m not mad,” Sakura insisted. “Let me take a look at your eyes. Did something happen to them?”He shook his head. “My eyes are fine. Itachi’s though…”She sent a cursory surge of chakra into his eyes, just to make sure that they were indeed fine. She didn’t even want to think about Itachi’s eyes. Or about the fact that he was somewhere in the building in critical condition, possibly dying.“Are you mad at Itachi?” Sasuke asked. Sakura pressed her lips together in a thin line. “Because I don’t think you should be mad at him for going after Danzo.”It was Sakura’s turn to roll her eyes. “And I suppose you’re an expert on knowing appropriate things to be mad at someone for.”“That’s not what this is about, Sakura,” Sasuke said. “Why are you mad?”“I was with him, Sasuke,” Sakura said, dropping her hands to her side. “We ran into Danzo together and we ran away. He picked me up and took me back to the village. He made it seem like he was just going to go home. But he came to get you and go after Danzo.”Sasuke scoffed. “So you’re mad that he wanted me to fight by his side instead of you? That’s ridiculous, Sakura.”“Why is that ridiculous?” she demanded through clenched teeth.“Sakura, do you know what we discovered while we were fighting him?” he asked. Without waiting for her answer, he continued. “His arm was covered with Sharingan.”Sakura blanched. “Whose?”“I don’t know.”Sakura sucked in a shaky breath. She didn’t know what that meant, and she wished Itachi were there to explain it, or at least hazard a guess.“Don’t take what he did personally, Sakura,” Sasuke said. “Itachi wanted revenge just as much as I did. It had nothing to do with you. Danzo was our clan’s enemy. Not yours.”“He could have been killed,” she whispered.“But he wasn’t.”“Why do you care if I’m mad at him?”“He’s my brother,” he answered simply. “And I want him to be happy.”Sakura sighed with frustration and hefted herself up onto the table next to Sasuke. He shifted over to accommodate her. She wanted Itachi to be happy, too. Sasuke didn’t have a monopoly on that. “Why were you arguing with him the other day?” she asked.“He forbid me from talking about it with you,” Sasuke said, and though it was faint, Sakura caught the smirk that flashed across his features for a moment.“Well, he’s not here now, so why don’t you tell me?”“We were arguing about you,” he answered. “He told me about the clan ceremony. He needs a wife. And I know you two are getting along well. I know he really likes you.”“You think I should marry him.”He nodded.“Everyone is pressuring us,” Sakura said. “It isn’t that I don’t want to marry him at all. I just worry that it’s too fast. That we’d be making a mistake.”“Itachi doesn’t feel that way.”She blinked at him in surprise. “He doesn’t?”“I mean he doesn’t feel like it would be a mistake,” he amended. “He isn’t interested in anyone else being his wife. Just you. So, by his reasoning, there is no point in waiting to marry you. And I agree.”Sakura had already suspected that he wanted to marry her immediately, but hearing it from Sasuke left her feeling very guilty. So they were really all just waiting for her to come around to the idea.“Then what were you arguing about?”“He didn’t want to discuss it with you because he was afraid it would scare you off,” Sasuke answered. “But I think you two need to talk about it. I think you need to get married as soon as possible.”“So everyone is just waiting for me to be ready to get married,” she said dryly.“Yeah,” Sasuke said with a mirthless chuckle. “It’s offensive, really. That’s you have to think that much about it. Why wouldn’t you want to marry him? He’d do anything for you, you know.”“I know—”A knock at the door interrupted her before she could finish the thought. Shizune popped her head into the room. She looked pretty haggard, dark shadows marring the skin under her eyes and a paleness in the cheeks that wasn’t usually there.With a pang of worry, Sakura realized she must have used a lot of chakra working on Itachi. His injuries must have been severe.“Sakura, Tsunade-sama wants you to come take a look at Itachi-san’s eyes when you get the chance,” she said. “He’s stable now.”“I’m coming.” ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- From the comfort of the hospital bed, Itachi was able to fully prepare himself for the impact of Sakura as she crashed her body into his. She was not gentle. In fact, Itachi mused, he had never been hugged quite so angrily before. He felt her chakra invading his system, so similar to Shizune’s. He knew she wasn’t supposed to be doing that, but he said nothing.She buried her face in his neck, practically sprawled on top of him. She was breathing quite heavily and seemed more upset than the situation probably called for.He assumed she would be upset with him. From the first moment he saw Danzo, he had already formulated his plan. Get Sakura out of there. Find Sasuke. Kill Danzo. It was simple. And simply executed. In fact, Itachi felt rather good about the way things had gone. Even the fight itself, in spite of his serious injuries, had gone well. He had even let Sasuke deliver the final blow.But he could see how such a plan would have upset Sakura.And, well, he wasn’t above groveling. Whatever he had to do to get her forgiveness – he’d do it.“Sakura?” he asked when it seemed that she didn’t want to move. Her weight had settled on him in a way that was both concerning and little enticing. “Sakura, are you okay?”She pulled her face away from his neck and he saw that her eyes were dry. For some reason he had assumed that she had been crying. Instead he found that her expression was totally unreadable. She reached out her hand and ran the pad of her thumb over his eyebrow. “I love you,” she said. “Did you know that?”Itachi had thought he was over the heart explosions at this point, and though this one felt different than the previous ones, it wasn’t any less intense. He tried to suck in a breath of air, but he couldn’t get his lungs to fill up properly. He felt Sakura shift on top of him and she looked concerned.“I didn’t know that,” he said with a cracked voice.“I hope that killing Danzo brought you peace,” she said solemnly. “Because I want you to be happy.”Itachi swallowed a lump in his throat because this was really not how he had imagined this situation going. He expected a bit of admonishing, a general relief that he was okay. He had not expected a declaration of love, an expression of her desire for his happiness. It felt oddly dreamlike.She even looked like a dream. She was wearing a red one-piece swimsuit with her white medic coat over top. It was an interesting outfit choice, to be sure, but Itachi wasn’t complaining. Her hair fell down in damp, loose waves that tickled his bare chest. She looked lovely and he wanted to crush himself into her and kiss her over and over again.“I am happy,” he said, and slipped his fingers behind her neck to pull her into a kiss. It was chaste, but tender. “And I love you, too.”She grinned at him, biting her bottom lip. Then she punched him not so gently in the arm. He winced, though she hadn’t used any chakra in her punch.“That’s for dragging me back to the village instead of letting me fight with you,” she said. Then she leaned forward, the tips of her hair tickling his chest again, and kissed his cheek. “And that’s for winning.”“I’m sorry,” he said, but he was smiling in spite of his actual sincerity.She returned to his chest, resting her cheek against his bare skin and settling warmly against him. He tucked her against his body with his arm, holding her against him should she try to get up.He felt her chakra in his eyes, trailing through him from where her hands were curled up against his chest. It never ceased to amaze him – the magic she could perform with her healing chakra.His eyes were in pretty bad shape. He had used his Mangekyou, of course. It had been necessary. And this time he had used it for quite a long time. But the soothing flow of Sakura’s chakra was helping to relieve some of the pain in them now. He clutched tighter to her.She asked him to activate his Sharingan, so he did. Then she asked him to activate his Mangekyou. With utter fascination, he realized that she was drawing idle circles on his chest while she worked on his eyes. Looking down at her, he saw that her own eyes were closed.“If this is how you treat all your patients, I can see why you’re so popular here,” Itachi said with a smirk.“Just you,” she said, withdrawing her chakra from his body. “You’re the only patient I’ve had to come heal twice now on my days off.”“To be fair,” he said. “I thought you were supposed to be working today.”“So you would have waited until tomorrow if you had known I would not be working?” she asked with a knowing grin.He chortled, but realized that he probably should have made sure she would be around to heal him first. It appeared to violate some sort of code they had at the hospital for her to work on him, but he could always go directly to her.“No, I would have gone straight to your apartment instead of the hospital,” he answered.“I’m not your personal medic, Itachi-san.”“Yes, you are, hime,” he insisted, kissing the top of her head.She pulled away from him, giving him a stony glare. He grinned back at her, thoroughly amused.“You interrupted my plans for the day, Itachi,” she said, the corners of her mouth quirking up slightly, betraying the sternness in her tone. “So now that you’re stable and your eyes have been tended to, I have to go.”She moved to get up, but he held onto her arm. “Don’t go.”She smiled at him a little too warmly and then pulled her arm out of his grasp. “I’ll see you later, Itachi-kun. Try not to get into any trouble, please. I don’t like worrying about you.”He sat up, throwing the thin blankets onto the floor. “Where are you going?” he asked, instantly regretting the pleading, almost whining tone in his voice. She didn’t owe him that information, of course. And if she was still mad at him for bringing her back to Konoha, he couldn’t blame her for that.“I’ve got a hot date,” she said. “With me?”Sakura laughed, and Itachi felt his cheeks warm because it seemed to be at his expense. “Not you,” she said.“Who, then?” he demanded. “Is that why you’re dressed like that?”“Hey, Itachi-kun, I’m only teasing you,” she said reassuringly, though he detected a hint of irritation in her voice. “I was with Yamato and Sachi today. We went to the brook for a swim.”“Oh.”“Yes, oh,” she replied with her hands on her hips. “Do I have your permission to leave now?”“Sakura,” he said sharply, taking a step toward her. He didn’t miss the way her eyes lingered on his bare chest before they came up to meet his eyes. “Don’t be that way. I wasn’t trying to upset you. I just wanted to spend some time with you.”“You were jealous.”“You were teasing me,” he said flatly. “You like it when I’m jealous.”“I do not.”“You said I’m cute when I’m jealous.”“I have no recollection of that.”He rolled his eyes. “But it’s true, isn’t it?” he asked. “Didn’t I look cute just now when I thought you had a date with some guy?”She flashed a demure smile. “You always looks cute, Itachi-kun,” she replied. “Jealousy has nothing to do with it.”“You like when I’m jealous because you like knowing that I want you,” he said. “That I don’t want anyone else to have you.”She shrugged nonchalantly, but he knew he spoke the truth.“I wonder if you would be jealous,” he continued. “If I told you I was going on a date with another girl.”“She wouldn’t hold a candle to me.”Itachi laughed. “I’m sure she wouldn’t.”“Do you want to go on dates with other girls, Itachi?”There was an unmistakable tone of wistful sadness in the question – one that told Itachi exactly what he needed to know. She would be jealous. Not just jealous, but sad. The revelation didn’t reassure him like he thought it would. Instead he just felt guilty for making her sad.“No,” he answered truthfully. “That’s good,” she said. “Because I don’t want to go on dates with other guys either.”“I kind of figured,” he replied with a knowing smirk.She scoffed. “Did you?”“Yeah, when you told me you loved me,” he said. “I assumed that meant you loved only me.”“That’s a bit presumptuous of you, Itachi-kun,” she said.“I’ve always been good at reading people,” he answered.She rolled her eyes.“I have to go, Itachi-kun.”“I’ll come with you.”“To my parents’ house?”“Anywhere,” he answered. “Wherever you’re going.”She looked down at her feet and then back up at him skeptically. “Okay,” she finally said after a moment of silence. “But if you’re going to meet my parents you’ll have to put a shirt on.” Itachi was pretty close to Cloud 9. Remarkably close, in fact. Just shy of it. He had just defeated his greatest enemy with the help of his brother. The woman he wanted to marry had just confessed her love for him. Everything was perfect.Except the tight ball of nerves roiling in his stomach.“God, could you loosen up a little?” Sakura asked as they neared the front door of her parents’ house. “Why are you so tense?”“I’m not tense.”He was lying and he knew she knew he was lying. Sakura’s parents were civilians and civilians usually did not like Itachi. They knew what he had done and they didn’t understand. Hell, it was hard for him to understand it himself – he couldn’t blame them for being cautious around him.But these were Sakura’s parents and he wanted them to like him. They were also Yamato and Sachi’s adopted parents. He needed to make a good impression on them.“Just relax,” Sakura said as she opened the door.No sooner than the door had been open did Sachi come bounding into the entryway. She shoved her way past Sakura and jumped onto Itachi who managed to catch her and hoist her up onto his hip.“Itachi-san!”He held her close against him, smoothing his hand over her wild curls. He had seen Sachi a handful of times since his return to Konoha, but he hadn’t gone far out of his way to see her. It somehow seemed inappropriate to do (though he had training sessions with Yamato pretty frequently). But now he realized how much he had missed her.“Sachi, don’t be rude,” he heard a voice say. Peering around Sachi’s wild hair he saw who must have been Sakura’s mother.“Mother,” Sakura said, greeting the woman with a warm hug.“Sakura, dear, we didn’t know what to think when Yamato and Sachi came back on their own,” she said, shaking her head. “What happened?”“Emergency at the hospital,” Sakura explained flippantly. “Everything is fine now.”Itachi didn’t know why she had avoided telling her why she had gone to the hospital, but he was a little relieved by it.“Mother, this is Itachi,” Sakura said, steering her mother toward Itachi.“Itachi, this is my mother, Mebuki,” she said to Itachi.Mebuki took Sachi from Itachi’s arms and shook his hand with a warm smile. “Sorry about her,” she said to him. “She’s usually very shy. I don’t know what’s gotten into her.”“I’m surprised she remembers me,” Itachi said, smiling. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen her.”Something akin to confusion flashed across Mebuki’s face and Itachi wondered if maybe he shouldn’t have said that. But then she smiled at him.“Come on, Itachi-san, let me make you some tea,” she said, leading them all into the kitchen. “What kind of tea do you like?”“Whatever kind you have is fine.”“He likes peppermint,” Sakura supplied.Itachi flicked his eyes over to Sakura, who was bounding up the stairs without so much as a glance in his direction. Alone with Sakura’s mother and Sachi, Itachi felt a little uncomfortable, but he managed a smile and took a seat at their kitchen table.“So, Itachi-san,” Mebuki said, filling a ceramic cup with boiling water. “What brings you to the civilian district? Just visiting with Sakura?”Itachi nodded, but he understood the layer beneath her polite questioning. At this point it was no secret that Itachi Uchiha needed a wife. It was also no secret that Itachi Uchiha had a pretty major thing for Sakura.“I happened to run into her at the hospital,” he answered. “She invited me to join her here with Yamato and Sachi.”“Ah, I’m afraid Sakura’s father took Yamato out fishing,” Mebuki said. “So you’ll have to make do with just Sachi.”Hearing her name made Sachi squirm in Mebuki’s arms a little. After a moment of struggling to both hold her and make tea, Mebuki set the child down on the floor. “Goodness, Sachi, you are in a mood today, aren’t you?”She ran to where Itachi was seated and pulled herself into his lap. “Read me a book,” she said to him quite sternly.“Sachi,” Mebuki admonished. “That’s not very polite.”Itachi felt a grin spreading across his face. “If you go fetch one then I will read it to you,” he offered.She jumped out of his lap and took the stairs at an impossibly fast pace for a civilian child. Itachi watched her shove past Sakura as she descended the stairs, earning herself a confused glare.Sakura had changed from her swimsuit into a large sweatshirt and hopefully some shorts underneath it. He couldn’t tell.“Sakura, put some pants on,” Mebuki chided. “We have company.”“I have shorts on, see?” she said, lifting the hem of her sweatshirt to reveal a pair of black spandex shorts. “These are the only clothes I have here. It’s better than the swimsuit.”Mebuki gave her a disapproving look but said nothing else.Sakura looked over at Itachi and gave him a wry smile before joining him at the table. Sitting across from him, she lifted her foot and ran her toes over his calf muscle. Quickly, he jerked his leg away from her. She giggled and bit her lip, but thankfully retracted her leg.“Where are father and Yamato?” she asked, propping her elbows up on the table and resting her chin on her hands.“Out fishing,” Mebuki answered, setting two cups of tea down on the table in front of them. She took the seat next to Sakura.“Aw,” Sakura said with a frown. “Father won’t get to meet Itachi then.”Mebuki pursed her lips together. “Maybe that’s a good thing,” she said. “Because I think we might have something to talk about.”Inwardly Itachi winced because that could only mean one thing. Her father didn’t approve of their potential marriage.Feigning obliviousness, Sakura raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”“Are you two getting married?” Mebuki asked bluntly.Itachi felt his ears burning. In his head, this scenario had gone quite differently. He would have been introduced to her parents as Sakura’s lover. They would have been proud to see their daughter marry one of the top ninja in the village.Instead, he was a criminal known to be in need of a wife within a fairly short time frame. He had to admit it didn’t look good from an outside perspective.“We have no plans to get married as of right now,” Sakura answered darkly.“I don’t mean to pry, Sakura,” Mebuki began. “But don’t you think it’s unwise to be in a relationship with someone who needs to get married so soon? It seems like a recipe for disaster. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”“What makes you think we’re in a relationship?” Sakura demanded.“Sakura, it’s all over the village,” Mebuki said. “You know how people like to gossip.”“You can’t believe everything you hear,” Sakura quipped.Mother and daughter stared blankly at one another for a moment, neither seeming to be willing to concede on the issue.“We are in a relationship, Haruno-san,” Itachi said, leaping in with both feet. “I don’t want to see Sakura hurt any more than you do. I assure you that is not my intention.”Sakura and Mebuki both fixed their eyes on him, making a shiver run down his spine. The heated look in both their eyes looked so bizarre – Itachi could see the resemblance between them.“What is your intention then, Itachi-san?”He took a sip of his tea, flinching as the hot liquid burned the tip of his tongue. He set the cup down with a barely audible thump. He glanced at Sakura and saw that she looked very curious about his answer, but he didn’t have the fortitude to let his gaze linger on her.“My intention is to do everything in my power to make her happy,” Itachi said to Mebuki. “I will not force her to get married if it’s not what she wants. We will do things on her time.”“And what about the pressure on you to get married?” Mebuki asked. Sakura threw her a dirty look. “What will you do about that?”“There is nothing that can be done about it,” Itachi answered regretfully. “But I will not marry someone just to appease the council. And I will not force Sakura to do something she does not want to do.”Mebuki looked effectively mollified, much to Itachi’s relief. Sakura, on the other hand, had her brow furrowed and a deeply curious look in her eyes.Sachi, having chosen her book, bounded back into the kitchen and waved her very pink book in front of Itachi’s face. He glanced up at Sakura with a raised brow, a silent question. She merely shrugged in response, but there was something curious about her expression – something that made his heart clench up in his chest.He looked at Mebuki, hoping she would have the answers that Sakura did not, but she only returned his slightly confused gaze.“Come on, Sachi,” he said after a few seconds of contemplative silence. “I’ll read this to you outside.”He scooped her up and excused himself politely so he could carry her into the backyard.Truthfully, he was grateful for the escape. They probably knew that as well. He had been right to be nervous. Her parents didn’t seem all too fond of him – or at least the situation their daughter was in. And he was a little bit on their side, quite frankly. Sakura could do better.He sat down on the wooden deck, holding Sachi in his lap as he read her book to her. It felt comfortable and familiar, though he had done it only a handful of times before. The images in the books, the words, the way Sachi melted into him and sighed, pointing at pictures she liked – it was like déjà vu.But there was something different this time, something about Sachi that didn’t feel quite the same. She didn’t seem to be enamored with him this time. He wondered if she had been scared before, if she understood what had been going on around her. She was so young. It didn’t seem like she had aged at all, but it had been nearly a year since they had parted ways in Toyeiki.Eventually, he felt her breathing become slow and even. He turned the last page and read it anyway before shutting the book and setting it down beside him on the deck. He didn’t know how long he sat out there like that with Sachi asleep in his lap. It felt like it had been hours, but it could have only been minutes.Mebuki and Sakura entered the backyard – he heard the screen door slide open and two distinct sets of footsteps on the deck behind him.“I’ll go put her in the bed,” Mebuki whispered to him, holding her arms out to retrieve Sachi. Itachi obliged, gently switching the girl into Mebuki’s arms. He felt Sakura sit down next to him on the deck. Once Mebuki had gone back inside and screen door had slid shut again, Sakura sidled her hand underneath his where it lay on the sun-warmed wood.Sakura had often given him small gestures of affection – a kiss on the cheek, a warm smile. Itachi appreciated them, but he never felt their weight. This was something different. It was minute, but he understood that there was comfort and reassurance in the way she linked their fingers together. And it worried him.“You talked to your mother?” he asked, squeezing her fingers gently.“Yes,” was all she offered.He didn’t press her for more information. She scooted closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder. He leaned against her, pressing his cheek into her pink hair. They sat in silence for a while, enjoying one another’s company, each of them lost in their own thoughts.“Itachi?”“Yes, hime?”She pulled away from him and met his gaze. Her cheeks were pink and she looked amused by the affectionate pet name.“When was the happiest you’ve ever been?”He blinked a couple of times, blindsided by the question. Was that what she had been thinking about? When she had been the happiest she’d ever been?He didn’t even know how to formulate an answer. His life had been one disaster after another, dangerous missions, the massacre, Akatsuki. Had he been happy at any point during that time?Only before, he supposed. Before the massacre. He had been happy walking through the village with his father, seeing the respect everyone gave him. He had been happy eating the homemade dango his mother made him just because she knew it was his favorite. He had been happy holding his newborn baby brother in his arms, happy taking walks along the river with Shisui.But when had he been the happiest? Did Sakura want that answer to have something to do with her?“Why do you ask?” he said, watching her expression carefully. She looked a little offended that he would ask her that, but she pressed her lips together and swallowed a lump in her throat.“You said you would do everything in your power to make me happy,” she said. “And it seemed like such an immense thing to say, to feel about me. That you care that much about me.”He nodded because he agreed. It had not been a light statement.“And I care about you that much, too,” she continued, not meeting his eye but staring at the blades of grass beneath her feet. “And I feel very selfish because you seem so interested in keeping me happy, specifically with regards to marriage. But I want you to be happy, too, and it just occurred to me that I have no idea what you want. I want to know what would make you happy, and if I’m capable of doing it.”“I don’t know what would make you happy either, hime,” he said, using the nickname to soften the harshness of the conversation. “I only know that I don’t want to hurt you or rush you into marriage.”She fidgeted a little bit and he could tell that she was nervous for some reason. It made him feel apprehensive, too, so he pulled her hand up to his mouth and kissed the back of her hand in a comforting gesture.“If you tell me the happiest you’ve ever been, I’ll tell you the happiest I’ve ever been and we can go from there,” she suggested. “We can figure out what to do next.”And then he felt truly nervous, because if there was something that needed figuring out, then there was a problem. Maybe during her conversation with Mebuki she had discussed that she didn’t want to be married or have children – that she couldn’t give up her career or take time away from all the side projects she was working on.“Okay,” he agreed, trying to calm his nerves about. He could just feel that she was about to break up with him, to tell him that being the next Uchiha matriarch was too much for her and that she needed some space. “You go first.”She gave him a reproachful look. She wanted him to go first, and he supposed that was fair because she had asked him first. But she didn’t argue.“When I was fourteen I saved my first patient,” she said. “I had just learned the mystical palm technique from Tsunade and she was so impressed with my quick progress. It felt really good. And then when an injured ANBU squad came in to the hospital, she let me take the reigns. I felt so in my element – everything was so perfect and right. I saved the patient with no hitches and Tsunade was so proud of me. I felt like I had finally figured out life. I knew what I wanted to do, what I was good at and I had so many people supporting me. That was the happiest I’d ever been.”He regarded her with eyes that were almost cold because that story seemed trite, and he didn’t really believe her. But he watched the warmth in her features, the light in her eyes as she spoke. Her personal achievements in healing really did mean a lot to her. He could tell her a very similar story. He was a prodigy, a genius, an Uchiha. His achievements were vast and innumerable.But they did not make him happy.“The happiest moment of my life,” he began. “Was when I told Sasuke the truth about everything. When he didn’t reject me or hate me anymore. I thought I would die by his hand, but what I got instead was more than I had ever hoped for. I remember that feeling, sitting in the grass with him outside Konoha, the way the weight of the world just melted off of me.”Sakura smiled at him, a shy smile that denoted a hint of hesitancy.“But being with you makes me happy, too, Sakura,” he said. “Not in the same way. That was a specific moment where I was so happy and relieved I thought I would burst. It was like fireworks. But with you… You’re like the sun. You spread warmth everywhere; you are constant. I think it would be very hard for me to be happy without you.”The look of immense relief on her face almost made him laugh. Had she been worried that he would reject her? She settled her head against his shoulder again and threaded her arm through his.“You don’t have to worry about that, Itachi-kun,” she said softly. “I’ll do anything to make you happy. No one deserves happiness more than you.” ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- With each passing day, Sakura grew more worried about the threat Kabuto posed to Konoha. She continued to go through the samples she had collected from the bunker each day and each new bit of information brought the sword of Damocles a little bit closer to Konoha’s proverbial neck.He had created a disease that could be used as a weapon, one that could spread nearly instantaneously through the whole village should they be subjected to it. It was alarming to say the least, which was why Sakura had gone to Tsunade to suggest that a team be formed to track him down and kill him before he could start his biological warfare.Shikamaru had been brought to the impromptu meeting, because Tsunade trusted his judgment.“You need a team that can be immunized,” he said. “One that has substantial knowledge of medical jutsu, diseases, and poisons that Kabuto might use against them. And also someone strong enough to defeat him.”Tsunade and Sakura nodded in agreement.“So obviously Sakura should be on the team,” he supplied. “She has been dealing with this particular case the longest and is the most knowledgeable. I would say Shizune would also be a good addition.”“Not Shizune,” Tsunade said. “I need her here. I can’t have both her and Sakura gone at the same time.”“Naruto?” Shikamaru suggested. “He’s fought Kabuto before.”“That’s not a bad idea,” Sakura interjected. “Maybe this should be a Team 7 mission. Sasuke knows quite a bit about Kabuto as well.”“I agree,” Tsunade said. “The three of you will go. But we need a lead on where he might be hiding out.”“A separate tracking team might be useful,” Shikamaru suggested. “They can track and locate Kabuto and then send for Team 7 once they’ve found him.”Tsunade hummed in agreement. “I’ll send Team 8,” she said. “Sakura, inform Naruto and Sasuke. You’ll need to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice. Shikamaru, fetch Team 8 for me.”“Yes, Tsunade-sama,” they said in tandem..“Kabuto again?” Sasuke said with a roll of his eyes.“This is serious,” Sakura said as she popped candy into her mouth. She lounged back against Naruto’s couch, stretching her legs out and resting her feet on his coffee table. “Kabuto has weaponized a seriously lethal disease. If it reaches Konoha, we’ll all die. There’s nothing we can do about it.”Sasuke eyed her up and down, probably reconciling the staid nature of her words with the casual way she was sprawled over Naruto’s couch. “Can’t you just come up with a vaccine for it?” he asked.Naruto leaned forward, nodding with agreement. “Yeah, do what you did in Toyeiki,” he said, nudging her hip with his elbow.She glared at Sasuke. “It’s not that simple,” she said. “It took me months to come up with a vaccine in Toyeiki and I was already immune to that disease. This one is more dangerous. It will be specifically designed to infect shinobi.”“So what now?” Naruto asked. “We just wait until we get the word from Team 8 to move out?”“That’s all we can do,” she said. “Except, I want to teach the both of you how to use chakra to burn off an infection. Just in case. Sasuke, you can just copy my technique with your Sharingan. Naruto, I’ll have to teach it to you the old fashioned way.”Sasuke leaned back against the frame of his chair, looking rather bored. But a second later Sakura noticed his eyes had bled red and were watching her and Naruto with a detached sort of focus.“Alright, Naruto,” she said. “I don’t have an infection to pass to you, so I’m just going to show you what to do with your chakra.”Sakura stayed at Naruto’s apartment for several hours showing Naruto how to use chakra to burn infections. He wasn’t precise enough with his chakra control, so unfortunately for the both of them, the lesson took a lot more time that she hoped it would.But fortunately, Sasuke seemed to have gotten over his irritability and started to incessantly rib Naruto for his lack of skill. Sakura didn’t feel that his ribbing was entirely necessary, especially since Sasuke would likely have had trouble learning the technique if he hadn’t been able to use Sharingan.However, Naruto was a good sport about it – a far cry from the boy he used to be, the one who responded quite angrily to taunts from his brooding teammate. In fact, Sakura noticed that Naruto seemed to be enjoying the teasing.And soon enough she was laughing along with them.After the treacherous lesson had ended (with the promise that there would soon be another one), Naruto made dinner for the three of them and they ate and laughed together and Sakura felt an intense swelling in her heart.Sasuke seemed to be over his anger toward her, though she was careful not to bring up Suigetsu or Juugo. It was nice to just hang out with her teammates with nothing else in the way.After helping clean up the mess, Sakura decided to head out and she hugged Naruto and even Sasuke, who allowed but did not return her hug.She wondered, as the door clicked shut behind her, if Sasuke slept at Naruto’s often. He was almost always there and she knew he had to have spent a least a few nights there before.It was getting late and she should be heading to bed soon.But she realized that if Sasuke slept at Naruto’s apartment, then Itachi was alone at the Uchiha compound…It was an impulsive decision, but she found herself walking toward Itachi’s house. It was probably rude to show up so late in the evening with no warning, but she didn’t think Itachi would mind and it had been several days since she had seen him.Meeting her mother had not gone quite as smoothly for Itachi as Sakura would have liked. She made it clear to her mother that she and Itachi would do what they wanted and that it didn’t really matter what her opinion on the situation was. But even as she said it, she knew it was only a bluff. Sakura valued her mother’s opinion and wanted her to like Itachi.Liking him wasn’t really the problem, though. Who wouldn’t like Itachi? The problem (the really annoying, omnipresent problem) was the marriage deadline. Mebuki and Kizashi were not fond of the idea that their little girl was basically being forced into a marriage and refused to see it as anything other than a manipulative move on Itachi’s part.Crestfallen and disappointed, Itachi had walked home alone that day after meeting her mother and Sakura had not seen him since.So when Sakura knocked on his door she was hoping that he would be in a better mood than he had been that day.She heard an awkward shuffling on the other side of the door and she was both bemused and flustered when he opened the door wearing nothing but pair of what looked like Sasuke’s old shorts. She caught herself staring at him, his naked torso and the sweat that clung there mesmerizing her. He had a freckle on his ribcage that she had never noticed before and she found herself wanting to reach out and touch it.“Sakura,” he said, breaking her out of her trance. “It’s late. What are you doing here?”A little too late, Sakura realized that he might have had company. She shouldn’t have just come over to his home unannounced – it was rude.And then the thought of Itachi having late-night, sweaty, half-naked company made the tips of Sakura’s ears burn and she felt a sick, cloying jealousy take hold of her throat.“I’m sorry,” she croaked, taking a step back away from the door. “I honestly don’t know why I came here.”He looked faintly amused as he grabbed her wrist and pulled her over the threshold. “Come inside,” he said sternly, “Don’t just stand there.”She allowed him to pull her inside, and then distantly noticed that his arms and shoulders were slightly pink from a sunburn.“You look upset,” he noted.“You look sunburnt.”“Yeah,” he said, eyeing her with suspicion. She could see that he didn’t like that she had ignored his unasked question, but she certainly wasn’t going to tell him that she was jealous of the mystery woman who had taken off his clothes and made him all sweaty. “I was training all day in the sun. I was just about to take a cold shower.”Oh.“Are you upset?” he asked.“No.”He gave her a look like he didn’t believe her. “Alright,” he said deliberately slow. “I’m going to take a shower. Do you want me to make you some tea?”She shook her head. She felt a bit foolish for having been jealous in the first place, and also for showing up at his house without telling him. His generosity made her feel guilty and his near nudity made her feel… well, other things.“Are you hungry?” he asked. “I can make you something to eat.”“I’m not hungry.”He pressed his lips together in a thin line, clearly annoyed and unsure of what to do. He wouldn’t kick her out, Sakura knew. And he didn’t want to leave her out here with nothing to do while he took a shower.“I’ll just be on my way, then,” she said in her best attempt to extricate herself from the horrible situation she’d put them both in.“Sakura,” he said, stopping her in her tracks. Her hand hovered over the doorknob. “Why did you come here?”She turned back around to face him and was surprised to find that he had moved closer to her. He stood close enough that she could reach out and touch the freckle if she wanted to. And she kind of did.Tentatively, she reached out her hand and pressed the tip of her finger into his skin where the freckle was. She watched the muscles in his stomach contract before she pulled her hand away. She chanced a look up at his face, feeling rather foolish still. He looked amused.“I don’t know,” she answered honestly. “My feet just took me here.”He chewed his lower lip pensively, and though Sakura had never considered that such an action could be erotic, she felt a flash of heat ignite in her gut. She wanted to bite his lip like that, or maybe let him bite hers…“Do you want to stay the night?” he asked, and to Sakura’s great amusement he looked nervous.Sakura nodded with a little more enthusiasm than was probably necessary.“Okay,” he said with a shy smile that made the heat in her gut spread. “Let me take a quick shower. Make yourself at home.”Before he could walk away from her, Sakura put her hands on his waist (a safe, unburned location) and pressed a kiss to his lips. He responded immediately, holding her against him and threading his fingers into her hair.She had expected and intended for the kiss to be chaste. She didn’t want to get him riled up and then send him off the shower alone. She took the opportunity, though, to heal his sunburn so that his shower wouldn’t have to be cold.“I’m sorry for inviting myself over,” she said to him once they had broken apart.He glanced down at his arms and then his shoulder, inspecting his newly healed skin. “I’m always happy to see you, Sakura,” he said.His words warmed her a little and she felt herself blushing. Gently, she pushed him away from her. “Go take your shower,” she said. “I’ll just be snooping through all your stuff.”He eyed her warily, but he was smirking.Once he had safely disappeared into the bathroom and she could hear the water running, Sakura, true to her word, slipped into his bedroom. She didn’t actually intend to snoop through his things, but if she was going to spend the night here she would need something to change into. And she knew he had a penchant for her wearing Uchiha colors.She shuffled through his wardrobe, looking for something that would be suitable to sleep in, but also a little sexy.Which was pretty difficult because what looked sexy on Itachi looked like a garbage sack on her. Most of his clothes were standard issue shinobi pants and mesh shirts. Nothing that screamed sexy.But while she could still hear the water running, Sakura tried on a lot of his clothes, giving herself a fashion show. She made a mental note to buy him some clothes that weren’t black or navy, because wow his wardrobe was depressing.Eventually, she settled on one of the shirts she had given him so long ago when he had first come back to Konoha.It was hard to believe that it had been nearly a year since he had come back. He was such an integral part of her life now – she couldn’t imagine him not being around. She had been so afraid of him that day she had seen him with two children outside Toyeiki. So many horrific things had gone through her mind. Her life had flashed before her eyes because surely he would kill her.And yet here she was now wearing his clothes and sleeping in his bed. Here she was abandoning her love for Sasuke for that last person she ever expected to.“I really thought you were joking when you said you were going to snoop through my things.”Sakura whirled around, caught by surprise. She hadn’t even noticed the water shut off. What a lousy ninja she was…“I wasn’t snooping,” she said defensively. “I was looking for something to wear.”His eyes roved over her appreciatively and she returned the gesture, noticing that he was wearing only a towel and his hair hung damp and loose down his back. She let out an impressed whistle and gave him a lecherous grin.“I see you found something suitable,” he said, either oblivious or willfully ignorant of her blatant appreciation for his near nakedness.“I see you did, too.”“It appears that someone has strewn all my clothes about,” he said. “Otherwise I would be properly dressed.”Feeling bold, she took a step toward him and lifted her hand to his face. She could see beads of moisture against his eyebrow so she ran the pad of her thumb over it gently. “I’m sorry, Itachi-kun. I’ll clean it up.”He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead and then bent down to pick up a pair of pants from the floor. “You can clean it up tomorrow,” he said. “I’m tired. We should go to bed.”Sakura blinked. At some point in her growing up, the knowledge that men craved sex had been ingrained into her brain. Men not only wanted sex a lot, but they wanted it more than women did.But Sakura very clearly wanted sex more than Itachi did, and she didn’t know whether that meant that something was wrong with her or something was wrong with him.Itachi circumvented her and pulled the covers away from his bed. She turned to look at him to see if he would change in front of her. She had already seen him naked, of course, but Itachi seemed like the type to prefer to change in privacy. He surprised her when he lifted her up off the ground and tossed her onto the bed unceremoniously.“Stay here,” he said. “I’ll be right back.”A little chuffed about being tossed around like a doll, Sakura scoffed. She had been right about him, but she felt no pleasure in it.“Wait,” she commanded. “Come here first.”He approached her and she could tell he was expecting a kiss. But when he came close enough, Sakura yanked his towel away from him. Itachi was a ninja, though, and he caught her wrist as she was pulling away. She let go of the towel and it landed on her legs. She could feel its dampness on her and the urge to look at what it had just been covering was strong, but she looked up at his face instead.His eyes were blood red and the tomoe were spinning and for the first time in a very long time, Sakura felt truly afraid of him. She didn’t look away, though, because she knew that he wouldn’t hurt her. He was still gripping her wrist tightly and she could see that his jaw was clenched.“I’m sorry,” she said in a low whisper. “I just—”He cut her off with a searing kiss. She gasped into his mouth and moved her free hand to his neck, but he caught it with his other hand and pushed her down to the bed, pinning her hands to the mattress beside her head.Immediately Sakura felt a whoosh of heat spread in her chest and pleasant tingling sensation along her scalp. She arched her back, pushing her hips up into the air. Itachi stood next the bed, but as soon as her hips were raised he straddled her, using the weight of his body to keep her still.She writhed under him and tried to buck her hips again, but he remained still. He broke their kiss and pulled away from her.“Why did you do that?” he asked.“I didn’t want you to get dressed.”He looked at her unblinkingly for a moment and she would have given anything to know what he was thinking just then.She took the opportunity to study his Sharingan more deeply. The tomoe were still spinning and she wondered if that meant he was using some kind of jutsu on her. She felt normal, but if she were under a genjutsu she would never know. She could still feel his legs on either side of her and remembering that he was naked, she glanced down at him and noticed that he was hard.With as much time as they spent together, Sakura felt like she understood Itachi and his reactions to things pretty well. He would be embarrassed, maybe even upset. She had yanked his towel off him and given him a boner, so she couldn’t really blame him.But when she looked up at his face, he was expressionless still, tomoe spinning. Still pinning her hands down, he tightened his thighs around her hips and leaned down again, kissing her roughly and demandingly. Itachi was the only person who had ever kissed her before, and he had never kissed her like this. It was not gentle or tender in any way. Feeling a fresh wave of arousal tighten in her core, Sakura bucked into him again, desperate for even the tiniest bit of contact to relieve some of that intense pressure.She felt him flinch and she thought she must have hurt him, but he continued to kiss her. She could hardly keep up with him. But god, it felt so good. She could feel her pulse skyrocketing and her skin felt tingly and electric. She bucked again, more frantically this time.He released one of her arms so he could grab her hip and force it back down to the bed. She groaned and reached forward with her now free hand and grabbed his hair at the nape of his neck so she could pull him back down into a kiss. He resisted her with a shake of his head and squeezed his fingers against her hipbone.“Just be still,” he said lowly.Instantly she went limp, releasing his hair and letting her arm fall down beside her head again. He hovered over her, watching her with red eyes. She was panting and she felt ridiculous about it while Itachi looked calm and collected as ever. His lips were slightly swollen and his skin was flushed. A drop of water clung precariously at the tip of his bangs until it finally detached itself and splashed onto Sakura’s cheek. She flinched and reached her hand up to brush it away, but Itachi caught her wrist and pressed it firmly back down to the mattress.Sakura had a sudden odd feeling, a strange anxiety that clawed at her throat. Itachi had never acted this way before.“Am I in a genjutsu?”His eyes stopped spinning and she watched them bleed back into coal. He swallowed hard and let go of her wrists, sitting back on his heels.“Of course not,” he said, his eyes bright with concern and a little irritation. “Did you think you were?”She sat up a little, leaning against her elbows. “Your tomoe were spinning,” she explained defensively because he seemed a bit offended. “I didn’t know.”“They were?”She nodded.“I wouldn’t have been upset, you know,” she said. “If I was in a genjutsu. I wouldn’t have been mad at you.”“I promised you I wouldn’t do that without your permission,” he said.“You have my permission.”His gaze softened. He bit his lip again with apprehension and raked his hair back away from his face. He looked so boyishly charming that she wanted to sit up and kiss him, but she stayed still.He let out a deep sigh. “I apologize for scaring you,” he said.“I wasn’t scared,” she lied.He gave her a stern look. “I could see that you were,” he said, tapping his temple.“Well, you were definitely a bit more… aggressive than you usually are,” she said cautiously. “But it was pretty hot.”The corners of his mouth quirked up slightly, not quite a smile but better than the nervous expression he’d worn before. Encouraged, she pulled herself up and kissed his mouth chastely.“You’re really hot,” she said, watching his face carefully to see his reaction. “I bet women throw themselves at you all the time.”She didn’t know if that was true or not, but Sasuke had his own fan club, so she assumed Itachi would, too. Predictably, Itachi’s cheeks flushed. He was eyeing her with bemused curiosity, and again she wished she knew what he was thinking.“But I’m the only one who gets to do this,” she continued, leaning forward again to press a slightly less chaste kiss to his lips again.When she pulled away she noticed his eyes were closed and he quickly grabbed her hair at the back of her head and pulled her back into a kiss before she could lie back down. He released her hair and slid his palm down to her back, pressing her closer to him. She could feel his other hand fiddling with the hem of her shirt, which was really his shirt, so she pulled away from him again and grabbed the collar of his shirt at the back of her neck, intending to yank it over her head the way he had the night of the clan meeting.But it was caught on something (her head, probably), resulting in the shirt being wrapped snugly around her face. In a more normal attempt at removing the shirt, she wormed her hands up through the bottom hole and tugged it off her head with an irritated huff.Itachi was laughing at her and his eyes had reverted back to their Sharingan, presumably to record her humiliation forever. She could feel her hair sticking out in all directions so she smoothed it down with her palms, hoping the action would hide the hot blush developing in her cheeks.“It’s an unfamiliar shirt,” she said as if that explained why she, a shinobi – a jonin at that, had gotten her head stuck in a shirt.“Yes, we all know how tricky unfamiliar shirts can be.”Finally confident enough to meet his gaze again, she sent a glare at him, but it melted immediately when she saw the boyish grin on his face. He looked so young, so happy. Sakura couldn’t recall ever seeing him look so content. If she had known that all she had to do to make him that way was get her head stuck in something, she’d have done it a long time ago.“Don’t mock me,” she said sassily, though she knew he was only teasing her.“I’d never mock you, hime,” he said reverently.“Sure,” she said sarcastically, poking his chest with her finger. She watched his eyes dip down to her chest and linger there for a second before he met her eyes again. “You just happened to activate your Sharingan so you can replay my shame over and over again in your head.”He caught her hand and held it, grinning at her with ridiculously sexy charm. “No, I activated my Sharingan because there’s a pretty girl naked in my bed.”“I’m a woman, thank you very much.”He leaned forward and buried his face in her neck, not kissing her but letting his lips brush across that particularly sensitive swath of skin. He hummed against her throat, letting his fingers trail down her arms and come to a stop at her hips. “Yes, you are,” he agreed. “A very pretty one.”She tilted her head to give him better access. He trailed the tip of his nose over her skin, his breath ghosting across her neck and giving her goose bumps.“I’m glad you came over, Sakura,” he murmured into the shell of her ear. “Even if you did come over uninvited and mess up my room and take my towel.”She smacked him playfully on the arm and then shut her eyes and whimpered when she felt his lips press firmly at the junction of her neck and jaw. “I’ll clean up your room, Itachi-kun,” she breathed.“Oh?” he asked, pulling away from her. “What about my towel, hmm? Are you going to put it back on me?”“You’d be hard-pressed to find me trying to cover you up, Itachi-kun,” she said. “You should be naked all the time.”“I’ll consider it.”She giggled and they sank down into his sheets together. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Itachi woke up with something very soft and warm pressed against his cheek. He blinked a couple of times before he noticed that it was Sakura’s breast. His instinct was to extricate himself from her grasp, but he forced himself to remain still. Her breathing was slow and even. He could see from the window that it was still dark outside, though it had to have been close to dawn.She had his head cradled against her chest, her arms wrapped around him tightly. He couldn’t have moved without waking her up anyway. And, well, this wasn’t the worst way to wake up. In fact, it was probably the most pleasant way Itachi had ever woken up before.Itachi had never been the kind of man to live in the moment. He was always planning ahead. He didn’t focus too much on his own pleasure or wanting more than what he had. But he would have given anything to fast-forward into the future – a future where he and Sakura were married and he could wake up wrapped in her arms like this every day.Meeting her mother had not gone as smoothly as he had hoped, and he couldn’t really blame her. Mebuki was worried about her daughter, afraid she was being manipulated into a marriage she didn’t want. Itachi had started to feel that way himself. It was obvious that Sakura was a little freaked out by the idea of marriage, and unfortunately for Itachi, a marriage to him was kind of a big deal.He was caught between a rock and hard place. He had already confessed both to himself and to Sakura that he loved her. He would do anything for her. He certainly wouldn’t push her toward marriage and run the risk of scaring her off.But what would he do when his year ran up and she still wasn’t ready to marry him? The seat on the council aside, Itachi still had a duty to restore his clan. He owed that to Sasuke.Sakura stirred next to him, mumbling something incoherent and shifting her leg down from its position hiked over his waist.Would he give up his duty to his clan for her? Would she expect him to?He didn’t think she would do that to him, but he didn’t know for sure. Sakura was headstrong and she knew what she wanted. And if she decided that she didn’t want him, what would he do? Who would he marry? A stranger?She stirred again, groaning loud enough that he could feel the vibrations in her chest against his cheek. She stretched out and Itachi felt more than he heard the pops in her spine.“Good morning, Itachi-kun,” she said and even though he couldn’t see her face he could tell she was smiling.“Good morning,” he mumbled into her breast.“I think that was the most restful night of sleep I’ve ever had,” she said, combing her fingers through his hair. He closed his eyes, relishing in the feel of her fingers against his scalp. He never imagined such a simple gesture would feel so nice. “So this is what it will be like when we’re married, huh?”Itachi’s heart constricted almost painfully in his chest. It had always been a matter of if they got married, not when. If she had accepted that they would definitely be married one day, did she feel trapped? Would she marry him because that was what she should do or because it was what she wanted to do?“Sakura.”She kissed the top of his head before resuming her finger combing. “Itachi.”“You don’t feel obligated to marry me, do you?”This was too serious of a conversation to be having with his face pressed into a deliciously supple part of her anatomy, so he pulled himself away to look at her face. To his surprise, she laughed.“Obligated?” she giggled. “I should be so lucky. Besides, if I don’t marry you then someone else will and I’m sure as hell not going to let that happen. Like it or not, you’re stuck with me, Itachi-kun.”“I’m serious, Sakura.”Angry hands shoved him down against his pillow and Sakura flung her leg over his torso, straddling him. “So am I,” she said, her eyes bright with determination. “This is unfamiliar territory for both of us, so I completely understand why you would think that. But I’ll put you at ease right now: I’m not going to string you along and then bail.”He didn’t know how to respond to that, but it didn’t feel as much like relief as he thought it should.“You would be totally screwed,” she continued. “If I waited the full year and then left you. You’d have to marry someone else, or not marry anyone at all and give up your council seat. It would push back the restoration of your clan. And you’d probably be devastated over losing me, which would make finding a new potential spouse even harder.”Itachi narrowed his eyes at her, contemplating whether or not to activate his Sharingan and scare her.“But you don’t have to worry about any of that stuff,” she said, smiling like an idiot. “Because I love you and I’d be happy to be your wife.”He drank in the sight of her – her goofy grin and sleep mussed hair. Her eyes were slightly puffy but she was glowing nonetheless.“You would?”“Duh,” she said, sliding off his lap and onto the floor. She bent over and picked up the shirt that had been wrapped around her face the night before and pulled it over her head. “Now come make me breakfast.”.Itachi had a hard time with cooking breakfast. Itachi liked to cook and he was good at it, but Sakura made it very difficult. Sakura (whose cooking was mediocre at best) was insanely hungry, as she’d put it. He’d already burned one batch of eggs while he’d been distracted as she stood behind him, pressing teasing kisses to his bare back.To assuage her grumbling stomach until he could finish, he had cut honeydew into small chucks for her. She sat on the counter next to the stove, munching happily on the melon while she watched Itachi push her eggs around the pan with a spatula.“If you eat too much of that you won’t be hungry anymore by the time I finish,” he complained.“Don’t worry, Itachi-kun,” she said. “I’ll have plenty of room left.”He watched her pop another chunk into her mouth and lick her lips. He reached for the bowl and picked up a chunk of his own, but Sakura’s hand around his wrist stopped him before he could put it in his mouth.“That’s mine,” she said, and brought his hand to her mouth. She took the honeydew with her teeth, her lips grazing against his fingers. He shuddered and pulled his hand away, returning to the eggs before he burned them again.But when his stomach growled, spurred by the delicious smell of the eggs, he reached for another chunk of melon. Sakura jerked the bowl away from him. “No way,” she said. “This is mine.”He narrowed his eyes at her because it was most definitely not hers. He had paid for it. He had cut it up for her. The least she could do was share. But she only seemed amused by his exasperation and she giggled.“Can I have some?” he asked, deciding to play nice.She tapped a finger against her lips, pretending to consider his request. “Say the magic word.”“Please?”“Okay,” she conceded, picking up a piece of honeydew and holding it up to his lips. “Only because you asked so nicely.”He took the melon in his mouth, along with her finger, which he bit (gently, because he didn’t want to hurt her). She shrieked and pulled her hand away, but when she inspected her finger more closely she only giggled in response.“You’re a real piece of work, hime,” he said, scooping the finished eggs out onto a plate. “You know that?”“Oh, really?” she said, still tittering and munching on her fruit.When the eggs were no longer in danger of being burned, Itachi felt it was time to give her the appropriate payback. “Yes, really,” he said. “In fact, I don’t think I made enough eggs for you. Maybe you should make your own while I eat these,” he said, gesturing to the plated eggs. He took the eggs and sat down at the table. He took a bite and tried not to turn and face her while he chewed. He was sure she’d stomp over to him and demand her eggs, but he could hear no movement from her.After a stressfully quiet moment, he heard Sakura approach softly and take the seat to his right. “Itachi-kun,” she said sweetly. He turned to look at her. She had brought her bowl of honeydew. “Thank you for breakfast.”He eyed her while she tucked into her fruit again, appearing to have no desire for the eggs he’d cooked at her request. Feeling a little annoyed, he took another bite of egg and sulked.Sakura giggled and scooted so she could lean against his shoulder.“You’re too easy to tease, Itachi-kun.”He grunted in response.“Itachi-kun?”He grunted again.“Once we’re married, can we get a dog?”His eyebrows shot up in surprise. It was strange to hear her speak so frankly about marriage after he’d witnessed firsthand how much the idea freaked her out. Maybe she was starting to look forward to it, he thought. Maybe the idea didn’t scare her so much anymore.“I hate dogs,” he answered. “How about a cat?”“Yes!” she exclaimed, unbothered by his hate for dogs. “And we can name it Sasuke!”Itachi chuckled and shook his head. He watched her take another bite of honeydew and he couldn’t help the smile that seemed glued to his face.“Hey, Itachi-kun?”“Yes?”“Do you want to spar with me?”“Spar? With you?”“Yeah, I’ve got a few new tricks I want to test out,” she said. “Do you want to?”“Can I use my Sharingan this time?”She paused, considering her answer. “Yes, but only if you promise not to use it to figure out my sexual fantasies.”“Hmm, no deal,” he answered, a smirk tugging at his lips. “That’s the only thing I was interested in using it for.”She burst with laughter, and if he hadn’t been a shinobi it might have scared him a little. “I can just tell you if you really want to know, Itachi-kun.”He had a sudden suspicion that he didn’t want to know. Though they had come close last night, they had only had sex the one time, and while Itachi was certainly looking forward to doing it again he was also a little apprehensive. Sakura had done most of the work last time. He wanted to be the one to take charge the next time they did it, but what if that wasn’t what she wanted?But curiosity got the better of him. “Tell me.”She took his hand in hers and pulled him out of his chair, dragging him to the front door. “Maybe after our spar, Itachi-kun,” she said, giving him an eye-crinkling smile..Itachi didn’t really want to spar with Sakura, but he couldn’t tell her that. It wasn’t that he didn’t think she was a worthy opponent. Truthfully, he was excited to see what new tricks she had up her sleeve.But at the moment, Itachi had only one thing on the brain, and that was the way she looked wearing his clothes. Because she had slept over she hadn’t brought any of her gear and Itachi had been gracious enough to allow her to wear his shirt. She had opted to wear yesterday’s black spandex shorts and something about seeing her with the Uchiha crest on her back and sporting dark colors really got him going.He didn’t have a spare weapons pouch, but that seemed to suit Sakura just fine as her strength was, well, her strength. She sprinted around the private training field, punching the ground hard enough to send debris flying all around them. She knocked over trees, propelled herself into the air, and giggled the whole time. She wasn’t attacking him, so he watched her show off with mild amusement before he preemptively halted her next ground strike with a kick to her stomach.“That’s enough, show-off,” he said with an amused glare. “You’re ruining my training grounds.”“Sorry,” she said with a cheeky grin. “I’m just warming up.”He grunted. He launched a couple of shuriken at her and watched her dodge one and block the other with her bare wrist. He saw no blood on her skin, so he assumed she had used chakra to buffer the impact.And then he waited. He was curious to see what she would do and he had no desire to fight her.She seemed to realize this and had an almost lackadaisical approach to fighting him. She was smiling as she kicked up a huge chunk of the earth and kicked it toward him. He dodged it, but let it get close enough that he could feel the whoosh of it as it flew past him.Sakura was not a long-range fighter, and though she was fairly skilled as escaping genjutsu, she would have a hard time getting out of his. And because he specialized in shuriken jutsu, she was not well matched with him.Even with this knowledge, Itachi did not discredit her as an opponent. He knew that she had taken down Sasori. It would do him no good to underestimate her. But as far as he was concerned, this spar was for exploratory purposes only. He didn’t care to win.So he moved into her range. He lacked the chakra control that she had, so when she started to throw punches, he dodged them instead of blocking them. A caught fist would mean a broken hand. He watched with amusement as she threw blow after blow, a gleeful look on her face. She was having fun.“Hit me back, Itachi-kun,” she said, her smile never breaking.He knew it was a trap, but he did it anyway. He swiftly brought his leg up to kick her in the chest, but as he predicted, she caught his ankle. Sakura had a natural athleticism and she wouldn’t have needed chakra to hold his leg up in the air the way she was, but nonetheless, Itachi felt a spurt of chakra flow into his leg.And then his leg was dead weight and uncontrollable. She let it fall to the ground with a shrill burst of laughter. His leg felt like pins and needles and because he could not control it (his muscles seemed to have stopped working entirely), he was forced to balance on one leg.It was an interesting technique that could certainly buy her time in a sticky situation. He wondered how much of her chakra it used up. He wondered if she was limited to affecting only the parts of his body she touched. Could she stop his heart the same way? Could she render his entire body immobile?He activated his Sharingan to watch her more closely. She jumped back away from him and retreated into the tree line. With his leg still useless, he couldn’t do much to go after her, so instead he watched and waited.He could see her perched on a tree branch and she smiled and winked at him in a way that he would have found infuriating if she had been anyone else.He launched a fireball at her if only to remove her from the trees. The feeling began to return to his leg. He wondered if she had performed a weakened version of the jutsu or if she could permanently disable limbs if she so chose.She jumped down to the grass and set her gaze on him, watching as he experimentally moved his leg. She did not seem surprised, so it must have been intentional.Before he could regain full control of his leg, Sakura was attacking again. Her taijutsu was easily her best strength and even though Itachi could keep up with her, he found himself running out of breath. She was relentless with her attacks, kicks and punches flurrying around her. He dodged each one, catching it with his Sharingan with more than enough time to evade them.But his leg was slowing him down. Eventually, he was able to move it properly again and with renewed confidence, he threw himself into their taijutsu dance. She seemed greatly amused by this and began to quicken her pace. He narrowed his eyes at her, slightly wounded that she would think she needed to go easy on him in any way.With a little more aggression than was necessary, Itachi threw a particularly nasty punch at her face, which she caught with the palm of her hand. He had expected her to block it with her wrist as she had done with all the previous attacks, but when his knuckles connected with her palm he realized his mistake.Instantly, his arm was useless.“You should have known better, Itachi-kun,” she said cheerily.He pursed his lips. “Why can I not see when you’re performing that jutsu?” he asked, his Sharingan wavering in the sunlight. “Are you not using chakra?”She laughed, tossing her head back. His eyes narrowed further, un-amused. “You’re just not looking hard enough, Itachi-kun.”He lunged at her, using his good arm to grab her neck and hold her, not tightly but firmly enough that she’d be hard pressed to get away. She grunted and aimed to sweep her legs underneath his, but he forced his knee between her legs and knocked her to the ground, hovering over her body and pressing down slightly on her neck.He saw the breath leave her lungs with a whoosh when she hit the ground, but he didn’t relent. Straddling one of her legs, he bore his eyes into her, letting the tomoe of his Sharingan spin. He was instantly annoyed when he saw the fear flash across her face. He thought they were past that by now, but to her credit she did not look away from him.“Are you holding back?” he asked her. “Can you do worse things with that jutsu?”“I can stop your heart if I’m touching you for long enough,” she answered, confirming his suspicions. “It’s easier if I touch your chest, but I can do it touching anywhere on your body.”“Let me see.”She let out an awful choking sound so he eased up on her throat a little bit but kept her pinned beneath him. “I’m not going to stop your heart, Itachi,” she said. “It’s too dangerous.”He grunted in response because he was sure she could restart it again, but he let it go.However dangerous stopping his heart was, she seemed to have no trouble with external injuries because she shoved her open hand into his chest, much like she might have if she were healing an injury and extended five chakra scalpels into his pectoral muscle. He winced and leapt away from her, launching a barrage of shuriken in the process.She was on her feet in seconds, dodging as best she could, but several shuriken hit her anyway. She lessened their impact with chakra and within seconds, the wounds were gone. She looked up at him with a trace of something unreadable in her eyes and it annoyed Itachi that there was something about her that he just couldn’t place.She raced toward him, attempting to put herself back in attack range, but he launched another fireball at her to keep her at bay. He winced against the pain that erupted in his chest as he inhaled – the scalpel wounds were deeper than he’d thought.And then, through the smoke, he saw the glint of a senbon – a chakra senbon. So she had completed her technique. He dodged it easily, but applauded her effort. The smoke screen created by his fireball would have been the perfect cover if he had been anyone other than an Uchiha.But then he felt a sharpness in the back of his calf. He looked down to find a chakra senbon embedded in his calf muscle. He watched it dissipate with confusion. She had been in front of him the whole time. He would have seen if she had created a shadow clone. How could she have thrown a senbon like that?And then he felt her chakra, healing chakra. It was just like any other time she healed him, except he could distinctly feel the chakra flowing in from the point in his calf. The wounds on his chest began to disappear, fading away like they’d never been there in the first place.He flicked his gaze to Sakura who was watching him with an infuriating smirk on her face.But he couldn’t blame her.“How did you hit me from behind?” he asked.“I threw two senbon,” she said. “One to distract you and another with a chakra thread attached. While you dodged the first one, I used the thread to redirect the second one after it had gone past you.”“I didn’t see the second one,” he said skeptically.“I threw it low. Senbon aren’t dangerous unless they hit a vital point or are poisoned,” she explained. “Even if you saw it, you probably wouldn’t have dodged it. I wouldn’t have been able to hit any of your vitals with it.”Itachi absently ran his hand over his chest where the wounds had been. He would have dodged it if he had seen it, but he hadn’t and that really annoyed him. She wasn’t supposed to be able to do things that he couldn’t see. He should be able to see everything. That’s what his bloodline limit was designed for.“And you remotely healed me with it,” he asserted.“Yes,” she said beaming with pride. “After I successfully completed the chakra senbon, I tried to figure out some more practical uses for it. I remember you suggesting poison and infection. I might go with both of those later on, but I figured this would be better suited for my role in combat. I can remain on the sidelines and out of danger while still assessing and doing some basic healing.”He drank in the sight of her in that moment. She probably had no idea how amazing she looked. The morning sun gilded her hair – a striking contrast against her dark clothing. Her stance was assertive and strong, her hip cocked to the side and an impossible brightness in her eyes. From this distance he could barely make out the pinkness of her lashes. She stared at him with unwavering confidence and it looked so good on her. She was capable and strong and he had a surge of affection for her that nearly took the breath from his lungs.But Itachi was an opportunist and he couldn’t let her get away with what she had done. He took advantage of her locked gaze, and with the surety that she had consented to it, he pulled her into a genjutsu.Itachi had cast many genjutsu in all his years – nearly all of them had been designed to be painful or manipulative in some way. He had used genjutsu to lie to Sasuke and also to tell him the truth. He had used it on Yamato and Sachi to show them a beach – something calm and tranquil when everything around them was a constant swirl of terror.But what could he show Sakura? He considered what would make Sakura happy. She had told him the happiest she had ever been – healing that damn patient for Tsunade. He didn’t buy that for a second. But then what did make her the happiest? She seemed pretty happy now. She had seemed happy to boss him around in his own kitchen and stretch out in his bed like it was her own.But it would be hers too soon, he supposed. And was that what could make her happy? Was it him? He could show her what their marriage could be like. He could show her a houseful of Uchiha children – ones with her perfect chakra control and his bloodline limit. But would that freak her out?Even as he pulled her into the genjutsu, he was still unsure. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Sakura felt herself pulled into the genjutsu the moment it happened. She assumed that Itachi did this on purpose in an effort to keep her from freaking out. And well, it didn’t help that much. Her breath was short and labored and she screwed her eyes shut against the nausea brewing in her stomach. She had given him permission for this, and she knew how annoyed he was that she still feared his Sharingan. So she steeled herself and prepared for whatever he was going to show her.When she opened her eyes she was not exactly prepared for the sight before her. Though she knew that Itachi would never have showed her anything traumatizing, she had been resolved to see something dark – some piece of his past that would help her to understand him better.But what she saw instead was Sasuke – merely a toddler now, with an adorable set of cat ears perched on his messy coal hair. He was bouncing up and down excitedly while an equally adorable child Itachi (also sporting cat ears) shushed him.“Be quiet,” little Itachi said. “Or you’ll scare him away.”Sakura bit back a squeal of delight.Itachi put a finger to his lips and pointed to a large feral cat hiding just underneath a massive oak tree. It was nestled in a pile of fallen leaves and snoozing away, oblivious to the two boys sneaking up on it.Sakura realized that this must have been one of Itachi’s memories. They were in the forests outside Konoha, recognizable to Sakura even in the genjutsu. She watched attentively as Itachi pulled a small book out of his pocket and handed it to Sasuke.“Don’t wake him up,” he whispered to Sasuke. “Or he’ll run away.”Sasuke eagerly took the book from Itachi’s grasp and opened it to a blank page. Itachi reached into his pocket again and pulled out a pad of ink, which Sasuke snatched before Itachi handed it over.With an encouraging smile, Itachi pushed Sasuke forward toward the cat. Sasuke tossed a nervous look back over his shoulder before he toddled closer to the cat as quietly as a child of his age could. Even Sakura held her breath as she watched.When he was close enough, Sasuke bent down and lifted the cat’s front paw delicately and pressed it into the inkpad. He then jerked the cat’s leg too roughly toward the blank page, causing the cat to screech and leap away before Sasuke could capture his paw print. Sasuke groaned as he watched the cat scurry up the oak tree and cling to the high branches, horrified.“You were too rough, Sasuke,” Itachi chided, approaching him from behind. “You have to be gentle so you don’t scare him.”Sasuke turned to look at his big brother with adorably concerned eyes. “What do we do now?” he asked.“We have to wait until he falls asleep again.”“But I’ve seen you get paw prints from cats that are awake,” Sasuke argued. “Much bigger cats.”“Yes,” Itachi said agreeably. “But this particular cat will have to be asleep. He does not like humans, so we have to sneak up on him.”Sasuke groaned again. Itachi smiled and petted his head affectionately. “It’s okay, Sasuke,” he said. “You will get him next time.”Sasuke grinned up at his older brother and latched himself to his leg.And then Sakura felt that pull again, the sucking feeling in her chest that indicated she was being pulled out of the genjutsu. The sun on the Uchiha training grounds hit her again and she squinted until she could adjust. Itachi was beside her, his hands hovering over her, maybe to catch her in case she teetered after the effects of the genjutsu.But she remained firmly on her feet and turned to give Itachi an idiotic grin.“You were so cute!” she squealed, unable to contain the sheer delight she felt at having witnessed the precious memory.Itachi rolled his eyes, but he was grinning and clearly pleased that she had enjoyed herself. “It was a game I made up for Sasuke,” he said. “To keep him occupied while I was busy. I gave him a book to collect paw prints in.”She squealed again.“I just wanted to share one of my more pleasant memories with you,” he explained. “You got me thinking the other day when you asked me about when I was the happiest. Sometimes it seems like you think my entire life has been one dark tragedy after the next, but I had lots of happy moments, too.”Sakura’s grin disappeared. “I don’t think that at all, Itachi,” she said. “I don’t… I don’t pity you, if that’s what you think.”He reached up and cupped her cheek in his hand. “I know you don’t,” he said. “I just wanted to share that with you.”Consoled, but still a little skeptical, Sakura stepped into his embrace, wrapping her arms around his waist. “Thank you,” she said. “I guess you win.”“Hmm?”“The spar,” she clarified. “You could have done anything to me in that genjutsu. I shouldn’t have let myself get caught in it.”He pulled back away from her to look at her face. “You could have poisoned that senbon and killed me,” he argued.She laughed. Wouldn’t that have been something? The mighty Uchiha slain by a mere senbon. “That’s not a very fitting way for you to go, Itachi-kun,” she said with a giggle.“Oh?” he asked. “And what would be a fitting way for me to go?”“Have you thought about letting Sasuke kill you?”He raised an eyebrow, prompting another burst of giggles from her.“Hey, do you still have those cat ears?”Itachi shook his head with exasperation..Sakura didn’t realize how much she enjoyed doing absolutely nothing. It was another rare day off and while she might have come up with an excuse to spend it with Itachi, she didn’t have to. He was more than willing to do absolutely nothing with her, much to her relief.They lay sprawled out on Itachi’s couch, her head in his lap while he read a book. She absently flicked chakra senbon up into the air, letting them fall back down onto her so she could reabsorb them. It was akin to doing absolutely nothing, which she felt perfectly pleased about. It felt great to be doing nothing but relaxing.In fact, they had been sitting there for at least an hour already when her stomach grumbled loudly.“Itachi-kun…”He shook his head emphatically before she could even ask the question. “No,” he said. “You make lunch this time.”Pouting, she rolled over onto her elbows and gave him her best puppy dog eyes.“That won’t work on me.”“Please?” she tried again, this time with a delicate flutter of her lashes.“Is this what it’s going to be like?” he asked, a faint smirk on his lips. “Will I have to cook all your meals and take care of you? Are you going to flutter your lashes to always get your way?”She pressed a kiss to his forearm where it came close to her face. “You’ll just have to learn what has the same effect on me, Itachi-kun,” she said. “Then you can have your way sometimes, too.”“I already know what works on you, hime,” he said, grasping her upper arm and twisting them both around so that he hovered on top of her. He trailed his fingertips lightly up the length of her body and let them rest on the side of her neck. He bent down close to her, grazing the tip of his nose against her cheek. “How about you make some lunch for us, hime?” he murmured low in her ear, his breath ghosting over its shell. She shivered automatically and she didn’t need to see his face to know that he was delighting in it.“Hmm,” she responded, pushing at his chest gently. “Fine, you win. But we both know your cooking is better, so I hope you’re prepared to eat some mediocre food.”She stood brusquely to accommodate his request, knowing well and good that she was going to cook subpar food on purpose. With an amused grin, he yanked her back to the couch, pulling her into his lap.“I don’t know when you got so good at seduction,” she said, pressing her face into his neck. “But I’m not complaining.”“This isn’t seduction,” he answered, his hand molding to the back of her head, holding her in place. “This is manipulation. And I’ve always been very good at that.”She was about to respond with some witty retort when the front door burst open. Both Sasuke and Naruto shuffled inside, each carrying a pack on his back, Naruto holding another in his hand.“Eww, gross,” Sasuke said when he caught sight of Itachi and Sakura on the couch.“Sakura, we’ve got to go,” Naruto said, ignoring Sasuke. “Team 8 called for backup. They found Kabuto.”Sakura immediately rushed to her feet, snatching her pack from Naruto’s hand.“Kabuto?” Itachi asked, also rising to his feet.“Sasuke didn’t tell you?” Sakura asked, though she was mentally kicking herself for not telling him either. “We have a mission. We’re tracking down Kabuto.”“The tracking part’s done,” Naruto said impatiently. “Team 8 needs us now.”“Alright, alright,” Sakura said as she pulled on her shoes. “Let’s go.”She flung her pack onto her back and turned to look at Itachi. He looked hurt, and she couldn’t blame him. She should have told him sooner about the mission.“I’ll come with you,” he said.“Absolutely not, Itachi,” Sakura insisted. “Kabuto’s disease is highly infectious and really dangerous. I’m sure between the six of us we can handle it.”He did not look pleased at all by this and Sakura felt another pang of guilt sharp in her gut. “I’m sorry, Itachi,” she said, placating him with a gentle hand on his arm. “We’ll be back soon. Don’t worry.”He didn’t argue like she had when she had been in his position before. He merely nodded and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Okay,” he conceded. “Be safe.”She gave him one last peck on the lips before she was gone..Team 8 had sent word that they had engaged Kabuto in combat and were a mere ten miles north of Konoha. That was much too close for Tsunade’s liking, Sakura figured, and taking care of Kabuto had become priority number one.With what research she had done, Sakura was certain that Kabuto planned to unleash his infection on Konoha (and maybe even the shinobi world at large) fairly soon. But she also knew that a smart and capable medic nin like Kabuto would not have created a disease he would become infected by.Which meant that he was likely in possession of an inoculation. And Sakura needed to find it.If she had more time, she could probably find a cure for it herself. Now that she knew a little bit about how Kabuto planned to spread the infection, she was certain she could figure it out.But she didn’t have the luxury of time and there wasn’t a necessity for it if Kabuto already had one.“So what’s the plan?” Naruto asked as they sped through the trees. They were quickly approaching Kabuto’s location. Sakura could feel the pulses and waves of chakra from the ensuing battle up ahead of them.“I need to find where Kabuto has been doing to research,” Sakura said. “I have to get to his inoculations. You two assist Team 8 and I’ll sneak into his base and see what I can find.”Sasuke gave her a sharp look. “What if we need your help?”Sakura nearly laughed. Sasuke had never needed or wanted her help before – well, no that wasn’t true. He had kidnapped her for her medical knowledge. He must have been worried about catching the infection.“Try not to need it.”.When they arrived at the scene it was pure chaos. Sakura could see why they had called for back up. Apparently, the people Orochimaru had kept prisoner remained loyal to Kabuto even after the sannin’s death, so not only did Team 8 have to fend off Kabuto, but they were literally surrounded by hundreds of Sound nin.“Hinata!”Naruto jolted forward when he caught sight of the Byakugan user in a messy taijutsu match with seven Sound shinobi. Kiba and Shino were nearby, also embroiled in matches of their own. Sakura scanned the area, looking for Kabuto and found him perched on top of a large boulder, his glasses glinting in the sun. She couldn’t see his eyes through the glare on his glasses, but she had the uneasy feeling that he was looking right at her.Sasuke halted Naruto with a hand on his shoulder.“Don’t rush in,” he said. “We need to come up with a plan first.”“Kabuto is on top of that boulder,” Sakura said to them. “Can one of you engage him?”“I can handle Kabuto,” Sasuke said with unwavering confidence. “But what do we do about all these Sound shinobi? There are too many of them.”Before Naruto or Sakura could answer, Kabuto leapt toward them, landing in front of the trio with a malicious grin. He made quite a sight standing there with the battle raging behind him.“Sakura,” he said with faux politeness. “I’d like to think you reconsidered my offer, but I doubt you’d have brought along your precious teammates if that were the case.”“You’re out of your league, Kabuto,” Sasuke said. “I killed your master, remember?”Kabuto turned to look at Sasuke, his eyes narrow and amused. “Look at you, Sasuke-kun,” he said. Sakura saw Sasuke’s hands clench into fists. “You’re probably right about that – I wouldn’t be able to best you in a fight. But I’m not interested in fighting you.”“What are you interested in, Kabuto?” Sakura demanded. “What’s your game?”Kabuto pushed his glasses up farther on the bridge of his nose with dark chuckle. His casual demeanor infuriated Sakura – such a stark contrast to the bloodbath behind him.Before Kabuto could answer, Sasuke lunged at him with a Chidori chirping in his palm.This wasn’t quite what Sakura was hoping for, but she used that distraction to survey the area, looking for Kabuto’s base. Sasuke and Kabuto squared off to fight one another, though Sakura caught the disapproving and curious look that Kabuto shot her.Naruto fled toward Hinata and her team, much to Sakura’s relief. They looked like they needed help.So now all she needed was the inoculation.It was difficult to focus on her task while she could hear the sounds of battle before her. There were cries of pain, the metal clash of weapons. The medic in her wanted nothing more than to stop what she was doing and help the injured.But she stayed focused, scanning the trees for any sign of a building or facility where Kabuto could have been doing his research. For a moment she felt panicked because what if they were nowhere near his base?But then she saw it: a crater in the earth with a reinforced steel door sealing away something underground. She made her way over to it quickly and without bothering to see if it was unlocked smashed it down with a chakra enhanced fist.She took one last glance back at her team who seemed to be uninjured for now before she headed inside..Kabuto’s new base looked remarkably similar to the bunker she had seen before. She had never seen it furnished, though, and she was surprised by the amount of scrolls, books, bottles, medical tools, and loose papers around. It looked very much like Kabuto had been working hard down here.She also noted that directly across from the room she stood in (which appeared to be Kabuto’s laboratory) was a row of empty cells, each with its door wide open. So the Sound shinobi must have been prisoners here.Ignoring the implications of that, Sakura began riffling through Kabuto’s things. She had expected the strange man to be a bit more meticulous with his note keeping, but to her chagrin, it was difficult to decipher the congruity of his notes. It seemed that everything was jumbled together – not a code, but a mess.Hoping that Sasuke and Naruto could buy her more time, Sakura went through his notes with methodical care. It seemed that Kabuto had been working on much more than just the infection, but Sakura was unconcerned with the other things. If they were successful in killing Kabuto it wouldn’t matter anymore. All that mattered was finding the infection and eradicating it.So whenever she stumbled across notes, a journal, or a scroll that pertained to the infection, she collected them in her pack. Quickly her pack became full, so she found a basket of herbs and emptied it so that she could use it to carry more notes.In her search, she came across a notebook that looked particularly interesting. Most of Kabuto’s journals were grey or black with unlined pages, but this one was camel colored leather with grids. A quick perusal made it clear that this journal was coded – and Sakura had a feeling she would need it. She tossed it into the basket with the rest of the notes and kept searching.She couldn’t quite say why, but she felt like she was missing a crucial piece of information. She crossed into the prisoner’s section of the base and began looking through the pages that lay scattered about on the ground.“Sakura!”Sakura’s head snapped up at the sound of her name being called and she dropped the page in her hand.“Sakura!” Naruto bellowed. He sounded too far away and too desperate. “Sakura, where are you?” “I’m here, Naruto,” she said, walking back into the main room. “What’s wrong?”But he didn’t need to answer because as soon as she saw him she knew. Slung over his shoulder was a very pale (well, paler than usual) looking Sasuke. He was out cold and hanging limp. Sakura could see beads of sweat along his forehead and a stream of blood coming from the corner of his mouth.“What happened?” she breathed.“Kabuto is down,” Naruto said as he gently set Sasuke down on a nearby table. “Sasuke killed him. But Team 8 is still fighting those Sound shinobi and I think Kabuto found some way to infect Sasuke.”Sakura had her hands on Sasuke’s chest the instant he was on the table, threading her chakra carefully in his system. If he had the infection, that was not good news at all. Sakura was unsure of how to cure it at this point and she sure as hell wasn’t going to let Sasuke die on this table.“Go help Team 8,” she instructed. “And if you can, bring me Kabuto’s body when you’re done.”Naruto hesitated.“Will he be okay?”“I’m going to do everything I can, Naruto,” she answered tersely. “Now go.”.Sasuke was in bad condition and rapidly getting worse. A cursory diagnosis led Sakura to believe that he was indeed sick with Kabuto’s weaponized disease and that it was different enough from his original one that Sakura had no idea where to begin to process of finding a cure.She was torn between scouring Kabuto’s notes and using her chakra to help Sasuke cope with the infection. It was spreading throughout his respiratory system very quickly, but Sakura managed to keep his lungs clear so that even in his declining state he could still breathe.She settled for doing a bit of both. With one hand on Sasuke’s chest, she used the other to flip through the pages of Kabuto’s notebook looking for any type of clue that would lead her to a solution.There was fluid building up in Sasuke’s lungs that Sakura found very concerning. If she didn’t know any better, she would say that it was actually chakra. Viscous chakra.She scribbled something down in one of Kabuto’s notebooks, her chicken scratch barely legible even to herself. The disease as she had researched back in Konoha was spread through many different means – the same ones a regular disease might spread through (air, water, physical contact). She couldn’t tell which way Sasuke had been affected, but she’d wager based on the fact that he had the unknown fluid in his lungs that he had breathed it in.The door to the bunker burst open behind her, but she did not turn to look. She could tell that it was Naruto.“How’s he doing, Sakura?”“It’s not looking good right now, Naruto.”She heard shuffling behind her and turned to see Naruto deposit all three members of Team 8 gently onto the ground. “Looks like I have some bad news, then,” he said solemnly. She glanced up at his face and saw that his eyes were red. The kyuubi.He rushed forward and grabbed Sasuke’s hand, a grim expression on his face. She watched his eyes fade back into blue and the orange chakra that surrounded him began to fade away.“Did you take care of the Sound shinobi?”He nodded. “Yeah, they’re all dead.”“Are the three of them all sick, too?” she asked, internally praying that they weren’t.“I think so.”Sakura swallowed hard and let her gaze fall to the basket of notes at her feet. Kabuto wouldn’t have felt confident utilizing the infection if he hadn’t already created a cure for it as well. She would need to find it and use it on herself before she could continue to work on Sasuke or anyone else. If she got sick too they would all be screwed.“Okay, Naruto, I need you to go see if you can find the inoculations Kabuto made,” she said. “I’ll have to stay here and monitor everyone to make sure they’re able to breathe at all times, but I believe the disease was contracted via the air – at least in Sasuke’s case. That means you need to be careful about where you breathe.”Naruto nodded sharply but still looked a little confused.“Should I send word back to Konoha first?” he asked.“No!” she shrieked. “Absolutely not. I don’t know how contagious this thing is. There’s a chance we could infect everyone in the village. We need to stay here until we’ve figured this all out.”“Okay…” he said, still looking very unsure. “What do these inoculations look like?”Sakura resisted the urge to sigh. She couldn’t really blame him because she hadn’t been able to find them either. But things were now at a boiling point and she could feel the stressed beginnings of a panic attack building up in her chest.She couldn’t let anyone die. She just couldn’t.Naruto, sensing her mood, left quickly in search of the inoculations while Sakura continued to monitor her four patients.Sasuke was by far in the worst condition – possibly because he had been infected for the longest amount of time. Whatever differences were present in this new strain of the infection made its symptoms appear much worse.After several minutes of silence while Sakura continuously cleared fluid from the lungs of her patients, Naruto burst back into the room.“Sakura I think I found what you’re looking for, but I can’t get to it,” he explained. “There’s a cabinet in this other room and looks like it has a seal on it. There’s some kind of inscription, but it looks like a code. I don’t know how to open it.”With one hand on Kiba’s chest, Sakura bent down and reached into her notes basket. She pulled out the leather journal and tossed it to Naruto.“There’s a code in that journal. Does it look like the same code?” she asked.He skimmed through the pages, his brow furrowed. He scratched his head and let out a regretful sigh. “I wish Shikamaru were here,” he said.Sakura sighed too. She felt Kiba’s breath hitch and she sent another surge of chakra into his lungs.“Naruto,” Sakura said. “How are you not sick, too? Weren’t you outside with everyone else? Were the other Sound shinobi not sick either?”Naruto shrugged. “Some of them were sick,” he answered. “But I figured that Kabuto didn’t care to vaccinate all of them. Hinata told me he let them all out after they got there. I don’t think that he thought he could handle the three of them alone.”Sakura pursed her lips because she wasn’t so sure that was true. Kabuto was a very skilled fighter. He could have given the three of them a run for their money.“But you…” she mumbled, “you aren’t sick.”“You aren’t sick either,” he pointed out.That was true, she supposed. If physical contact were one way to catch the infection, then touching Sasuke would have been enough to do her in. Somehow, she hadn’t shown any symptoms yet. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t sick.She sent another thread of chakra into Kiba, specifically looking at his chakra points. Sure enough, much like the last disease, there were clusters of cloyed chakra accumulated where his natural chakra should have been.A diagnostic run of her own chakra system showed smaller, but still present clusters of the same cloyed chakra. So she was sick.Was Naruto?“Come here,” she said to him. “Let me check on your chakra system.”She placed her hand on his chest when he approached sent more diagnostic chakra into him. She half expected to find that same sticky chakra in his chakra points as well, but she found none. Instead, she noticed an odd separation of his personal chakra and the kyuubi’s chakra. She wondered if that was normal, but she didn’t have time to ask.“Okay, Naruto, listen to me carefully,” she said, pulling her hand away. He was immediately alert, his eyes bright with determination. “I’m sick, too. I think I might be developing symptoms more slowly because I’d immunized myself to the previous disease. I’ll be able to keep the infection at bay for now, but we need to get those inoculations.”He swallowed, his eyes slightly widening.“I think you’re immune, Naruto,” she said. “I think the kyuubi’s chakra is preventing the infectious chakra from taking over. You need to go back to Konoha and get Shikamaru so we can figure out how to get into that cabinet.”He glanced down at Sasuke on the table. She could see the worry in his eyes.“Wear a mask,” she said, pulling one out of her pack. “And stay away from anyone you don’t have to talk to. Don’t go into populated areas. Go straight to Shikamaru and then come straight back.”“Won’t he get sick?”“We have to take that risk,” she said. “Hopefully the cure is in that cabinet.”Naruto nodded, but she saw the look of concern on his face before he dashed out of the bunker and was gone. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Three days after Sakura and Sasuke left Itachi started to get worried. He had learned from Kakashi that Kabuto had been discovered by Team 8 only ten miles north of Konoha – still well within Fire’s borders.If Kabuto was so close, then why was their mission taking so long? They should have been back a while ago. Was Tsunade not concerned? She seemed to be quite close with Sakura. Surely she was as worried as Itachi was.With this in mind, Itachi made his way to the Hokage tower, intent on asking Tsunade to send him out as backup.He knocked politely on her door and entered when she barked her approval.But in a discouraging manner, she rolled her eyes when she saw him. “Itachi,” she said with just the barest hint of venom in her tone. “I suppose you’re here about Sasuke.”And Sakura, too, but he kept that to himself.“Yes, Hokage-sama,” he said. “Teams 7 and 8 have not returned yet, and I’m worried they may need backup.”Tsunade scoffed. “Yeah, I’m sure they could use some help,” she said icily. “Not from you, though.”The door behind him burst open, preventing him from saying whatever biting thing popped first into his mind. He was grateful for this because he didn’t like to make a habit of disrespecting his superiors, but Tsunade (in a way that neither Hiruzen or Minato had) really grated on his nerves.“Tsunade-baa-chan!”Itachi turned his head at the sound of the familiar voice and was quite surprised to see Naruto in a full HAZMAT suit. He shuffled awkwardly into the room, his plastic encased head bumping ungracefully into the doorframe.“Naruto,” Tsunade said sharply, both alert and a little annoyed. “I told you not to come up here. I told Shizune to leave the crate downstairs for you.”“Yeah, yeah, I saw the crate,” he said flippantly.“Then why the hell did you come up here?” she demanded, cutting him off before he could tell her what she had just asked.“What’s Itachi doing here?” Naruto asked, giving Itachi a dubious look.“Get out, Naruto!”“I just don’t understand why I have to wear this thing if I’m not sick!” he exclaimed brashly.“Because you could still be carrying the infection,” she said impatiently. “You could be infecting me and Itachi right now – so get out!”She looked tired and frustrated and thankfully Naruto decided it was best to obey her at that moment, in spite of neglecting to do whatever it was he had come into her office to do. He turned politely to leave, but Itachi didn’t miss the way he rolled his eyes at her as he shut the door behind him.“Are they all sick?” Itachi asked when it seemed that Tsunade was not going to offer up any information on her own.“All but Sakura and Naruto.”So Sasuke was sick… This was not good. He knew enough from listening to Sakura – this disease was designed specifically to infect and kill shinobi. Kabuto was a medical genius – a disease of this caliber was not something to be taken lightly.Which meant that his only option was to trust Sakura.“If you don’t mind, Itachi,” Tsunade said, still terse and irritable. “I have work to do.”“Wait,” Itachi said, not caring for the way she shrugged him off so coldly. She could have a little compassion for a man whose little brother and future wife were in potential danger. “Is there anything I can do to help? Are they still at Kabuto’s base? Shouldn’t we make an effort to bring them to the hospital?”“Absolutely not,” she snapped. “I’m not bringing that disease anywhere near the village. It was risky enough bringing Naruto here.”“So you’re just going to leave them out there?”Her eyes finally drifted away from the pages on her desk that had seemed to capture her interest so well and settled on Itachi in a very disconcerting manner. Itachi only just managed not to flinch under the intense look.“This is Sakura’s specialty,” she said slowly like she was talking to a small child. “I trust her to handle this, and so should you.”“They’ve already been there for three days,” he argued. He could usually concede that the Hokage knew better than he did in most situations. But not where Sasuke and Sakura were concerned.“I’m aware of the situation, Itachi,” she snapped again. “Do you think I’m not worried, too? There’s nothing that can be done. Now get out of my office.”Itachi was gone before she finished the sentence..The feeling of sheer helplessness was absolutely overwhelming. Itachi liked to help people and was nearly always capable of doing so. He had even helped with the first iteration of this disease back in Toyeiki. Sakura had shown him how to use chakra to burn the infection and he had put that technique to good use and helped her clear the inn of patients.And there was no doubt in his mind that if Sakura showed him what to do that he could be out there helping her. There was no reason she should have to do this alone. In Toyeiki she had Rokuda, and the nurses (well, the one who wasn’t a spy) and himself.Now she just had Naruto, and while Itachi considered him to be a competent ninja, he had a tendency to get underfoot. Assuming they had killed Kabuto, what if they were unable to find a cure for the disease? Would Sasuke and Team 8 die out there? Would Sakura be able to come back after being exposed for so long?There were too many unknowns that left Itachi feeling uneasy in the pit of his stomach.“I know, I know,” Itachi heard a familiar voice say. The streets of Konoha were bustling with activity as he walked home, but since most of the people he knew were currently away, curiosity got the better of him and he turned to see who had spoken.“I just think it’s a little unfair that Naruto just came in, swept him up and took him away without even telling us why,” Ino Yamanaka said to her walking companion – another familiar, yet unplaceable face. “He was finally going to tell me about him and Temari.”“I’m sure he’ll tell you when he gets back,” said the white haired, violet-eyed boy next to her.Ino rolled her eyes, but she had a grin on her face – much too cavalier an attitude to have while her best friend was in danger, Itachi thought.“Oh, look, it’s Itachi-san,” she said when she caught him staring at her. She didn’t seem to mind as she approached with the strange boy in tow behind her.“Wow, you look just like Sasuke.”Oh, Itachi thought. That’s where he knew this boy. He was Sasuke’s teammate. One of the ones who helped to kidnap Sakura. Suigetsu, wasn’t it?“Sasuke looks just like me,” Itachi corrected.Suigetsu laughed.“Itachi, this is Suigetsu,” Ino said. “Suigetsu, this is Sasuke’s older brother, Itachi. I think you guys may have met before.”Neither of them offered their hand to shake and Itachi began to feel a little uncomfortable. Just what was Ino doing with this kid?“Tsunade-sama put me in charge of helping Suigetsu to… uh, assimilate,” Ino explained, looking rather unnerved by Itachi’s blatant look of concern.“I see,” Itachi said.There was an uncomfortable silence that stretched between the three of them.“We’ll just be on our way, then…” Ino said.“Wait,” Itachi said for the second time that morning. “What were you saying about Naruto? Who did he take?”“Oh,” she said, visibly surprised by his question. “Naruto was just here a few minutes ago. He came to get Shikamaru.”“Did he say why?”“No, he was in a hurry.”“Aren’t you concerned about Sakura?”“Why would I be?” she asked. “She hasn’t returned from her mission.”Ino pursed her lips and cocked her hip out in a very Sakura-like fashion. She pointed a manicured finger at Itachi’s chest. “What are you talking about? Naruto’s back. Why wouldn’t Sakura be?”“She’s taking care of Team 8 and Sasuke,” Itachi explained. “They’re still near Kabuto’s base.”He watched the realization dawn on her, her blue eyes widening. “What?” she shrieked. “Why didn’t anyone tell me? Is she sick? Are they all sick?”“Tsunade-sama said she is not sick,” Itachi answered. “Neither is Naruto.”“But everyone else is?”Itachi nodded.“Well then what’s the plan?” she demanded. “How can we help?”“I don’t think Tsunade-sama wants us to help.”“Oh, who cares?” Ino said with a dramatic roll of her eyes. She latched onto Suigetsu’s hand and started dragging him of in the opposite direction. “Sakura needs our help. I’m not just going to sit here and do nothing.”Itachi watched her leave without the slightest idea of where she might be going or how she intended to help Sakura. He could hear her growling as she stomped away and then with a particularly angry stomp, she turned back to face him.“Well?” she said. “Aren’t you coming?”.Itachi followed Ino and Suigetsu to the hospital where they not so subtly broke into Sakura’s office. Itachi was very much against this, but he didn’t protest. Though he felt that this was a violation of Sakura’s privacy, he wanted to get her and Sasuke home safely – which was more important.Suigetsu made himself at home, reclining back in Sakura’s chair and propping his feet up on her desk. Itachi sent him a heated glare, but he didn’t seem to notice.“Okay,” Ino said as she pulled open the drawers of Sakura’s desk. “Sakura has been researching what she found in Kabuto’s bunker the first time, which led to her figuring out all of the methods by which the disease can be transmitted.”Itachi nodded, giving Ino his full attention. He didn’t know how to help Sakura, but Ino might.“Unfortunately, that doesn’t help her much now since we’ve already got sick patients,” Ino explained. “So we’ll need to find what she was missing.”Itachi barely restrained himself from rolling his eyes.“What makes you think we could find what Sakura missed?” Itachi asked. “She’s the top in her field.”Ino’s eyes flashed at him – a mirror of that heated glare he’d sent to Suigetsu. “Sakura is just a regular person. She needs help sometimes, too,” Ino said, the gentle tone of her voice betraying the anger in her scowl. “She didn’t cure that disease in Toyeiki by herself.”Itachi deflated a little bit, but he was still quite skeptical.“What do you suggest we do, then?” he asked patiently.“We’re going to gather all her notes so far and find a way to get them to her,” Ino answered.“Naruto just retrieved a crate from the Hokage tower,” Itachi said. “If there were notes she needed, wouldn’t they have been in the crate?”“I doubt it,” Ino said. “Tsunade-sama probably just sent her the same stuff she sent her back when she was in Toyeiki. Even if Tsunade-sama thought about it, she wouldn’t have known what notes to send.”“Then how do you know?” Suigetsu asked, relieving Itachi of that duty.“Because I am her best friend,” Ino snapped. “And she tells me everything. So I know that this-” she held up a black leather notebook she had pulled from the desk drawer “-is the notebook she’s been using for all this Kabuto business.”Itachi watched her flip through the notebook to confirm that it was actually the right one (it was, and Itachi didn’t know why that disappointed him).“Great,” Itachi said, and if he had been anyone else, they might have assumed he was being sarcastic. “Let’s attach it to a messenger bird.”“Hold on, I’m going to write her an encouraging note first,” Ino said, grabbing a slip of paper from the desk. “You know, so she knows how much we love her and how we know she can do it.”“She already knows those things, Ino-san,” Itachi said with a sigh. He was starting to think he should have found his own way to help Sakura.Ino slammed her hand down on the desk and clenched her teeth. “Listen, I know Sakura a lot better than you do,” she said pointedly. “She appreciates gestures like this and finds them really encouraging. I’m surprised you don’t know that already, Itachi-san.”Itachi had nothing to say to that because after a moment of thought, he realized she was right. Ino knew Sakura a lot better than he did. She had known her for much longer. Itachi didn’t know about the notebook in her desk drawer. And while Sakura did seem to appreciate any nice gesture he made, he didn’t know specifically which ones she liked best.But Ino seemed to know and that was a valuable piece of information that he tucked away for later..Nearly an hour later a messenger bird had finally been sent with Sakura’s notebook attached and while this was a productive thing to have done, Itachi still felt too helpless.Suigetsu had left, claiming that he needed to visit Juugo (Sasuke’s other teammate, Itachi recalled), but Itachi noticed that the poor Mist-nin seemed to have been very annoyed with Ino. Suigetsu’s blatant attempt at putting distance between him and the talkative blonde left Itachi without a similar excuse.They were still in Sakura’s office, and even knowing that Ino was Sakura’s best friend, he didn’t want to leave her there alone. And he didn’t want to kick her out either. She was too feisty – she would make too much of a fuss.So instead he listened to her complain about Sakura’s absence and how Sakura always got better missions than she did and how Sakura made more money and people really seemed to like her.Itachi barely paid any attention to what she was saying, but he caught enough to understand that Ino was jealous of Sakura, which struck him as rather odd. Ino wasn’t lacking in any department that he was aware of. She was a talented kunoichi from a respectable clan. She was a bit annoying, but everyone had their faults.It wasn’t until she started complaining about her lack of love life that Itachi felt the need to speak up.“You said you know Sakura better than anyone,” Itachi said, interrupting whatever train of thought she had been spewing. “What does she think about me?”Ino paused and her eyes widened, which was pretty disconcerting because they were already pretty wide.“Well, for one,” Ino began with a very sassy tone. “She would find it highly amusing that you’d ask me that.”Itachi suddenly regretted asking.“But I think you already know that Sakura wears her heart on her sleeve. Whatever she’s told you, that’s what she thinks.”“That’s not very helpful.”“Helpful?” Ino asked with a raised eyebrow. “What do you need help for? Trouble in paradise?”Itachi scowled and shook his head. “Forget I asked,” he said. “We have more important things to be worrying about anyway.”Frantically, Ino grabbed Itachi’s wrist and pushed him into Sakura’s chair. He allowed her to without much protest, but he glared at her mutely so she would be aware of how much he disliked it.“There isn’t anything we can do to help Sakura right now,” Ino said, hopping up onto Sakura’s desk. “So why don’t you tell me what you need help with? Is something wrong between you and Sakura?”Itachi sighed and knew that he would come to regret this. But his curiosity got the better of him. “Nothing is wrong. In fact, things are going very well.”“Then why’d you ask?”“You know Sakura really well,” he said. “You know what she likes and doesn’t like. She’s already told me that she will marry me when the times comes, and though I don’t believe she said that out of obligation, I just want to reassure her that it won’t be a mistake.”“A mistake?”“We were tossed into a sticky situation,” Itachi answered. “But I love her and I want her to know that. So tell me what type of gestures she likes. What would she want from me?”Ino was uncharacteristically stoic and she looked like she was about to explode.“Ino?”“You love her?” she shrieked. “Just tell her you love her! That’s how she’ll know, you idiot.”Itachi narrowed his eyes. “I already told her,” he said. “Or rather, she told me and I said it back.”Ino rolled her eyes so far back in her head Itachi thought she would faint. “I can’t believe Sakura didn’t tell me!” she exclaimed. “That bitch!”“Hey,” Itachi said sharply.Ino ignored him. “When did this happen? Oh, I am so angry with her right now. She better hurry up and cure that thing so she can get back here and I can kill her.”“Ino,” Itachi said, more sharply this time. “Focus. Just give me some pointers on how to impress her.”“Look, you don’t need me to tell you any of this,” Ino said. “Sakura just appreciates any gesture – any kind at all. She just likes knowing that you’re thinking about her. Like when I was… depressed, Sakura would leave me nice notes or clean up my messes when I was too lazy.”“That’s not big enough.”“Big?” Ino asked. “She doesn’t need big. Sasuke fucked her up so much, even the tiniest bit of attention is enough to keep her going.”Itachi visibly recoiled.“Oh, sorry,” she said. “I shouldn’t have said that. Just give her flowers or something.”Itachi actually did roll his eyes this time. He hadn’t forgotten about the white lilies incident. “You have been astoundingly unhelpful, Ino,” Itachi said, rising to his feet.“Wait, no, I’m sorry,” she said. “I’ll help you.”Itachi gave her a skeptical look, but desperate times called for desperate measures..Each passing hour with Ino left Itachi feeling increasingly uncomfortable. First they had broken into Sakura’s office, and now they had broken into her apartment as well. Well, technically since Ino had a key it wasn’t considered “breaking in” but that didn’t make Itachi feel any better about it.Ino led him straight up to Sakura’s bedroom, to his utter discomfort. He hadn’t been in there since he had cleaned it and it felt inappropriate to be in there without Sakura.“What are we doing in here, Ino?”“Relax, Itachi,” Ino said, crawling onto the floor and reaching underneath the bed. Itachi distantly noted that both of them had dropped the suffixes, which felt very strange to him. “I’m just grabbing something real quick.”She pulled a plain looking wooden box out from underneath the bed and extended it to Itachi. He took it with a skeptical glance at her before he quickly turned and left the bedroom.In the safety of the living room, Itachi set the box down on the coffee table and watched Ino pull the lid off of it.“Are you sure we should be doing this?” he asked. “Isn’t this a massive violation of her privacy?”For whatever reason, Ino beamed up at him and shook her head. “I can see why Sakura likes you so much,” she said, much to Itachi’s confusion.She set the lid aside and pushed the box into Itachi’s hands. “These are things that hold sentimental value to her,” Ino explained. “If you want to know more about her, this box is the most efficient way to do that – you know, other than just talking to her and being around her. But I understand you can’t do that right now.”Itachi had to hand it to her – this wasn’t a bad idea. Ignoring the rising guilt in his gut, Itachi peered into the box. On the very top was a picture of Team 7. He picked it up and studied it. It was difficult at first to draw his eyes away from Sasuke. This Sasuke was so young, so closely resembling the Sasuke he had left behind all those years ago.But thinking of Sasuke only reminded him that his precious little brother was sick, and he didn’t want to think of that while he could do nothing about it.So he turned his attention instead to Sakura, who couldn’t have been more than twelve years old in the picture. Her hair was much longer and her eyes had a brightness in them – one born of innocence and youth that would likely never be there again.He set the picture aside and picked up the next object in the box – a red ribbon.“I gave her that when we were little kids,” Ino said. “Everyone teased her because her forehead is so massive, but I told her she should show it off and be proud of it.”Itachi ran his finger over the worn ribbon. He imagined it would look quite good on her. “Don’t you tease her about her forehead?” he asked.“Sure, but she knows I don’t mean it,” she answered. “She calls me Pig and I know she doesn’t mean it either. We just like to tease each other.”Itachi understood that because he had a very similar relationship with her. Sakura definitely liked to tease him a lot. He teased her on occasion – when the time called for it – but maybe he should tease her some more since she seemed to like it so much.He placed the ribbon on the couch next to him beside the picture and peered back into the box. He pulled out a small glass jar that contained some sort of brownish liquid.“It’s a poison,” Ino explained. “The first one she came up with an antidote for.”He set that aside too and reached in for the next item. There were various medical tools in there – ones that perhaps were given to her by Tsunade or maybe used during some sort of milestone achievement in the medical field.He ignored all those things and grabbed onto a stack of small papers. Some of them were tests she had passed during her time at the academy while others were mission missives or medical documents. Nothing that was of particular interest to Itachi.There were a handful of tickets and receipts in the box as well. Itachi quickly shuffled through them, looking for one in particular.And there it was near the bottom of the stack – the receipt from their date. The restaurant’s name was emblazed at the top and he checked the date just to make sure. She had kept a memento from their first date.A slow grin spread across his face while he set the receipts aside, too.There were a few more pictures in the boxes – ones of her and her parents, her with Sachi and Yamato, and a number of Konoha nins he didn’t recognize. A handful of kunai and shuriken littered the bottom of the boxes – possible gifts, Itachi speculated.The last thing in the box was a small pendant. It was a small ruby dangling from a silver chain. It was tiny and delicate, so Itachi placed it gently back into the box. “Do you know what this is?” he asked Ino.“A necklace?”Itachi didn’t dignify that with a response as he carefully put all of Sakura’s belongings back into the box and then placed the lid back on top.“I don’t know where she got that,” Ino said.Itachi passed the box back to Ino, who held it clutched in her lap. “So,” she began. “Was the helpful? Did you find out what you needed to know?”Itachi tilted his head while he pondered this. He didn’t feel like he had gained any new insight into who Sakura was as a person. The things she valued he had already known about – they were typical for her. What person wouldn’t value their friends, family, and career?The necklace was a mystery to him and he would have to ask Sakura about that later. Though he wasn’t sure how he would do such a thing without admitting that he had gone through her personal things.And again he felt a sudden helplessness. Sasuke was in trouble and Sakura was the only person who could help him. She had held his own life in her hands so many times, and now she had Sasuke’s too. It was easy to take her for granted sometimes – even in the short amount of time they’d known one another. He relied on her in a way he had never relied on anyone else before.And the realization dawned on him that he literally couldn’t live without her. She had been a crucial piece that had been missing from his life for so long, but now she was in it and he couldn’t possibly make do without her.“Yeah,” Itachi said to Ino, “I did. I want to ask her to marry me.”Ino squealed with delight and crashed her body into his, embracing him in a frantic and disconcerting hug. “Oh, I can’t believe it!” she yelled. “My best friend is getting married! And I’ll get to be the maid of honor! We have so much work to do. We’ll have to find her a dress. We need to pick a theme. What kind of food do you think Sakura will want? Oh, you guys should have a summer wedding! That would be lovely wouldn’t it? I just think—”“She hasn’t agreed to marry me yet,” Itachi said, interrupting her tirade. He pushed her away from him with a gentle but firm hand. “I’ll help you plan the proposal.”Itachi looked at her with a detached sort of interest. After the flower incident he didn’t really want her help – not with something this big. Although she had proved pretty useful in providing him with the wooden box.But she was a huge gossip and he didn’t want it to get back to Sakura that he was planning on proposing. He supposed that cat was already out of the bag, though.“Okay, you can help,” Itachi conceded. “But don’t tell Sakura anything.”Ino squealed again and Itachi just barely managed to evade her second hug. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Four days after Sasuke had gotten sick and one day after Shikamaru had arrived, he solved the code. For four days, Sakura had tended to Team 8 and Sasuke, nearly exhausting herself in the process. She couldn’t leave them unattended for any substantial length of time because of the fluid constantly building up in their lungs.And if it weren’t for Naruto lending her his chakra, she would never have been able to do it. But still – it had been four days since she had slept and the only thing providing her with any sustenance was a bag of quickly dwindling food pills.So when Shikamaru popped open the locked cabinet with a triumphant grin, Sakura felt the weight of the world melt off her shoulders.Just as she had suspected, Kabuto’s inoculations were inside. There were several rows of vaccines, plenty enough to give to everyone infected so far and still have some leftover to study when she got back to Konoha.And Sakura couldn’t wait to get back to Konoha. She missed her regular shift at the hospital. She missed Ino and Tsunade and Itachi.She knew they missed her, too. Just yesterday morning she had received a messenger bird with her notebook attached. Inside had been a note written by Ino – one that put a huge smile on her face in spite of the uselessness of sending the notebook. Ino had signed Itachi’s name too, though Sakura doubted he had much to do with it.But it was still sweet and it warmed her heart.After injecting her wards with the vaccine, Sakura noted that they were still quite fatigued and weak, though their condition was rapidly improving. The fluid in their lungs dissipated and their high fevers went away. She sent a surge of exploratory chakra in each of their systems to make sure their chakra was functioning normally and no longer had the stickiness that made their chakra difficult to use.And finding them to be back in perfect condition, Sakura instructed Naruto and Shikamaru to grab whoever they could and help her carry them back to Konoha. They needed to get to the hospital where they could be monitored until Sakura was sure they were all better.Not to mention she was dying to analyze the cure so she could duplicate it and never have to worry about it again.Naruto slung Sasuke over his shoulder, looking immensely relieved. “Thank you, Sakura,” he said, giving her a warm and appreciative smile. “I don’t know what we would do without you.”She returned his smile and heaved Kiba and Hinata up onto her shoulders. She turned to Shikamaru who had grabbed hold of Shino and the trio leapt off into the trees..When the Konoha gates came into sight, Sakura let out a sigh of relief. Having been informed that they would be arriving, the jonin at the security kiosk let them pass without fuss and the crew headed straight to the hospital where the four unconscious ninjas were sorted into their beds.Sakura watched as the nurses diagnosed her wards, but she kept a more watchful eye on Sasuke. He seemed to be doing much better, but she was concerned about how much fluid had been in lungs compared to Team 8. Sasuke might have a bit of trouble breathing when he woke up.Deciding that it would be best to run the extra syringe down to analysis and come back later, she turned to leave Sasuke’s room.Itachi was standing in the doorway when she turned around. In her exhaustion she hadn’t sensed him. He had an expression of concern on his, but he looked relieved at the same time.“Sakura,” he said hesitantly.“Itachi.”“How is he?”“His condition is stable,” she said. “He’s weak and will probably be unconscious for a little while longer, but he will be fine.”“And what about you?”She swallowed and resisted the urge to take a few steps toward him and collapse into him. She was drained and wanted nothing more than to curl up in bed and sleep for a few days.“Just a little tired,” she said.He gave her a skeptical look. “Maybe you should get some rest, then,” he said.“Yeah, I plan to, but I need to take this down to analysis first,” she answered. “And then I’d like to come back and check on Sasuke’s eyes when he wakes up.”“You haven’t slept in four days,” he said. It was an admonishment and for some reason it made Sakura’s heart clench.Sensing that something was wrong, Itachi reached forward and pulled her into his chest. Sakura let him, burying her face in his chest and nearly resting her full weight on him.“Come on,” he said. “I’ll go with you to take that syringe upstairs. Then we can get you home.”She shook her head. “What about Sasuke?”“Naruto is just outside,” he said, gesturing out the door. “He’ll stay with Sasuke.”.Itachi was patient with her and her sluggish movements. He stayed close beside her while she took the syringe to the lab and instructed the medic-nin there on what needed to be done with it.When they made it outside the hospital, Sakura let herself sag against him. She felt far too tired to walk all the way home and she said as much to Itachi.Without ceremony, he picked her up and leapt off in the opposite direction of her apartment.“Where are we going?” she managed to ask.“Home.”And then she realized that he was taking her to the Uchiha compound. It wasn’t her home and it didn’t feel like her home, but she was grateful that he was taking her there. It meant he wouldn’t leave her.And it was going to be her home soon anyway, she thought.So when he tucked her into his own bed and then joined her, curling his body around hers and nuzzling his face into the back of her neck, Sakura finally did feel like this was her home.“I’m glad you’re safe,” he murmured.“Me, too,” she said and then promptly fell asleep..Sakura woke up to smell of fried eggs. Her bones ached and her eyes felt crusted over. She had no idea how long she had been asleep, but she felt deeply content in the warm bed, nice and rested.She blinked her eyes open slowly and rubbed the grit from them.“Good morning.”Itachi stood before her with a tray of food in hand. She surveyed the tea, the eggs, the little vase of flowers. She could have cried at the sight.“You were out for about eighteen hours,” he said as he placed the tray into her lap.She pushed the tray away with a weary groan. “I’m not hungry,” she said, even though she knew she needed to eat some real food. The thought of chewing and swallowing turned her stomach, though, and all she really wanted was to curl back up and go back to sleep.“You really should eat, Sakura,” Itachi said patiently.She ignored the comment because she knew he was right.“How is Sasuke doing?” she asked.“He’s been discharged from the hospital,” he answered. “He and Naruto are out at the training grounds right now.”Sakura didn’t think that was such a good idea, but she supposed Sasuke needed to move around a little bit. He had been out for almost five days.“I want to go back to sleep,” she said, catching Itachi’s eye. He wore an amused grin that made her stomach flip.“Okay,” he said. “Do you want me to get you anything? A change of clothes? Something else to eat?”Sakura groaned again and flung a pillow at him. “Stop being so perfect,” she said. “Just come get into bed with me.”He chuckled and took the tray from her lap and set it on the nightstand before crawling into the bed. Belatedly, Sakura realized that it had been several days since she had bathed and she reeked.“I smell awful,” she said.“Yeah, you do.”She shoved him playfully and huffed. “I should take a shower.”“Would you like me to run a bath for you?”She smiled because that sounded really nice. She could sink into the warm water and relax. The only thing that sounded better than that was…“Only if you join me.”She felt him stiffen behind her, but a moment later he was pulling her out of bed with a coy smile..Sakura eased herself down into the water and leaned back against Itachi’s chest. She was surprised that he had agreed to this, but he seemed quite happy to be there. He offered to wash her hair for her – a luxury Sakura had never experienced before.And after feeling his magic fingers work the suds into her scalp, she figured he’d be doing it a lot more often now.“I’m really proud of you, hime,” he murmured into her ear.She scoffed. “I don’t know what for,” she said. “I didn’t come up with the cure. I wasn’t the one who cracked the code.”“You held four lives in your hands for four straight days,” he replied. “Sasuke is only still alive because of you.”Sakura shrugged indifferently, but she glowed under his praise. She didn’t think Itachi was the kind of person to fluff her up with less than genuine compliments. He had always been very honest with her about her strengths and weaknesses. It felt nice to know that he thought highly of her skill.“I really did not like being apart from you,” he said. She was struck by the sincerity, the vulnerability in his tone. “I was afraid for you, afraid for Sasuke. It was torture not knowing if you would come back.”She snorted. “Imagine what it will be like for me once we’re married,” she said. “I’ll have to stay home with the kids while you go put yourself in danger. And what happens if you die and leave my children fatherless and me a widow?”His fingers skimmed along the top of her thigh before they drifted between her legs and brushed across a more sensitive part of her anatomy. She let out a strained whimper and let her head fall back against his shoulder.“Don’t say things like that, hime,” he said. “I don’t plan on dying anytime soon. And even if I did, you still have Sasuke. And Naruto and Tsunade and your parents. And Kakashi and Tenzo. And Ino. And you even have—”“I get it, Itachi-kun,” she interrupted. “But none of them are you.”“I know. I’ll do my best to stay alive.”She purred contently because she couldn’t ask for anything more than that. He pressed a kiss into the junction of her neck and shoulder and she felt him smirk against her skin.“What?” she asked, feeling a smirk on her own face, too.“Nothing,” he said, pressing another kiss to her shoulder. “ I just like hearing you talk about our future children.”“Oh, yeah? You’re looking forward to being a father?”“Absolutely,” he answered. “I can’t wait to have a family again.”“I guess I should stop suppressing my periods, then.”“Pardon?”Sakura stifled a giggle. Being away from Konoha under such strenuous conditions had lit a fire under her. She could die on any mission. Itachi could die on any mission. She didn’t want either of them to die without being married – without having any children.And shinobi had notoriously short lifespans. Waiting might be the more prudent thing to do, but life was short and Sakura was optimistic for her future family.“I’ve been suppressing my period for years,” she explained. “It’s a nuisance and painful most of the time, and by not having one I eliminated the risk of accidental pregnancy. But now it won’t be accidental.”“You’re ready to have children right now?” he asked. The shock in his tone was unmistakable and it almost made Sakura laugh.“Sure,” she said. “I want a family, too.”“Sakura, I don’t want you to feel pressured into getting pregnant because you think I want you to,” he said with a tone that was so patient and understanding that it was almost patronizing.And that time she didn’t stifle her laughter. “If anything pressured me, it was that mission,” she said. She felt Itachi’s arms tighten around her. “I could have died out there. And I would have died with no children and no husband.”Itachi was silent in response to that and Sakura wished she could see his face just then.“And if I had died out there,” she continued. “Then you’d have to find someone else. The thought of someone else being the mother of your children makes me feel physically ill.”She heard Itachi chuckle darkly and she leaned back against him, resting her head on his shoulder. He kissed her temple sighed contentedly.“You don’t have to worry about that,” he said. “You’re the one I want to be the mother of my children, and if you die before that happens then you’ll never know about whoever your replacement is.”“I’m irreplaceable, Itachi,” she said. “If I die then you better be alone and miserable for the rest of your life.”He laughed again and let his fingers splay across her thigh. Giving them a quick glance she noticed that they were beginning to get wrinkled.“I’m kidding, of course.”“I know,” he replied, pressing another kiss to her temple.“You know I’d do anything to make you happy.”“Yeah, I know.”“I’d even let some other girl have you.”“That wouldn’t make me happy,” he said, his lips moving against her skin. She shifted in the circle of his arms so that she was sideways in the tub and could look at his face.“What if she’s better looking than me?”“Impossible.”“What if she’s funnier than me?”“Humor is subjective.”“What if she’s a better ninja than I am?”“No one is a better medic nin than you.”“What if she can cook?”Itachi hummed thoughtfully, tapping his finger against his lips. “I’d consider it,” he said with mock sincerity. “But she’d have to be really, really good at it.”Sakura crossed her arms and pretended to pout.“But you know what would make me really happy?” he asked. Sakura shook her head. “If you were already my wife.”“Already?”He nodded, rubbing the pad of his thumb over the skin of his thigh. “Yes, we should have been married a long time ago. I knew from the moment I met you that I wanted to marry you.”“Bullshit.”He laughed. “In between my decision to either kill you or try to escape I thought, ‘She would make a wonderful wife and mother.’”Sakura gasped with faux outrage. “You thought about killing me?”“As a last resort,” he amended, though it didn’t make Sakura feel any better. “I thought you would send word back to Konoha that I was in Toyeiki and I couldn’t let you do that until I was long gone.”“But then you got sick.”“And a beautiful and talented kunoichi made me better.”Sakura ignored the compliment, but if the heat from the water hadn’t already flushed her skin she would have blushed.“That would have been it for me, then,” she said, turning back forward and leaning back against him again. “I wouldn’t have been able to escape from you. You would have killed me.”“You could have escaped,” he argued. “You’ve caught me off guard during our spars.”“You never wanted to kill me during our spars.”“I didn’t want to kill you then, either.”“But still,” she mumbled. “You could have. And you thought about it.”“If it makes you feel any better,” he said. “Even before I fell ill I never had any intention of hurting you. I had decided to use a genjutsu and escape. I was going to leave you underneath the tree and hope someone from town found you.”“Well, my plan was just to make it through our encounter alive,” she replied. “But I went and ran my huge mouth off instead.”“In all honesty, I wasn’t concerned with you very much. I knew who you were, but I was more concerned with your connection to Sasuke at the time,” he said. “Though I did find your brashness to be charming.”“I’m not brash.”“You are definitely brash.”Sakura huffed and crossed her arms, sloshing water out of the tub in the process.“I did say I found that charming, right?”“Yes, you did,” she said. “But you should go back to talking about what a wonderful wife and mother I would be.”“Oh, you’d be the best,” he said. “With you as the matriarch the Uchiha clan will easily grow to be even more powerful and fearsome than it once was.”“Aren’t you worried about me muddying up the bloodline?”“Only if you passed on your pink hair to my son,” he said with a touch of humor in his tone. “But you’ve already alleviated that fear.”“So,” she began, and her no nonsense tone seemed to suck the joviality from the room. “You want to get married now, then?”“Whenever you’re ready, of course,” was his easy reply.“I’m ready now.”She felt Itachi freeze behind her, his fingers pausing in their delicate ministrations on her bare legs. “Now?” he asked.“Yeah, now,” she answered. “I want to be married to you now.”“It’s okay if you want to wait until the end of the year,” he said. He seemed somewhat breathless and a little confused.“No, I don’t want to do that,” she said. She already knew that Itachi wanted to be married as soon as possible. It was sweet of him to be concerned about her wishes, but after her mission, she was inclined to share his opinion on the matter.“Sakura.”She inched forward and grabbed the towel hanging on the edge of the tub and sat up. “Come on, Itachi-kun, the water is getting cold,” she said. She folded her legs underneath her and moved to stand up, but Itachi’s firm grip on her arm held her in place.“Sakura.”“Don’t ask me to marry you while we’re in the bathtub, please.”His grip on her arm loosened and she hesitantly smiled at him.“I thought you wanted to wait,” he said. “At least until the end of the year.”“I did,” she said with a shrug. “But now I don’t want to.”“Why not?”“Because I am absolutely sure that you are the person I want to be with,” she answered. “And I don’t want to waste anymore of my time not being married to you. Besides, the sooner we are married, the sooner we can begin restoring our clan.”Itachi was visibly startled by her usage of the word ‘our.’ Maybe that had been a bit too much, Sakura thought. After all, it wasn’t her clan yet, and even after they were married she still wouldn’t be an Uchiha by blood.An apology, a retraction of her poor choice of words was on the tip of her tongue, but before she could get it out Itachi grabbed her face and pulled her into a kiss. She shrieked and grabbed the side of the tub to keep her balance. She was sitting at an awkward angle now, but she couldn’t bring herself to care too much. Itachi was warm and wet and his kiss was tender.When they broke apart Sakura noticed that his eyes were bright and glassy. He looked relieved and happy.“You’re not going to ask me to marry you right now, are you?”“I’m not going to ask you at all,” he said with a grin. “I already know your answer.”“What?” she snapped. “I want a ring.”“Alright, let’s go get you a ring.”He shifted and helped her stand up, then wrapped the towel and around once he was on his feet.“How about I take a quick nap first?” she asked, stifling a yawn.“How about I make you something to eat and then you take a nap?” he suggested.“And then we go get a ring.”He smiled warmly at her and kissed her on the mouth. “Deal.”.Two days later Sakura wore a rather expensive ring on her finger, much to Ino’s envy.“It’s beautiful!” she exclaimed, grabbing Sakura’s hand and twisting it in all different ways so she could watch how the jewels caught the light. “So you’re officially engaged now?”“That’s right,” Itachi answered before Sakura could. He placed a steaming mug of tea in front of Sakura and kissed the top of her head. Sakura beamed up at him before taking a sip of her tea.“So I guess all my meddling was for nothing, then?” Ino asked. “Itachi didn’t even propose to you.”Sakura’s head snapped in Ino’s direction. “What meddling?” she demanded. “What did you do while I was gone?”Ino waved her hand flippantly in the air before receiving her mug from Itachi. “Nothing, nothing,” she said. “It was hardly even meddling by my standards.”Sakura glanced at Itachi who smiled but offered no information.“Just tell me,” Sakura insisted.“Nothing drastic,” Ino said defensively. “I just showed him the wooden box under your bed.”“You did what?”“Itachi wanted to know more about you and I thought it would be the best way for him to do that while you were out of the village,” Ino said with a shrug. She was much too nonchalant for someone who just admitted to sharing extremely private things with someone she had no business sharing them with.Sakura clenched her fists at her side and clenched her teeth.“Don’t be angry with her, hime,” Itachi said, placing a comforting hand on Sakura’s shoulder. “She was only trying to help.”“That was personal stuff,” Sakura argued. “She had no right to share it.”Itachi rolled his eyes, which only served to agitate Sakura even further. But before she could snap at him, he sat down across from her with his own mug of tea and gave her a wry smile. “I couldn’t help but notice,” he said. “That there weren’t many things from me in there.”Sakura blanched because that was true, but it wasn’t really her fault. The nature of their relationship wasn’t conducive to saving knick-knacks and other sundries. Of course she kept what she had – the receipt from their date, and she still had the lilies he had given her on her kitchen table.And now she had a ring on her finger, too.“That doesn’t mean anything, Itachi-kun,” she said. “You’re more important to me than all the things in that box.”Ino made a noise of adoration that both Sakura and Itachi ignored.“I know,” he said. “I only meant that I need to be giving you more things to put in there.”“You’re already giving me a house and a clan. And I have this ring. And our future children,” Sakura said. “You don’t need to give me anything else.”Ino smacked her arm. “Don’t deter a hot guy from buying you things, Sakura.”Sakura rolled her eyes, but Itachi at least looked amused.“I wasn’t talking about buying anything,” he said. “I have something else for you, Sakura.”He left the room, giving Sakura an opportunity to glare at Ino.“You’re the worst,” she said to the blonde. “I can’t believe you showed him the box.”“He was worried about you and he needed a distraction,” Ino said. “And you should have seen his face. He was so reverent, touching everything like it was so freaking precious. It was adorable.”Sakura’s ire melted a little, but not enough to prevent her from sending one last glare in the blonde’s direction before Itachi reentered the room.He placed a small bamboo fan on the table in front of her. It looked to be in pristine condition. The paper was navy blue with the Uchiha fan printed on the front. Tentatively, Sakura picked it up and flipped it over, inspecting it from every angle.“My mother made it when she was young,” he explained. “She used to have it displayed in her bedroom, but she gave it to me after the first time I successfully performed a fireball jutsu.”“And you’re giving it to me?” she asked, looking up at him with wide eyes.“Yeah, to put in your box.”She set it back down on the table and stood up. “Thank you, Itachi-kun,” she said, wrapping her arms around his waist. “But I think I want to display it in the bedroom.”He set his palm against the top of her head and beamed down at her. “It’s yours now, so you can do whatever you like with it.”“Aww, look at Sakura all proud to be a part of a clan,” Ino cooed from her seat at the table.“I’m not an Uchiha yet,” Sakura said to Ino.“But it’s only a matter of time, right?” Ino asked. “Have you guys set a date?”“Two weeks from today,” Itachi answered.“Two weeks?” Ino demanded with a voice far too shrill to be used inside. “I don’t have a dress yet. You haven’t planned anything. There’s no venue, no food, no music. How the hell are you going to plan a wedding in two weeks?”“Calm down, Ino,” Sakura said with a roll of her eyes. “We won’t be having a ceremony. We’re just going to have Tsunade marry us at the Hokage tower.”Ino’s eyes widened almost comically and she blinked in surprise several times. “I beg your pardon?”“If we plan a huge wedding we’ll have to push back the date,” Sakura explained. “And we both want to be married as soon as possible.”“But I wanted to be your maid of honor.”“You can still be my maid of honor.”“It’s not the same,” she wailed.“Oh, Ino,” Sakura said with a sigh. “It’s not that big a deal. I’m sure your wedding will be grand enough to make up for it.”“I guess it will have to be.”Though there was a dejected quality to her tone (and Sakura knew that Ino would not take this information well), Ino looked happy for her best friend. When she smiled brightly, her blue eyes wavering with genuine love for her, Sakura felt so happy she thought her heart would explode. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- “Itachi-kun, I want some watermelon.”Itachi cast a glance at his wife, whose swollen belly was pressed against his hip. Her head was resting on his chest – he could feel the tickle of her hair (which was now quite long) against his neck.He had been thoroughly enjoying a nice nap before her request, but he knew it was only a matter of time. Napping with a nine months pregnant woman rarely ended positively.Itachi had been forewarned, not just by Ino, Shizune, Tsunade, and Kakashi, but also Sakura herself that pregnant women tended to be on the more… unreasonable side. They had each told him tales of women going on rampages, demanding things they couldn’t have, and just generally being unruly.He had some doubts about this from the beginning. He couldn’t recall his mother ever having acted that way when she was pregnant with Sasuke. Nonetheless, Itachi had prepared himself for the onslaught he was sure to receive from Sakura, who already had a bit of a penchant for violence.However, much to his relief, Sakura was relatively normal during her pregnancy. She didn’t make outrageous demands, or throw temper tantrums. In fact, for the most part, it seemed her pregnancy made her rather sleepy. She took several naps a day at this point, and she nearly always requested Itachi’s presence for these.And Itachi had absolutely no complaints about that. Nothing made him happier than curling up in his bed for a quick nap with his wife. Such a simple pleasure, it was, but it was that kind of thing Itachi never imagined he would ever be able to do.But he was experienced enough now to know that each of Sakura’s naps ended with a very specific food craving.Watermelon was not in season. It would be nearly impossible to get his hands on some.“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather have some coconut? Or a pear?” he ventured.“No, I want watermelon.”Itachi shifted a little bit so that he was almost sitting up. Sakura did not make this process easy as she continued to rest her full (now ample) weight against him.“I can go look for some,” he said with his most appeasing tone. “But I don’t want you to be disappointed if I can’t find any.”She cracked an eye open and looked at him. Itachi was suddenly swept up in a crazy surge of affection for her. She looked glowing and beautiful and she was resting on him in such a comforting way. It was hard to believe that she was his wife sometimes. It was hard to imagine a world in which a girl like her would choose to be with someone like him.And it was harder still to believe that she was pregnant with his child – his son. Any day now the Uchiha clan would have a new heir. He would a father. Sakura would be a mother. Sasuke would be an uncle. It was just too much to wrap his mind around.He placed his hand on her belly, feeling for any kicking or movement from the tiny baby inside. The baby had been moving for a while now, but Itachi never tired of feeling those blessed movements – ones that confirmed that there was indeed a child in there.“He’s asleep, I think,” Sakura said, watching him move his hands across her stomach.Itachi smiled at her and kissed her, feeling a pleasant bubble of warmth spreading through his chest.“Alright,” Itachi said with a regretful sigh. He carefully extracted himself from underneath Sakura and got to his feet. “There’s a council meeting in a few hours so I better get started looking for that watermelon.”“I probably won’t even want watermelon in a couple of hours,” she admitted. “So maybe you should just stay here with me instead.”Itachi looked at her in surprise, because even though Sakura was far tamer than most pregnant women, she still could be quite demanding with her food cravings. But he wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth, so he kept his mouth shut.Instead, he simply curled back around her and smiled into her neck. How could his life possibly be any more perfect than it was right now?“Scratch that,” Sakura said and then hissed sharply. “I think I’m going into labor.”Itachi sprang up in a panic. “Are you serious?” he asked. “Are you having contractions?”He watched her wince as she sat up and then clench her teeth. “It’s okay, Itachi-kun,” she placated (which Itachi might have been amused by if he hadn’t felt so frazzled). “I think it was a contraction, but they’re still far apart. We have plenty of time to get to the hospital.”“Okay, hime,” he said, kissing the top of her head. “Stay here. I’ll go get your bags.”When he returned with her bags she had somehow decided that it was best to go back to sleep. She was still curled up in the bed, her head tucked into her arms. Apparently her contractions were far enough apart that she could nap between them.“Wake up, hime,” he said with a gentle hand on her shoulder. “I need you to come have my baby.”.Itachi paced up and down the hospital hallways. On more than one occasion he had been scolded by a nurse or an orderly, but he wasn’t in the best frame of mind to give them any attention.Sakura had been in labor for hours, and even though he knew she was in the best possible care, he couldn’t help but be nervous. Sporadically, Tsunade would make an appearance to give him an update, but it had been almost an hour since he had last seen her and he was beginning to fret.“How is she doing?”Itachi whirled around at the sound of the familiar voice. In his extreme discomfort he hadn’t even sensed them approach. Sasuke and Naruto stood behind him and for a moment he forgot all about his nerves because they were holding hands and he had never seen them do that in public before.“I have no idea,” Itachi said, tactfully rerouting his gaze to Naruto’s face. “They won’t let me see her. She’s been in there for hours.”“Ah, you know how Tsunade-baa-sama is,” Naruto said glibly. “I’m not sure she’d be that upset if you just went in there anyway.”Sasuke reached up with his free hand and smacked Naruto on the back of the head. “Don’t listen to him, Itachi,” he said. “Don’t risk it.”Itachi was all too aware of the wrath of Tsunade – he didn’t plan on risking it anyway. He gave his brother an understanding look. Sasuke was wearing his ANBU uniform, which still gave Itachi a bit of a shock. It had been several months since Sasuke had joined ANBU now, and Itachi couldn’t shake the weird feeling it gave him to see his brother wearing those clothes.He hadn’t been alone in feeling that way. Naruto also felt it strange that Sasuke had decided to join ANBU. After all, Sasuke’s loyalty to Konoha had always been shaky at best. It didn’t seem congruent that he would want to do the village’s dirty work.But as both Naruto and Itachi discovered, Sasuke was good at the work and he enjoyed it. He was often sent on solo missions, which were much better suited for him than taking missions with Team 7.Especially since Team 7 was down one very pregnant member.Behind Itachi the door opened and Shizune popped her head out.“You can come in now, Itachi-san,” she said. Her smile was definitely an encouraging sign and Itachi wasted no time getting himself through that elusive doorway. He didn’t turn back to see Naruto and Sasuke, but he could hear Naruto demand to be let in as well, much to Shizune’s displeasure.But Itachi wasn’t worried about that.Sakura was still glowing, even with her hair matted against her forehead with sweat. He could sense that her chakra level was low, which frightened him a bit, but he could see that she was beaming proudly at a little white bundle in her arms. She was fine. The baby was fine.Hesitantly, he approached the side of her bed, peering down into her arms to see his son’s face.And it was impossible to describe the feeling of elation that floated through him when he saw that face. His eyes were screwed shut, but he was cooing and whimpering. His tiny fingers were curled around Sakura’s thumb.“Can I hold him?” he asked quietly.“Of course you can,” Sakura answered. “He’s your son, isn’t he?”“Alright, let’s give the new family some privacy,” Tsunade said from the end of the bed. Itachi had barely registered her presence in his brain, but he was thankful for her suggestion. Shizune and Tsunade filed out of the room.Once the door had been shut behind them, Sakura patted the bed beside her.“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said. “You’ve been in here for hours. Are you sure you’re alright? Your chakra is low.”Sakura rolled her eyes and shifted over anyway. “I’m fine, you dolt,” she said teasingly. “Just sit down so you can hold your son.”This time he did as he was told and joined her on the bed. Carefully, Sakura handed the baby over. Itachi was surprised by how heavy he seemed for something so small. He was reminded so much of when Sasuke had been born – how tiny and fragile he had been.But now Sasuke was fully-grown and capable of taking care of himself. And soon enough so would the little bundle in his arms.The baby opened his eyes and Itachi was startled to see that they were a lighter green than Sakura’s. His mop of hair was as black as any other Uchiha’s – maybe even darker. Itachi’s own hair was browner than Sasuke’s, but it looked like this little wonder took after his uncle.“I think his eyes might darken up once he gets older,” Sakura said. He could tell by the strain in her voice that she was exhausted. He felt her lean into his shoulder, her sweat soaking through his shirt. “That happens with most babies.”Itachi made a noise of acknowledgement and held his finger out for the baby to grasp the way he had Sakura’s.“Have you thought about what you want to name him?” she asked.Itachi paused, because he had thought about it. Sakura had been suspiciously silent about naming the boy, even when pressed about the issue. Itachi had wanted to let her pick out the name. He wasn’t very good with that type of thing. Sakura had been the one in charge of everything else – the new nursery, buying baby clothes and other things babies needed. Why not the name, too?But truthfully he was grateful that she had given this opportunity to him because he absolutely did have a name in mind.“Shisui.”“Shisui Uchiha,” she murmured, testing the name on her tongue. “My son, Shisui Uchiha.”The baby cooed again and reached out to grasp Itachi’s outstretched finger. His grip was strong for someone so small.“It’s perfect,” Sakura said, pressing herself closer into Itachi’s side so she could peer at the baby’s face. “He’s perfect.”Itachi agreed wholeheartedly..The following weeks proved to be much more of a nightmare than Itachi had anticipated. The arrival of baby Shisui was met with celebration all across Konoha. Many of the clans brought them gifts for the baby, showing up at the Uchiha compound daily to drop off their baked goods, toys, and other things babies sometimes need.There was constant talk all over the village of how little baby Shisui would grow up to be the most fearsome Uchiha yet. Itachi found this idea to be concerning. It was inevitable that he would become a shinobi. Itachi was well aware that his condition for the council seat was purely so Konoha would be able to have the Sharingan in its arsenal still.But it wasn’t something he liked to think about. He himself would not have chosen to be a shinobi if there had been an option. Of course there hadn’t been and he was a fine shinobi. Shisui would be, too. But Itachi longed to give him that choice – to let him decide his own fate.Itachi tried not to let these thoughts linger, because at this point there wasn’t much he could do about it.And he was far too preoccupied with the constant crying, diaper changes, and waking up in the middle of the night. Baby Shisui required constant attention and it was running both Sakura and Itachi ragged.Itachi actually missed taking missions – even they were more relaxing than this.But on one quiet afternoon while Sakura had retreated into the bedroom for a quick nap, Itachi found himself alone with his son who was in a rare mood. Baby Shisui was smiling and cooing, watching his father with fascination. Itachi didn’t think it was possible to love someone as much as he loved that little boy.Now that Shisui had been home for a couple of weeks, Itachi was beginning to notice the resemblances he shared with his parents. He had his mother’s eyes, of course – bright and green, even shaped like hers.But he was unmistakably an Uchiha. Itachi didn’t spend a significant amount of time looking at his own face, but he could see how much the baby resembled him just by how much he resembled Sasuke. In fact, he looked remarkably similar to how Sasuke had looked when he was a baby.He didn’t know exactly why, but that thought brought a huge smile to his face. He extended a rattle for Shisui to hold. Shisui gripped it tightly in his tiny fist.“Knock knock.”Itachi turned to the front door and saw Naruto pushing his face through the partially opened door.“Can we come in?” he asked.After Sakura and Itachi had been married, Sakura insisted that Sasuke move out of the main house. Itachi would have been content to let him stay there with them, but Sakura was adamantly against it. Sasuke, much to Itachi’s relief, didn’t seem to mind at all. In fact, he seemed rather pleased to move into a new house.He had taken the house just across the street from them so they could still be close. It made the Uchiha compound feel alive again – and Itachi hoped that within a few decades that it would begin to grow more and more.Not long after Sasuke moved Naruto moved in with him. They had hidden this fact from Itachi – or at least purposefully avoided telling him. Itachi was well aware when Naruto started sleeping there. He could always sense the kyuubi’s massive chakra. But for some reason they felt that he would not be okay with it. Itachi didn’t mind at all, though. He was happy for his brother.“Yeah, come on in, Naruto.”“I’ve got Sachi and Yamato with me,” he said hesitantly. “They want to see the baby.”Naruto entered the house, followed closely by Yamato and Sasuke, who carried Sachi on his back.“He’s so tiny!” Yamato exclaimed, running up to look at the baby.Itachi pulled Shisui close to his chest so that Yamato could look over his shoulder into his face. Shisui squirmed and smiled, still clinging onto Itachi’s fingers.“Can I hold him?” Yamato asked.“Yes, but you have to be very careful with him,” Itachi warned. “And make sure you support his head.”Itachi passed Shisui to Yamato, taking care to keep his head supported. Yamato grinned and started making cooing noises of his own down at the little baby, causing Itachi to grin too.Sachi took full advantage of Itachi’s now free lap and inserted herself in it to watch what was happening. She was a bit too old now for that kind of behavior, but Itachi allowed it this time. He imagined she might start to feel a bit of jealousy with the new baby around.“How are you adjusting to parenthood, Itachi?” Sasuke asked.Itachi glanced up at his brother and noticed with wry amusement that his eyes were locked onto the baby.“It’s a lot more exhausting than I would have imagined,” Itachi answered. “He needs constant attention and he’s awake all night.”“You know we’re both right across the street if you ever need any help,” Sasuke said. Itachi didn’t know why that surprised him so much. Of course Sasuke would offer to help take care of his nephew. But it was hard to imagine Sasuke taking care of a tiny baby.“Would you like to hold him?” Itachi asked.Sasuke blanched. “No,” he said. “Not right now. It’s Yamato’s turn.”“He’s asleep,” Yamato said with a dejected tone.Itachi peered over into the bundle and saw that Shisui was indeed asleep.“Okay, my turn then,” Naruto said. He took the bundle carefully from Yamato’s arms and smiled down at the sleeping face. “He looks just like you, Sasuke.”Sasuke grunted in response, but Itachi didn’t miss the flicker of something (pride, maybe?) that flashed across his face.“Here, Sasuke, why don’t you hold him?” Naruto said, extending the bundle toward Sasuke. “You haven’t held him yet, have you?”It was true that Sasuke had yet to hold the baby. Back after Shisui had been born, the only person who had not held him was Sasuke. The only person who left the hospital before the baby had fallen asleep had been Sasuke. Did Sasuke not like Shisui? Wasn’t this what he wanted – for Itachi to restore the clan?“Ouch, Yamato, stop it!” Sachi squealed from Itachi’s lap. Yamato was pulling at her hair and making faces at her.“Hush,” Itachi said, grabbing Yamato’s hand and pushing it away from them. “You’re going to wake the baby.”“He pulled my hair!”Naruto rolled his eyes. “Come on, guys, let’s go outside and play,” he said, pushing baby Shisui into Sasuke’s less than receptive arms. “You’re going to wake up the baby with all that noise.”Itachi was grateful when Naruto took Sachi by the hand and led both her and Yamato outside. He was less than amused, though, to see Sasuke’s stricken expression while he gazed down at the sleeping baby in his arms.“Sasuke,” Itachi began. The room felt much too empty now with just the two of them and little Shisui. “Do you not like him? Why do you look so uncomfortable?”“Of course I like him,” Sasuke said defensively. “I’ve just never held a baby before.”“The only baby I’d ever held before was you,” Itachi said. “And that was a long time ago. It’s a little frightening, to be honest. He’s so fragile and delicate. And I have to make sure that he grows up to be a good man.”“He’s the future of the Uchiha,” Sasuke agreed reverently.“This is what you wanted, isn’t it?” Itachi asked.Sasuke looked up at him, tearing his eyes away from the baby. Itachi was startled by the intensity of his gaze and he almost flinched.“What I wanted?”“Yes,” Itachi said with a hint of bemusement. “You wanted me to marry and have children, didn’t you?”“Itachi, you didn’t marry Sakura and knock her up just because you thought that’s what I wanted, did you?” Sasuke asked.Itachi blinked, not sure exactly how to respond to that. Of course he loved Sakura and his desire to be with her specifically had nothing to do with Sasuke. But if Sakura had never been in the picture, he would probably have done exactly what Sasuke suggested.“I love Sakura. She’s the best thing that ever happened to me,” Itachi said. “There is nothing I wouldn’t do for her. It’s pure coincidence, or maybe luck, that that is the case. But if circumstances had been different, then yes, I would have married whomever I had to.”“To restore the clan…” Sasuke said uncertainly.“For you,” Itachi clarified. “To give you a new family after the one I took away from you.”Sasuke pressed his lips together in a thin line and looked down into his arms again. Maybe he had laid it on a little thick, but Itachi hoped that Sasuke understood how important he was to him. All of his actions, were motivated by a desire to make Sasuke happy. After all the pain he had caused his brother, the least he could do was spend the rest of his life trying to make up for it.And he knew he could never really do that. But this was a good start. Sasuke was an uncle now. And he had Naruto. He could begin to put his life back together now.“He does look a lot like me,” Sasuke said. Itachi heard the baby make a small, squeaky grunt. “It’s a bit jarring that his eyes are green, though. Do you think he’ll still be to awaken the Sharingan?”“He should be.”Both Sasuke and Itachi turned to look at Sakura, who had risen from her slumber and was leaning against the doorframe. Itachi couldn’t help but smile at the sight of her. She looked exhausted still, and was wearing some quite unflattering pajamas. But she was beautiful nonetheless.“He has the right receptors in his eyes,” she continued. “So I don’t think it will make a difference that they are green.”Itachi stood to greet his wife and kissed her on the cheek. “What are you doing out of bed?” he asked. “You should be sleeping.”She smiled warmly at him and took Shisui from Sasuke’s arms. Sasuke looked immensely relieved to no longer be holding the fragile baby.“I need to feed him,” she explained. “Or use the breast pump.”Sasuke made a face of disgust. “I’ll take my leave, then.”“No, no,” she insisted. “You stay here and catch up with Itachi. I’ll go into the other room.”Itachi watched her leave with his son, his gaze lingering in the doorway long after she had gone. A comfortable silence fell over the room. Outside, Itachi could hear Sachi giggling.He suddenly felt very tired and he let his weight sag against the chair behind him.“Are you okay?” Sasuke asked.Itachi looked at him and saw the concern on his face. “I’m fine,” he answered. “Just tired. Overwhelmed.”Sasuke took the seat next to him. “Overwhelmed, huh?” he asked. “When we were younger you always seemed invincible. Nothing ever got to you. And now look at you – wiped out by a three week old baby.”“I wonder if it was like this for Father and Mother.”“Father always seemed so stern and serious,” Sasuke said. “It’s hard to imagine him holding a baby.”“You should have seen him holding you,” Itachi said with a smile. “He adored you so much. It was one of the few times I saw him smile.”Sasuke smiled – small but definitely happy.“Well,” Sasuke said. “You certainly smile a lot more than I remember.”Itachi let out a small noise of frustration. It was true that he had not smiled very much in his youth for reasons that were quite obvious now. But if anyone would have seen Itachi smiling, it would have been Sasuke. Itachi’s happiest memories were all of Sasuke.And now Sakura, too. And soon enough, little Shisui.But maybe he should have been happier back then. Yes, his situation had been dire and unavoidable. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t have enjoyed more of those fleeting moments with Sasuke.“Are you happy, Itachi?”“Of course,” he replied without missing a beat.“What is it that you want?” Sasuke probed. “You’ve always focused on me and my happiness. But what about yours?”“I’m happy, Sasuke,” Itachi said with a hint of exasperation. “Why do you think I’m not?”“Because almost every serious conversation we have is you explaining that you just want me to be happy,” Sasuke said with exasperation of his own. “And I am happy. I understand all the pain and suffering you went through for my sake. But now it’s your turn to be happy. And I want to make sure that happens.”Itachi smiled and felt a twinge of skepticism. Sasuke certainly hadn’t been concerned about what Itachi wanted when he demanded that he marry Sakura and have children immediately.“Your meddling helped push me into Sakura’s arms,” Itachi said. “That’s the place I feel the happiest, so I suppose I have you to thank for that.”Sasuke rolled his eyes. “I’m serious.”“So am I.”Sakura chose that moment to reenter the room, sans baby this time. She had a blanket wrapped around her, and in spite of the dark circles under her eyes, she was smiling brightly.“Shisui is asleep again,” she said, glancing between Sasuke and Itachi.“Don’t you want to go back to bed then?” Itachi asked. She had stayed up nearly all night with the baby crying. She had to be sleepy.“I just want to sit with you,” she said, crawling into Itachi’s lap in much the same way Sachi had. Itachi lifted his arms to accommodate her and rubbed gentle circles into her back.Sasuke stood up, looking a bit uncomfortable. “I’ll give you two some privacy.”“She’s already asleep,” Itachi said.Sure enough, Sakura had already dozed off and was snoring in the most unflattering manner. Sasuke rolled his eyes and left anyway, leaving Itachi grinning.Itachi had no idea how to create an identity for himself or how to be happy independently from Sasuke. Sasuke had been the root of his entire world. And now he had a beautiful and loving wife, a strong, healthy son, and a place back in Konoha where he was respected and valued.If Sasuke hadn’t pushed him in this direction… If he hadn’t met Sakura in Toyeiki… Well, his life might be completely different than this.But he couldn’t imagine a more perfect life than this one. And he was truly happy.
10922961	Seas a part but I love	{ "Archive Warning": "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings", "Category": "F/F", "Characters": "Sherlock Holmes, John Watson", "Fandom": "Sherlock (TV)", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Not Rated", "author": "by Suchafangirl23", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-16T00:00:00", "words": "1,167", "Additional Tags": "Female Sherlock Holmes, Female John Watson, Overseas!John, John is serving over seas, sherlock is cute, John is cute, Sherlock Holmes Loves John Watson, John Watson Loves Sherlock Holmes, Established Sherlock Holmes/John Watson, Marriage Proposal, they miss each other, Skype calls", "Relationship": "Sherlock Holmes/John Watson", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": "Waiting on my love to return", "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	"John!" Sherlock exclaims happily as her girlfriend's beautiful tanned face appears on her laptop screen."Hello, love," John answers with a grin. Even from the terrible connection, Sherlock can still see her girlfriend's dark blue eyes twinkle. "How have you been? Not getting into too much trouble, I hope." John smirks at Sherlock's aggrieved groan."I miss you terribly. But, logically I suppose things could be worse."John nods as a sad smile comes to her lips. Sherlock has never liked that smile. She finds that she dislikes it even more when her girlfriend is a thousand miles away and she's not there to be able to kiss it away. "I miss you too, love. So much." Sherlock feels her eyes burning with unshed tears and she looks away from the screen for a minute. She knows John doesn't mind her crying in front of her but she doesn't want to add anymore stress to her brave army doctor and soldier. God knows she has more than enough of stress being shot at everyday and holding the lives of her fellow soldiers in her hands."Hey, sweetheart," John's warm voice coos over the speakers of Sherlock's laptop. Sniffing, Sherlock wipes her nose and looks back at her girlfriend's loving face. "Enough tears for tonight, alright?" She asks, unconditional love showing in her face and words. Sherlock nods and wipes her damp cheeks. "What did you today?" John asks, "tell me everything."Usually, Sherlock would find this irrational and unneeded but that was before she met her wonderful John. John doesn't ask to be polite, she asks because she's genuinely curious and it makes Sherlock happy that someone doesn't just ask to be polite. "My brother stopped by today." She starts and watches as John's blue eyes narrow into suspicious slits."We both know that he didn't just stop by for a cup of tea, Sherl." John deadpans and Sherlock can't keep the giggle from escaping as she stares at her girlfriend's unimpressed face. "He's the bloody British Government. What did you do to cause your very powerful older brother to just "stop by", hmmm?" A loud crash causes John's head to whip around so fast that Sherlock is afraid she may have just caused herself whiplash. Looking back to the screen, John smiles apologetically. "I'll be right back, love." And with that she zooms out of her small office and Sherlock watches as her short, compact body disappears down the narrow hospital hallway.Sherlock takes a minute to look at the walls and shelves she can see. John's office is small but well kept. From their previous skype conversations Sherlock knows that her girlfriend's office has a large desk (red maple and cherry wood), two fairly decent sized bookshelves which contain nothing but medical Journals and reference books (Yes, Sherlock, I am aware that you find biology dull and unimportant. But, I'm a doctor and have to find such topics interesting.) and a small fan because according to John "This hell hole is about as hot as Satan's prick" and a fan is truly required.A small black box catches Sherlock's eyes. Anyone with level intelligence could tell that is, without a doubt, a ring box. But, why would John have a ring box in her possession. Has someone dared to give John a ring when most all her comrades now that she is ahem very much taken? Do they not know that she is very, very protective? There's a picture of them kissing placed proudly on John's desk, for god's sake! Sherlock makes a low unhappy growling noise as she leans closer to the screen to try and get more data on the black box which the genius is now considering the bane of her existence. She's so enthralled with the hateful black box that she literally jumps back and screams when John sits back down in her chair."Love?" John asks and her eyes twinkle with amusement as she watches her girlfriend try to recover from her show of surprise. "You okay, there?""Box!" Sherlock blurts. John's eyebrows draw together in confusion and she looks at her with an uncomprehending look."Pardon?" John asks as she cocks her head a little to the left."There's a black ring box on the bookshelf behind you. Have you anything to tell me, darling?" Sherlock asks, making her voice go cold. John's eyes widen and she chuckles awkwardly and roughly scratches the back of her head."Oh, um, that."Sherlock narrows her eyes and waits for John to explain."It's an engagement ring." She says and her cheeks turn a lovely shade of red. Cool dread feels Sherlock's chest and she releases it with an icy, "Well, congratulations! I'll have all my stuff out by Monday and don't bother sending an invitation. You know how much a loathe weddings."She reaches to close the lid of her laptop when John's voice yells, "Now just wait a sodding minute, you tit!" Sherlock pushes the laptop lid back up, cursing herself when she feels the slide of hot tears."Sherlock," John says after a minute of silence, "the ring is for you." Sherlock snaps her head up and John is just staring at her."Wh-what?" Sherlock says as she hastily wipes the tears away with her sweater's sleeve. John sighs, pushes her blonde hair back and chuckles."Yeah. I was, um, going to wait until I was on my leave. Make it stupidly cheesy and romantic. Angelo's. Probably should've hid it a bit better now that I think about it...""You," Sherlock's voice cracks, she clears her throat and tries again, "You want to m-marry me?"John nods, her jaw tight and eyes burning. "Of course I want to marry you, Sherlock. I've been in love with you for years." John's eyes widen in fear, "Unless you don't want to marry me?""Yes!" Sherlock blurts. John's face falls."Ah. Well, I guess I'll return the ring then..." her hand reaches out to turn off the laptop, "take care, Sherlock, I'll talk to you to-""I meant yes that I'll marry you!" Sherlock nearly screeches.John's lips part in a huge grin that takes Sherlock's breath away."That. That's, oh god, that's perfect.""Can I see the ring?"John laughs and shakes her head, "No. Not until I propose properly." Sherlock let's out a whine. "Only four more months, love. Only four more until I'm with you again. Right now just consider yourself my almost fiancé." John shoots her a cheeky grin."Almost fiancé, you say?" Sherlock asks with a grin of her own.John nods and smiles warmly. "What do you say, love? Will you do me the honor of being my almost fiancé?""John Watson," she answers, "nothing would make me happier."John's smile could replace the sun itself."You're sure, love? Four months is a long time to wait."Sherlock leans forward and places a kiss to the screen, imagining its her John's warm cheek."Oh god, yes."
10968633	too much is never enough	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "M/M", "Characters": "Keith (Voltron), Lance (Voltron)", "Fandom": "Voltron: Legendary Defender", "Language": "Français", "Rating": "General Audiences", "author": "by percentpizza", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-22T00:00:00", "words": "327", "Additional Tags": "School Dances, Prom, Fluff, lapslock", "Relationship": "Keith/Lance (Voltron)", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	au milieu d'une soirée. un ado bronzé s'assied contre le coin de la salle. c'était censé son bal des terminales. il pleure doucement. l'ado est seul; hunk n'est pas ici parce qu'il a des examens, et il a besoin de garder ses bonnes notes. cette soirée devient un catastrophe comme les ouragans, mais un ouragan de dépression. il n'est pas connu pourquoi ce dépression a decidé de se lui passer. il vient pendant les pires temps. "pourquoi tu pleures?" demande une voix si douce aussi les murmures d'une ange. c'est comme un rayon du soleil pendant un très terrible et effrayant tempête.lance, l'ado assied, remonte de son sentiment si bas presque immédiatement. cette voix de l'autre ado... c'est de keith kogane? les yeux de lance levent à keith. sans surprise, c'est lui. keith kogane. ce mec, ce garçon, qui croit qu'il est meilleur que lance, que tout de la classe, que tout du garnison. lance sait les types de personnes comme keith. mais... ses yeux... sa voix..."tu vas me repondre ou pas?" demande impatientement keith. "pourquoi tu me vient?! je n'ai pas besoin de toi ou quelqu'un comme toi!" "t'es sûr? tu pleures, et j'ai pensé que tu voudrais danser avec quelqu'un." keith rallonge son bras à lance. "tu veut me tuer, hein?" lance demande"juste un peu," repond keith, commençant rougir. lance rougit aussi. keith vient au secours de moi, pense lance. il a accepté ma main... keith cogite. la chanson en jouant s'arrête, et une chanson lente commence. les garçons commence de prendre un slow. ils chancelent, leurs pieds effleurent doucement. les autrui partent, car le bal finit. mais ces garçons continue de danser. ils ne savent pas comment leur besoin pour une personne pour danser était. peut-être ils brûlent d'envie d'être proche avec quelqu'un. le danse finit. le soir est le leur. lance et keith pensent de mettre de côté leurs différences. peut-être ce bal peut créer une magnifique camaraderie entre eux.
10952328	Forget About Cape Town	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "M/M", "Characters": "Ryan Ross, Brendon Urie, Jon Walker [mentioned]", "Fandom": "Panic! at the Disco", "Language": "English", "Rating": "General Audiences", "author": "by Ryan_Ross_s_thighs", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-20T00:00:00", "words": "696", "Additional Tags": "Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Aftercare, Implied Sexual Content, Feels, my feelings, im gonna cry, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Dear lord help this fucking hurts okay, This hurts me more than it hurts you, Im an awful human being, Brendon what happened in cape town you fuck, Ryan read the milk fic, I'm Bad At Tagging, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Titles, Yk what im just bad at everything, Reasons why im a fail (yay), I Will Go Down With This Ship, send help, Send a psychiatrist", "Relationship": "Ryan Ross/Brendon Urie", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	"I'm sorry," Brendon said, gently rubbing at the rope marks hinting at Ryan's wrists. "Was I too rough on you?" Ryan shook his head, although a slight tremor making itself present, honey brown eyes glassy as he took his bottom lip between his teeth, looking anywhere but at Brendon. "Then why are you.." Brendon trailed off, not exactly sure of what he'd planned on saying. It was more of an impusive sentence. Ryan shrugged, sniffling, no longer facing him, and taking in small, abrupt and shaky wisps of air, repeatedly blinking. Brendon tilted his head curiously, quirking up an eyebrow and staring down at Ryan with a soft, hopeful look; hoping that he wouldn't cry even though he knew that's exactly what was to come. "Ryan.." He started gently, hoping that his tone of voice will act as some sort of consolation."I'm sorry," Ryan choked out, a stiffled sob following. "What do you have to be sorry for?" Brendon questioned, reaching out to run a hand through Ryan's hair. "I'm just sorry," Ryan repeated, dropping his head to the side and wiping at his eyes, his features contorting in pain; his face scrunching up as another abrupt sob wracked his frame. Brendon sighed through his nose, propping his elbow up into the mattress and holding himself up there, comfortingly rubbing up and down Ryan's arm, "Hey, what's wrong?" "Nothing," Ryan whimpered, closing his eyes as the warm droplets of emotion rushed to flood his cheeks. Yeah, definitely too rough on him. Brendon pressed a kiss to the top of his head, "I can be more gentle next time." "That's not it," Ryan sniffled, shaking his head, his shoulders trembling and him sounding little, almost inaudible squeaks to try and hold back. "Did I do something wrong?" "No." "Did I say something?" "No," Ryan confirmed, drawing in a shaky breath, "I wanted you to do everything you did," he said admittedly, his voice breaking as he rolled over to face him, the patches of skin around his eyes and nose an irritable pink and his eyes gemming with the tears he tried to keep from falling. Brendon's eyes softened, his features relaxing sympathetically and he parted his lips as if to say something. "I—" Ryan began, "I left you." his breathing hitched, "Me and Jon, we fucking left." "Hey, no, shh," Brendon tried to soothe, wiping at Ryan's tears with the pad of his thumb. He had no idea why Ryan was bringing this up now."I'm so—" A sob broke his chest, this one definitely audible, "I'm sorry." Brendon's first reaction was to hold him. He didn't want an explanation, he wasn't angry about it anymore, he didn't want to relive it, but he didn't want Ryan to have to relive it either. Partially, it was his own fault. He inched closer to him, not saying a word, rather bringing Ryan into his arms and enveloping him into a warm, cautious embrace, which, in turn, only made Ryan cry harder; but that was okay, it was what he probably needed. "I just- Before I knew it I was gone- a-and you were gone- and I-" Ryan inhaled deeply, burying his face into Brendon's chest and clinging to him like he was afraid to let go, sniffling and struggling to catch his breath. "Calm down, you'll make yourself sick," Brendon reminded, slowly threading his fingers through Ryan's messy hair. Ryan murmured something incoherent into Brendon's shirt, coughing once, his sobs becoming quiter. Brendon tightened his arms around him, holding him lovingly; like he was to be protected. "Okay?" He whispered once Ryan had calmed down, them still laying in that same position. Ryan nodded into the fabric of Brendon's shirt, nuzzling him."I love you," Brendon assured him, resting his chin overtop of Ryan's head. "I love you, too," Ryan meekly promised. Brendon nodded, nuzzling his face in Ryan's curls and sighing contentedly."And then there's Jon," Ryan said, "He thinks he can make it out there all by himself." Brendon laughed lightly at that, shutting his eyes, "Jon will be fine," he said reassuringly, "Forget about Cape Town," he murmured tiredly, "Get some sleep, Ry."
10921374	Do you want me to leave	{ "Archive Warning": "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings", "Category": "M/M", "Characters": "Sherlock Holmes, John Watson", "Fandom": "Sherlock (TV)", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Teen And Up Audiences", "author": "by MelindaGhost", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-16T00:00:00", "words": "365", "Additional Tags": "Friends to Lovers, Fluff, Declaration of Love, Johnlock - Freeform, John Watson Takes Care of Sherlock Holmes, dialogue prompt, Drabble, Kind Of", "Relationship": "Sherlock Holmes/John Watson", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": "15 minute Prompts", "Collections": "15 Minute Drabbles", "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	“Do you want me to leave?” He hadn't planned this. Hadn't planned anything that happened in the past 5 years since he met Sherlock. Hadn't planned to move in with him in the space of 24 hours, nor going on a case with him and solving a murder on their first day. Clearly, he didn't plan on getting abducted by Moriarty or getting his dates abducted by a chinese killer circus. And yet, all of it had happened.Sherlock would have said it was the constant threat of danger that had kept him at 221B, but in reality it had always been it's dark haired and fair skinned resident that had drawn John in. He doesn't know when it happened, or frankly, why it had, but all the time that he spent with the genius detective had left it's marks on him. He had more grey hairs than he liked to admit and his face was more wrinkled from frowning than it had been back in his army days. Still he wouldn't swap those years for anything. He loved going on cases with Sherlock, to be his “Conductor of light” and to be a witness to his brilliance. He loved living with Sherlock. Forcing him to sleep and eat, taking care of him when he was ill and curing his boredom in between cases. In short, he loved spending time with his best mate and favourite highly-functioning not-so-much sociopath.He hadn't planned this, but in those 5 years a lot of things happened and John doesn't know when, but somewhere along the way he fell in love with the younger Holmes brother. He didn't plan it, because if he would have this wouldn't have been the outcome. He wouldn't have exclaimed his love for Sherlock in their shared flat while Sherlock was watching crap tv, yelling at all the mistakes and obvious plot holes. He would have made it special.Sherlock still hadn't said a word, but sat frozen in his position on the sofa. Their eyes met and suddenly Sherlock burst out: “Don't you dare leave now! I have waited for this moment for more than 2 years now. So don't you dare leave!”
10978083	Treasures	{ "Archive Warning": "Graphic Depictions Of Violence", "Category": "F/M", "Characters": null, "Fandom": "Vikings (TV)", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Not Rated", "author": "by Jackyrackem", "chapters": "5/?", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-23T00:00:00", "words": "10,924", "Additional Tags": "Sex, Knives, Bloodplay, Anal Fingering", "Relationship": "Ivar (Vikings)/Original Female Character(s)", "Character": "Ivar (Vikings)", "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	Swing. Pull. Step. Lean. Swing, turn, block, swing again. Eira was in her element. The battle had started at dawn, and was raging still, after what felt like hours had passed. Her senses were heightened, and seemed to soar around her, picking up everything; the deafening clang of weaponry, the groans of pain and screams of victory, the smell of blood, shit, and fear; the colors of her enemy, and the heft of her axes in her hand, almost guiding her movements in battle. Suddenly the hair on the back of Eira's neck stood up, and she turned and took a knee as an enemy sword rang through the air. Her hand swung one axe to deflect the blow, and the second to sever the hand from the wrist. A final swing, and the man stopped screaming. She pulled her axe out of his head, and moved on. As she made her way across the battlefield, her sensitive hearing picked up the familiar huff of a warhorse. She turned to her left and attacked the man coming forward, before moving to the right and smirking at the sight next to her. Ivar Ragnarsson was in his chariot, his favorite horse pawing at the ground excitedly. This horse, specially chosen by Floki, was used to the sounds of battle and death, and had no problems pulling the chariot over any bodies before him. A fitting companion for his master, Ivar the Boneless. Eira and Ivar had become fast friends after watching each other destroy enemies in battle, and liked each other best when covered in someone's blood. Smiling up at him, Eira winked before yelling, "The foes that fall under your beast's hooves do not count as YOUR kill, Oh Crippled One!". Ivar's face split in to a bloody grin, and Eira felt the familiar rustle of butterflies that she constantly pushed down whenever he looked at her like that. "I've no need to steal kills from my horse to beat YOUR score, Lady Shrew!" Ivar retorted. It was a game that they played since their first battle, after they had defeated an enemy together. Between the two of them, the warrior with the most kills at the end of the day was declared the winner, and as such was offered a gift from the loser. Suddenly, his eyes flicked past her and his smile turned deadly. Knowing what he must see, Eira turned and sunk one of her weapons through the nose of saxon warrior that was rushing up to her. As the life left his eyes, she felt his warm blood drip down her face and neck. Slowly she turned to look at Ivar, shit-eating grin in place, when his face stopped her. He was glaring at her as if she had stolen his sweet roll; but as soon as the look was there, it was gone, replaced by one she recognized; his look of pride. She knew that the battle was almost over, a crushing defeat for the enemy. Ivar and his brothers had planned this battle, destroying almost half of the forces before the rest of their army was sent in to finish the job. She would be sore tonight, but drinking mead with Ivar and his brothers while sharing stories of the best kills was one of her favorite things about battle. Eira, determined to win today's contest, quickly moved on, unaware that Ivar's eyes followed her as she made her way deeper in to the field. Ivar shook his head. He had met Eira moons and moons ago, and at first, thought of her as a normal shield maiden. He was quickly corrected, as she and both of her axes saved him more than once in battle. They moved together, seeming to understand what the other was planning to do in the heat of the fighting; it was rare to see them farther than a shout apart. What Eira didn't know was that since that first battle, and in every game she liked to play afterwards, he gained more and more respect for her, until she became closer to him than his own brothers. He lived for the nights when they would tell stories about their kills, constantly seeing her as she was in any battle; covered in blood, raging like one of Floki's favored goddesses. Raining destruction on those she fought, whether in training or in battle, killing seemed to feed her soul, the same way it calmed his own. Her fiery red hair, cut on the sides and tied back like his, made him think of a waterfall of blood, the perfect crown for a goddess of war. Ivar was entranced by her every move, full of grace and strength, with a will of iron. He would never tell her any of his feelings, hiding them the way he would try to hide his bare legs. His growing feelings for her were a source of weakness, a weakness that could be used to keep him from his destiny. So he continued pretending, but it became harder and harder to hide his glances. She had not noticed them yet, but his brothers had. Sigurd, especially, loved to taunt him when she was not around. Ivar chuckled to himself; no way would Sigurd risk her wrath by teasing him in her presence; one lesson from Eira was all it took to teach Sigurd that she tolerated no mistreatment of any of her friends-even from a prince. He shook his head once more to clear it of the thoughts of his secret obsession; He knew he had already lost their game today, and he had a gift for Eira that he had been waiting to give her. Eira rubbed the wet cloth over her face. Today was a good battle, owed largely in part to all of Ragnarssons' brilliant war planning. They had not lost many fighters to the Valkyrie's call, but each death was honored, each warrior gone was wished a swift journey to Valhalla, and the table of the Gods. She pulled her wet hair back in to its usual leather ties, and slipped her tunic back over her bare chest. Standing up, she stretched her body, sore muscles calling out for a warm bath and a good night's rest. But that would come later. She made her way to the fireside, grabbing a mead horn from a passing slave, draining it in one gulp and searching for more. Looking across the main fire, she saw Ivar staring at her with that strange look on his face again. She called out to him, and Ubbe moved so she might sit. He knew their game as well, and wanted to hear if she bested his brother on this day. "Forty-four saxons died by my axes today. What is your count, chariot-rider?"Ivar knew he had to stop staring. Eira had actually caught him, again, as he had watched her move gracefully to the fire. He knew what was coming, it had become a ritual to them. He layed his hand on top of the cloth wrapped items to his right, and emptied his cup. His heart was racing, a strange feeling when it happened outside of war. He knew she would love what he had made for her, and it was his secret that his literal blood and sweat had gone in to the making of her gifts. A part of him that would be held by her, used by her, used to kill and maim, and used to save and protect as well. He dropped his head and screwed on his mask of cockiness, before glancing at her and smirking. "Forty-four saxons on your own? I would double those numbers if I had legs that functioned, woman." Eira stuck her tongue out at him before saying,"Ah well what is your count then?" Ivar played along with her game, allowing his affection for her to spread throughout his body like the mead they were drinking, before shutting it down and feigning anger. "My plans killed half the army before you got there, I should win." "How many saxons did you kill by your own sword and axe, by your own hands, Cripple?" Ivar would go to Valhalla before admitting that he liked it when she called him that, and he allowed no one else the privilege. Her pet names for him that involved the word cripple made him proud, knowing she had no fear of him and his famous rage, and knowing that she did not see it as a deficit, but as a shield he used- because those that saw his legs as a weakness underestimated him, and that made for all kinds of fun when it came to fighting, whether physical or mental. "My count was forty." He rolled his eyes as she whooped, eventually giving in and laughing with her as she received congratulations from those around her. He took a deep breath while she was distracted, licked his lips, and threw his wrapped gift in her lap after she had regained her seat. The smile instantly left her face, replaced by a look of wonder. She could tell, even before she unwrapped the items, what they were. Axes. a pair of axes, sharpened to a razor edge. He had tested them himself. She picked up each one in turn, staring at it, her face unreadable. He waited for her to complain about their weight or length, or the runes carved in to the handles. His mouth dropped open when he saw tears fill her eyes as she turned to him. "Ivar...these are glorious. I dont-i cant-Who made these??" She stood up and hefted them in her hands, swinging them around, getting used to their feel and weight. He envisioned her splitting the skulls of their enemies, with her look of rage; Eyes wide and bright, teeth bared like the great wolves of the forest. "You won today's battle, and I had them lying around." He released the breath he had held; she liked them.Eira was lost. She had a few axes that she loved to take in to battle; they were trustworthy tools and she only used the best. But these were better than any axe she had ever laid hands on. She imagined herself in the next battle, swinging them around, hacking and slicing. She was sure to win the next contest with axes such as these. Floki must have bartered them from the Gods themselves, so fine was the workmanship. The handles were tinged with red and carved with runes meant to protect their bearer in war. She looked at Ivar and could not find the words to thank him for such a wonderful gift. "You won today's battle, and I had them lying around." he said. Her heart fell slightly, hoping for a moment that he had had them made only for her hands. But no matter. She recovered, and began to swing the axes around again, then running her hands along the blade, slicing her fingers on their edge to give them her blood, a hint of her life force, that they might serve her well. She placed them in her belt, and it felt like they were made for it. She sat down next to Ivar, waiting for him to look at her. When he did, she stared directly in to his eyes, seeing an equal, seeing a friend, and seeing something more. She would never tell him how she felt, because she knew he saw feelings such as those a weakness, and she would never want to see him lose respect for her. She smiled as widely as she could, and thanked him, loud enough for him to hear, but low enough that he was the ONLY one that could hear. "Thank you, Ivar. I will carry these in to battle proudly." Eira looked away, and put her hands on her axes once more, before emptying her cup again, and asking him about his best kill on that day. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Eira and Ivar had both been waiting for a good battle for weeks. Their last contest, in which Eira earned her axes, was almost lost to their memory. Almost. Eira still practiced with her axes almost daily, fondly thinking of Ivar each time she wrapped her fingers around their handles. She put them in her belt after she awoke, and placed them next to her in the bed every night before she fell asleep. In her mind, they were the closest she would get to her dream of being one with Ivar, in life and in love. She was in no position to marry him, and felt she was in an even worse one to love him. Ivar, and his raging emotions, needed someone with a calm head and no anger. He needed someone to cater to his varying whims, and Eira was not that woman. On more than one occasion, she had gotten in to a shouting match with the prince, screaming in his face as his angry blue eyes turned the color of a raging sea. He would affix her with a stare that usually frightened even grown males, and all it did was turn her on. She sighed as she finished her breakfast, trying to clear the image of Ivar and his anger from her head. She headed to the practice yard, itching to work out all the built up energy she felt from her secret thoughts. The sun was shining, and the morning breeze was biting, but not unpleasantly. Her eyes searched the yard, looking for a capable opponent, when she saw him. A smirk lit up her face. Beating Ivar in training, in front of his men, was a sure fire way to raise some friction between them. She shouted his name, and spun her axes when he turned to answer her. A tilt of her head issued her challenge, and with a nod, he crawled over to meet her. Ivar was discussing events of the previous night with the watch commander, disappointed that no new information was forthcoming about enemy troops. He ordered another scouting mission, and then heard a familiar shout of his name. Gods, the woman could wake the dead with that loud voice of hers...which brought to mind how badly he wished he could make her shout on his own. He turned to look at his best friend, the only one who could talk any type of sense in to him when he was willing to listen, and the only one who could yell through his anger when he didnt WANT to listen. She swung her axes and cocked her head, a silent invitation to practice with him. He nodded and began to crawl over to her, already envisioning knocking her smug face in to the mud. A defeat, even at Ivar's hands, was still a defeat in her eyes. It should provide good fodder for a disagreement later on. He loved to see her enraged, fully experiencing her emotions, instead of hiding them like most of the insipid maids that lived in Kattegat. She broke in to a smile that warmed him entirely, right before she swung both of her axes directly at his head. He felt the thrill of the fight, ducking and rolling, then attempting to knock her in the dirt. She was ready for it, having fought him before, and danced backwards, flashing him an evil grin. Fighting with Ivar was going to be the highlight of her day. They fought together in battle, and would practice together on their off days, when Ivar was not busy with his brothers and the war council. She knew his mind and his moves, and could counter them with ease. He characteristically went for her ankles, knowing she rolled them both one night after having too much mead. She was watching him with Margarethe, and decided that that disgusting display of simpering idiocy on the slave's part was too much to handle. Thinking back on that night fueled her, and she began to take it out on Ivar. She jumped forward, feigning an attack, and dodged to the side as he attempted to parry the blow he thought was coming. She rapped his ribs with the back of her axe, then twisted to bring her foot into his side. He grunted in pain and lashed out, swinging sword at her thighs. He hit the outer edge of her right leg, numbing it almost immediately. She went down on her knee, providing the perfect target. Ivar lunged forward, trying to wrestle her to the ground, in to a submission, but she squirmed out of it, losing both of her axes in the process. She rolled away, scrambling to regain her footing. There! She spotted her axes lying on the ground about a yard away; and between them and her, there was a prince, getting angrier by the second. She grinned at him and then ran, knowing she would never get her axes and get away again. He snagged her ankle, wrenching it. She was used to pain, even enjoying it in some settings, so this did not faze her. She kicked back, not looking, and placed her hands on her deadly gifts. "BITCH!" Ivar screamed at her. He sat up, rubbing his face, and then spit two of his teeth in his hand. He watched Eira turn and look at him, and at that moment he was not sure if he wanted to kill her, or marry her. She had placed a solid kick right in to his jaw, and had him seeing stars. "This is PRACTICE, Eira!" She glared at him and retorted, "It's not my fault you weren't paying attention, cripple! Did you expect me to take it easy on you because I'm a maiden, and not a man?" He ground his teeth, causing shooting pain to reverberate through his skull. He could not agree with her, he knew she was right. He was more focused on the ass he saw in front of him, than he was on the fight. "Control your freakishly large feet, woman! If you could fight PROPERLY, you wouldn't need to kick like a mule!" He saw the murderous rage enter her eyes, and he had never been so glad to lose teeth before. She stood up fully and he could see her knuckles turn white with her grip. Ivar knew that she was one of the most skilled fighters they had, and he would choose no other to go side by side in to battle with. "You're just upset that I caught you off guard, Ivar. So you're going to want to stop screaming at me, before you lose MORE of your precious teeth, pretty one." His heart jumped at her compliment, but he quickly tamped it down, knowing he must hold on to his anger. "You didn't catch me off guard, woman. I was worried about greater matters than a play fight in the dirt. Something I guess you would not understand." Her cry of rage spiked his lust, and he welcomed her onslaught. They continued to fight, slinging insults at one another, until neither could remain standing. Laying in the dirt together, he reached over and touched her hand. She flinched at the contact, and he withdrew his fingers immediately. "Oh so you're still alive, then?" he asked. She panted, and managed to answer him with a grunt. "Let us retire to the fire. We need food to continue this fight. Unless you're willing to admit defeat?" He heard her roll over, and smiled to himself when she answered, "Not on your life, cripple." ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Eira and Ivar made their way to the main fire after their day of practice. They were both sore, but somewhat satisfied. After they had taken a meal and rested for a bit, they had gone back to fighting one another. Eira had lost her weapons again, and ended up rolling around in the dirt with Ivar. She was not the best at ground fighting, preferring to use axes. It showed when Ivar had managed to grab her arm and tried to force a submission. Eira was not the type to submit, usually, and so she ended up with a dislocated shoulder. That earned Ivar a kick to the gut with both of her feet. After fixing her own shoulder, she had wrapped it tightly with linen, and they both quit the field. The night was dark, and the warmth and light of the fire called to them both. Eira could smell the crisp scent of fall in the air and inhaled deeply, willing her body to relax. Ivar crawled alongside Eira, thinking back to the events of earlier. He had managed to disarm her once again, and his heart thrilled when they ended up on the ground, bodies pressing close together, but both struggling to gain the upper hand. The friction of their fight had made certain things difficult to hide, so Ivar had tried to end the fight. Eira knew about some of his preferences, having seen him during war, and during sacrifices as well. She never seemed to judge him for it, but that made him want to open up to her even more, sure that some part of him would disgust her, in turn giving him a reason to stop feeling as he did for her. Damn the woman. She held her perfection in front of him, dangling it unwittingly, always out of reach for him, he thought. She was perfectly content with who she was, and that alone was appealing. What made it better, was that who she was, was a fiery animal of rage and happiness in turns. . A Valkyrie strode next to him, and though he was a god compared to others, he dared not risk what they had. He was unable to imagine a day without this bitch, driving him crazy with lust, love, and irritation, all at the same time. Eira was ready to drink. Her shoulder was paining her, and though it came during battle, feeling the ache during the rest of her mundane day had put her in a terrible mood. Eira heard Ivar crawling next to her, mumbling to himself. He did that quite often, and Eira knew it was how he worked through his thoughts when they overcrowded his mind. Her shoulder momentarily drowned out by images of Ivar, Eira smiled to herself. Having his hands all over her today had struck up a mighty desire to feel them there without the barrier of clothes, wondering what his arms and fingers could do to a woman. She had gladly quit the fight, the ache between her legs proving just as uncomfortable as her injured shoulder. It had been quite some time since Eira had taken a man; her proclivities were of an unusual nature, and most men she tried to bed found it odd and did not want to fully participate. The rest found it slightly horrifying. The only reason word about her bedding style had not passed through the army like a wildfire was that the men she fucked were terrified of fighting her. She needed to find a partner that was not afraid of her, and could prove a challenge. She had varying moods; sometimes she wanted to tease and control her mate, providing pain and then pleasure in turn. Other nights, she wished to lose control completely. Sadly, none of her previous partners had been strong enough, mentally, to overcome her insults and make her submit to them. She looked down at the man crawling beside her, and wondered, not for the first time, what it would be like with him. The ache between her legs intensified as she imagined his body between her thighs, his broad chest and arms moving over her, watching his muscles flex as he pounded in to her over and over again. Fuck. She could feel her entire core throbbing, pulsing, needing relief. Eira scowled, in that moment hating that she was no longer interested in other men. The one she wanted was in the dirt next to her, unknowingly teasing her constantly with his sharp mind, his iron will, and his attractive face. Her frown deepened and her pace quickened. She needed to get drunk enough to pass out, and hope that her need, and her wetness, would be gone in the morning. As they sat down at the fireside, Ivar glanced at Eira. Her entire face was an angry glare, and he had wondered if perhaps she wanted to drink alone tonight. She might still be upset with him for wrenching her shoulder so roughly. He did not feel sorry for it, but he wished she would just let her anger out, and then things could go back to normal. Ivar motioned to a passing thrall to bring them mead. The girl looked at him, nodded, and walked towards a table that held a pitcher and cups. She walked to Ivar, and he watched as she swayed her hips on the way to him. He took the cups and held them out for the her to fill from the pitcher, and felt as she held his hand steady while he poured. He saw Eira turn to look at him, and then her eyes went down to his hand, where the slave's fingers were lingering. He watched as Eira gritted her teeth, seeing her jaw muscle flex as she squinted at his wrist. She said nothing, but snatched one of the cups from him, downing it in one gulp. Ivar swallowed; as she drank the mead she had tilted her head back, giving him a view of her long, strong neck. A neck he itched to wrap one hand around as he took her from behind. He almost lost his grip on his cup, feeling his cock harden almost immediately at the thought. Maybe...the way the slave was looking at him, she might be able to relieve this pressure he was beginning to feel. He wished with all his heart, and cock, that it would be Eira to do it, but surely she did not feel that way about him. He stared at the slave and licked his lips, imagining her to be Eira, waiting on him and submitting to him, until she decided to turn the tables. He continued with his fantasy, a deep hunger showing in his eyes as he continued to stare. He was broken out of his trance when he heard Eira mumble something that sounded like,"...fucking slaves." He nodded at the slave to refill Eira's cup, and he raised a confused eyebrow as Eira snatched the pitcher from the slave and pushed her away, giving her a look that would frighten most men. As the slave walked off, Ivar turned to Eira and said,"Why did you do that?" He waited as she finished off her second cup of mead. He knew she was no lightweight, and so he waited. She would make her feelings known soon enough, never able to hide them for long. Eira downed her second cup of mead. Why was she touching him? Why was he letting her? Why did he look at her that way, but not me? Eira knew he would need someone passive to be with, and she hated him for wanting that. She thought he admired her strength and passion, but apparently she was mistaken. Now Eira was frustrated, still wet, still craving Ivar's prick, and hurt. She grabbed the pitcher she had taken from the slave, and filled her cup again. She was just starting to feel a blush in her stomach that lessened the ache in her shoulder. But it only exacerbated the dark thoughts running through her head; thoughts of Ivar underneath her as she rode him, squeezing her thighs on his sides as he caressed her ass and breasts; but also thoughts of killing that slave for looking at her Ivar. Wait, what? Her Ivar. She wished that is what he could be to her, but she was just a shield maiden and he was a Prince of Kattegat. A Prince of Kattegat laying beneath me, blue eyes focused on me, as I hold the knife against his chest, drawing it down to mark him over his heart, which should be mine. Blood running down his body, only to be lapped up by my tongue. Watching him cut me above my heart, and seeing my blood licked away by him. Eira came out of her trance and noticed she was rubbing her legs together. Judging by how wet her pussy was, she had been doing it for a while. She looked to Ivar, anger momentarily forgotten, to see him motioning to that slave that should have been scared away. Her anger returned full force, as she watched him stare, licking his lips and then biting the bottom one. She was bringing another pitcher over. Rhona looked down and saw that she had finished the one from earlier, and her vision rolled when she stood up. She was drunk now, and there was no going back. She stalked up to the slave girl and grabbed her by the arm, steering her back to the table. "Set it down." Eira almost laughed as the slave did as she was told, but instinctively grabbed one of her axes as the girl tried glaring at her. She kicked the girls feet out from under her and pushed her down. Eira grabbed the slave by the neck and began squeezing. She brought her axe up to the girls face and said,"You will walk away from the fire and not return this night. If anyone needs you, you tell them that I have sent you away to go polish someone else's sword. This one is not yours to test." She pressed the blade of her axe against the girls face, cutting it and causing blood to fall. This only served to heighten her rage more, the need for some type of relief now a constant thought in her mind. As the girl ran away, Eira stood up and put her axe back where it belonged. Ivar's axe. Only fitting that it be used to protect what Eira wanted. She grabbed the pitcher and moved back to the fire. Ivar watched the scene unfold and wondered what had put Eira in such a bloodthirsty mood. He loved seeing her this way, but it was usually reserved for him, or for battle. He did not understand what she had against the slave, and was angered as it dawned on him that Eira had just scared away his only chance for bedding someone tonight. As Eira came back to the fire, pitcher in hand, her foot grazed his shoulder when she stepped over the log to sit down. She was still glaring, but there was a strange look present as well, almost like desire. He watched as the light of the fire danced over her face, turning her hair into a flame as well. All of this, combined with the sight of her earlier brutality with the slave, had his cock twitching in his pants. He frowned, angry that he was a cripple, angry that he could not just take what he wanted; her. Damn Eira for being the goddess that she was. He watched as she looked at him with her beautiful anger written all over her face, but then she opened her irritating mouth. "Sorry to ruin your plans for the evening," she sneered sarcastically. Ivar growled at her, and whispered darkly,"Then you should fix that which you have broken, Elskan mìn." Eira growled back at Ivar, knowing she would not go find someone else for him to bed. She could not stand the idea of his hands running along someone else's body, his mouth on someone else's breasts. There was only one way to fix it, and Eira realized she was drunk enough to blame the mead if he regretted his words the next morning. His condescending endearment only made her more willing, and wet, ready to fuck him next to the fire with everyone watching if it meant she would finally get to taste his cock, to bite that muscle between his neck and shoulder. She slowly stood up and moved over to him, bending down to put her mouth next to his ear. "Follow me then, Cripple. We will see if you can handle my solution." She turned around and moved away, determined to make it to her tent, whether he followed or not. Her hot breath on his neck and ear, combined with her deep and angry command, almost had him releasing his seed in his pants. He watched her as she walked away, powerful legs carrying her quickly in the direction of her tent. Crawling there was only going to make his cock harder, the rough pull towards the woman of his dreams a delicious torture. He pulled himself off of the log and in to the dirt, following her as a dog follows it's master. ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Eira opened the flap of her tent, her heart racing. She did not know if Ivar was following her. She couldn't bring herself to look, afraid she would not see his muscled shoulders pulling him towards what she offered. She paced around her bed, suddenly unable to breath. She had taken a step she never thought she would; and there was no going back now. Her only saving grace was that she had imbibed so much mead that it could be used as an excuse. The pounding in her chest, and her fear at being rejected by someone she secretly loved, had sobered her completely. Looking around her tent, Eira spotted a new pitcher that someone had left, along with an empty cup. Eira raced to the table and shakily filled the cup to the brim. She downed it in one gulp, and refilled it immediately. She had drank more tonight than in the past few months combined, and still she wanted more. She drank half of the golden liquid, feeling it begin to calm her nerves and erase her insecurity. If he did not show up, then it was his loss. He was too smart to be blind to her strength, and though she did not consider herself as beautiful as some of other women around her, she knew she was pleasant to look at. Eira unlaced her shirt, pulling it open wider so it was loose around her breasts. She pulled her bindings off; they had become a necessity as she grew from a girl to a woman, keeping them close and taut to help her keep her balance better. Rubbing her neck, Eira froze as she heard the unmistakable dragging sound of Ivar. He had followed her. Ivar dragged his body through the dirt for her, mind racing, hoping that she was the one in her tent, and not some slave. A part of him could not believe that she was interested in him in that way, his useless legs surely disgusted her. He was looking down at the ground, afraid to look up and see someone that was not Eira. As he entered the tent, he crawled immediately towards the chair in the corner, and pulled himself up on it. He continued to look at the ground, frozen, as a pair of large feet made their way in to his line of sight. He looked up, his eyes slowly grazing the form before him, and he knew it was her. From her slim, boot covered ankles, up her larger calves, to her thick thighs and wide hips. His eyes traveled up her body, eyeing her small waist and large breasts. He saw her shirt was partially open and he almost drooled at the uncovered, unbound flesh. He had not seen her without her bindings, and he could not have imagined anything more arousing in his life. Her breasts would easily spill out of his hands, but they were firm and lifted from all of her training. As his eyes reached her face, his mouth had fallen open, and her mask of irritation did him in. As long as he lived, he would never love another the way he loved her. His heart ached, and he hated the feeling running through him. He would do anything for her, though there was not much that she could not do for herself. He knew he must handle this situation carefully, so he was not lost completely. He smirked at her, saying,"Where is this solution, woman?" and then held his breath waiting for her response. Eira walked over to the chair that Ivar had settled in. Most of her fear was dispelled the moment he had moved through the flaps. Her only concern now was how much to show him. Should she show him her darkest desires? Would he be able to handle them, handle her, the way she needed? There was only one way to know in her current state of desire. She felt a warmth all over that rivaled the effect of her drink, and saw that Ivar was eyeing her as a starving man does a feast. As his eyes made their way up her body, she squared her shoulders and put her hands on her hips, waiting for him to get to her face. She challenged him, wordlessly, to say something about her form, and when he opened his mouth to ask about her solution to his problem, she cracked an evil smile. Eira had a plan in mind, a punishment for even considering bedding the slave. She said,"You will listen. You followed me in here, why? Do not answer. You know why, and I know why. But you made a mistake in wanting someone before choosing me, and you will recieve punishment for making me wait so long for you, Boneless." Eira walked to her bed and sat down, removing her boots and pants. She threw them across her tent, after grabbing her knife from her boots. She stood up, and motioned to Ivar with a nod, expecting him to understand her command. Ivar was delirious. The woman he had wanted for years was finally be at his mercy. She did not detail what they were going to be doing, but he had his own ideas. His cock was throbbing at the idea of what he was going to do to her, how he was going to please her, and himself, until she spoke. When she spoke to him, voice full of strength and power, commanding him to listen and do as she told, he almost finished in his pants, for the second time that night. This would not do, as he did not want her to think him some untried boy. He fixed her with a glare as she moved away, intent on showing her who should really be giving the commands. He watched as she removed the bottom half of her clothing, grabbing a knife before throwing them aside. He began to salivate at the sight of her, half-naked, holding a weapon. She nodded at him to join her across the tent, and he began to move almost immediately before he caught himself. He removed the braces on his legs, grabbed his own boot knife, and sat back in his chair, determined to be the one controlling this encounter. He thought back on what she said about making her wait so long, and was confused. He hadn't taken that long to get to her tent after she had told him to follow her, and asked,"You only had to wait a few moments for me to reach your tent, dróttning móðr, and I can promise you it will be worth it." Eira snickered rudely. The poor prince thought he was going to be the one controlling this, when he could not even figure out that she meant to punish him for taking years to finally bed her. She decided to clue him in, knowing that looking stupid would give her the chink in his armor that she needed to control him this night. His attempt to command her had her questioning whether she wanted to submit to him or break him. His low voice and lustful gaze while pulling out his own knife had her envisioning being on her knees before his cock. She regained her senses and decided to press her advantage. He had not earned the right to command her; prince or no. "My wait for you on this night was not long, but we will soon see if you are worth it. However, the wait I was speaking of has been one made up of years, ever since the first time I saw you take a saxon life. Now, do as your master commands, cripple. Or I may not see fit to comfort you after your punishment." She licked her lips as he began to move, setting his body in the dirt and crawling to her feet, while holding her gaze defiantly. It would take a while to train him for this night, and Eira couldn't wait. Ivar listened, incredulous, as Eira detailed how long she had wanted him. Surely she did not love him as he loved her, but he would please her tonight; he could learn to control her fire later. He dropped to the ground, watching her the entire time he crawled to her feet. It was a new sensation for him, this feeling of giving someone else control, and he found he could not give it completely. He eyed her as he stopped moving, challenging her with a look. He could not think of what punishment she may be talking about, but he was intrigued. He kept watching as she backed up, and sat on the bed. She kept her legs closed, denying him the view he craved from this position. Neither said anything, and he was content to devour her body with his eyes while he waited for her to speak. When he looked back at her face, he could see that he had displeased her, and he began to get angry. "Out of ideas, little one? Not to worry, I can show you what to do." He said, forcing a condescending tone in to his voice, knowing it would spur her to action. He was not disappointed as she lifted one long leg to place a foot on his chest when he began to move forward. He had to smile; he had been afraid she would turn in to a nervous virgin, and instead she was driving him wild. She had lifted her head at the same moment she lifted her leg, and wore the look of a queen on her face, staring down at him as if he was a worthless slave. He moved his eyes down to see she had spread her legs apart slightly as well, and he could see her glistening core, lips bright pink and swollen, dripping with lust. His cock, currently pressed against the ground, demanded friction, and he began to move his hips against the dirt. Eira knew that Ivar would take teaching, and she could almost laugh at how innocent he seemed to think she was. She wondered if he thought her a virgin, and in that moment decided that she would not bend to his will this night. She placed the ball of her foot against his chest when he started to move, a look of haughtiness in place. She spread her legs slightly to allow him to see what he could not yet touch, and laughed softly as he began to grind his hips in to the ground. The tingle from her forgotten drink was replaced with a heady rush of power, and she tilted her head to the side, licking her lips as she gave him his next command. "Poor little cripple, reduced to fucking the floor because he has no control. You will come to me, and cut my shirt open. I do not feel like taking it off myself. Can you handle that, minn lìtt dýr?" She was playing with him, and had not had this much fun, or been this needy, in a long time. "I am not a patient master, Ivar." She marveled at him as his piercing blue eyes filled with lust, and he pulled himself towards her, perching on the bed as he flicked his wrist and began slicing her shirt open. When he was finished, he slammed the blade of his knife in to the wooden foot of her bed, and placed his hand on her stomach, covering it almost completely. She allowed him this short reward for obeying her, letting him move his hand towards her breasts as she watched his face. He dropped his eyes to move the fabric aside, swallowing as he ran his palm across her nipples, one at a time. She felt his prick twitch against her thigh; so close to where she wanted it buried. But she would restrain herself until he learned to obey her completely. Eira shifted and whispered," That is enough, dýr." He pushed himself closer to her, not listening to what she was saying, and Eira sighed in feigned disappointment. Ivar had never felt his cock this hard. His blood was pounding in his ears, and all he wanted was to put his mouth all over her as he buried his cock as deep as it would go in her hot center. He had his hands on her breasts and was about to push her down on the bed and rip his pants to shreds, until he felt cold steel on his neck. She had spoken a command, and in his lust he was not paying attention. But the mistake on her part was thinking that the pain from the cut would stop him, instead of driving his lust even higher. She held the edge against him, and he looked up at her, leaning in to the weapon she held. He felt the sting of his new injury, and he was beyond happy that she had been the one to mark him so. Her eyes widened as he continued pushing forward; she was forced to lean back on one elbow so she didn't cut him too deeply. He was out of control, not even wondering if this display of his would frighten her. He grabbed his knife from the bed frame, and, hovering over her almost prone form, pushed his bulge against her core, while placing his own knife against her chest and drawing it from one side to the other. She dropped her knife to the bed as he bent his head to lick up the blood from her cut, and she threw her head back, letting a long, low moan escape as he moved his tongue from one side of the cut to the other. He did not swallow the blood, and instead swiped it across his teeth. He set his knife down and wiped his fingers across his own cut, spreading his blood across her lips. She looked at him with eyes ablaze, mouth open, panting, and he could see the indecision cross her face. He slowly pressed his hips harder against hers, needing pressure and friction. Eira was completely overtaken by lust and love as she watched Ivar lean forward, cutting himself on her knife. She moved back as he kept coming towards her, and she lost all urge to control him when she saw his hand reach for his knife. He cut her across the chest, and she lost all thoughts in her head when she felt his tongue on her bare, bloody skin. She had hoped for this, dreamed of it, but never thought she would be so lucky to find her match, who wanted this type of bedding as much as she did. She dropped her knife, as a signal of submission, and moaned as he wiped his bloody fingers across her mouth. She placed her hands on his chest, and ran them down his sides. Lifting her legs, she placed her feet where she wanted them, and pushed. She had flipped him on his back, and smiled at him when she heard him laughing. She automatically knelt before him, awaiting his command as she had always wished for. Ivar tensed when Eira placed her feet against him. She flipped him over and he marveled at her strength and audacity. He, a Prince, had just been thrown by a single shield maiden. He laid on his back for a moment, laughing, and then he sat up to see her on her knees, face down, presumably waiting to be told what to do. Ivar smiled as all the blood left his face and collected in his groin. He decided that some revenge was in order, and told her,"Look at me." She lifted her head and met his eyes, looking more innocent than he thought she could. His blood still covered her lips, and he felt the air leave his lungs in a rush. He could smell her lust from where he was, and said,"Take your knife and remove my pants." She took her knife from the bed and cut the ties around his waist, pulling his pants down as he lifted his body to make it easier for her. His cock sprang free, already dripping, and she licked her lips at the sight. He ran the tip of his knife gently over his stomach, and in one move cut the fabric all the way up to his neck. He motioned for her to move up to him, and she moved up with a swiftness he had never seen from her, with her eyes still on his prick. He placed his hand behind her head, softly caressing her, but when she looked up at him, he swiftly yanked the long tail back and leaned in, saying,"I did not tell you to take your eyes off of my cock, Minn hiti." She obediently dropped her eyes back down. He kept his grip on her hair, and pushed her head to one of his nipples. She licked at his nipple, pulling it in to her mouth and softly biting it, then licking again. Ivar closed his eyes and enjoyed the sensation, before pushing her head lower, feeling her nipping and sucking on his flesh. Eira was in a mindset she had never experienced before. She had tested his boundaries, and found, not surprisingly, that he was a capable master. When he pulled her hair, she had to fight not to moan, knowing that her lack of control would displease him. When he gave his next command, she obeyed, mouthing his nipple like she would want him to do. She felt a pressure on her head and moved down his body, leaving a trail of marks on his smooth skin. She was afraid he would stop her before she could taste his cock, but he continued slowly pushing her towards it. He stopped her when her lips reached his swollen head, and she stuck out her pink tongue to lap away the salty liquid rivulets. She heard him growl like an animal, before he said,"Open." She willingly opened her mouth, her breath softly rushing over him. He shoved her head down until he hit the back of her throat, and she feigned swallowing to provide pressure and sensation to his cock. She stilled, and had to suppress a chuckle as he moved her head up and down while whispering all manner of curses. She knew he would finish soon, and hoped that she had behaved well enough to ride him to their completion. He pulled her hair again, and she lifted her mouth off of him, releasing him with a pop. Her lips were swollen as he leaned forward and pressed his mouth to her, tasting himself on her tongue. She could taste her blood in his mouth, and her inner walls clenched at the thought. He pulled out of the kiss and stared at her with lust; but there was another emotion she could not decipher. Ivar had almost lost himself in her throat. Knowing he controlled such a strong woman had given him a high he had rarely experienced outside of killing, and he could not get enough. She had unleashed a mighty beast in him, and there was no reigning it in now. He pulled her up for a kiss and could have cried at the taste of her essence, and his, mixed together. He let her lips go, and looked at her face, seeing a strength in her that came from submitting without breaking. He had loved her so fiercely, for so long, but he never imagined she would be this perfect for him, in so many ways. As he looked at her swollen, blood-covered lips, he could not hide his feelings for her any longer. He saw her confusion, and decided to distract her before she made the mistake of speaking. He was still her master, for now, and said,"Now, my little virgin, this is the time to ask for what you want." Eira slipped when she cocked an eyebrow at his statement; but he would punish her for it next time. He half-smiled when he heard her voice, soft and meek now, ask,"May I sit on your cock, buðlingr?" Ivar was past the point of ready, and almost shouted his reply. "NOW." She gracefully stood, placing her knees on either side of him, and lined him up with her entrance. She looked up at him when he placed his hands on her ass, and teased the tip of him with her wetness, sliding him back and forth along her folds. He smacked her ass in reprimand, and watched as a flush spread across her nose and cheeks. She smiled wickedly at him, before slamming her body down, taking all of his length in one strong move. He shot his head back as she began to ride him, and he slid his hands up her stomach to caress her breasts as they swayed with her movement. He reached up to her arms, gripping them hard enough to leave marks, HIS marks, and pulled her down face to face with him. He ran his hands back down to her ass, removing one to lick a finger while he stared at her. He placed it against her tight ass, and pressed in, moving it back and forth slightly as she closed her eyes and moaned. Eira's suspicion was confirmed when he called her a virgin, and she raised an eyebrow at the thought. But she held that thought off as she knelt over him, sliding him back and forth over her dripping cunt. She refrained from dropping on him until he smacked her ass. She felt the color enter her cheeks, and obeyed him again. She had every intention of behaving, until she felt his hands go from her tits to her ass. She stared at him, entranced, as he swirled his tongue around his finger, and put the tip of it in her ass. She hadn't even known that she would like that, and it almost brought her over the edge. She was face to face with him, and licked his opened lips, before leaning to his ear and saying,"You are not the first to find pleasure with me, minn lìtt dýr. And you may not be the last, if you do not fuck me, NOW." Ivar had thought that it could not get better than it was, commanding her and controlling her. She had traced his mouth with her warm tongue, and leaned next to his ear, breathing heavily on it as she bounced up and down with both of her holes squeezing him. But then she whispered her threat in his ear, and he lost all control of his mind and body. He removed his finger from what he now considered his, and gripped her hips, raising her off of him slightly. She put her knife to her own breast as he pounded in to her, cutting herself again. He was at the edge, and she kicked him over it when she put her blood-covered fingers in his mouth and commanded him to suck, as they both moved as one. She moaned at the feel of his wet lips and he felt her inner walls contract; he nearly passed out from the strength of it. He came harder than he had ever come before, so hard that he stopped breathing, lost in his own orgasm. He started speaking, not even knowing what he was saying, as she held him to her large breasts, with his arms wrapped around her waist. He could cease to exist at this moment and he might not even notice. Eira held Ivar to her chest, near her heart, as they climaxed together. Her blood pounding in her ears as her pleasure spread throughout every inch of her body. She seemed to come down quicker than he did, as she realized he was speaking. She listened as he groaned, smiling until she heard him say,"...no one but you, minn dróttning, minn bruti, minn hiti, minn lìtt vigamaðr. Oh, how I have loved you." Eira stared down at him, waiting for him to realize what he had said, what he had called her. She waited for him to deny it, but he kept his head against her chest. She began to wonder if he even knew that he had been speaking, until she noticed his breathing had returned to normal, and he said,"I love you Eira. I have loved you since the first time you called me Cripple, without fear, and smirked at me, covered in blood." She felt a chill run through her body, sitting there silently, his softening cock still buried in her. His voice rang out once more,questioning,"Eira?" ----- CHAPTER BREAK ----- Eira slid off of Ivar, and walked over and grabbed the pitcher, drinking directly from it. She felt it spill down her naked, flushed body. She was going to turn in to a drunk if she kept this up. She had moved away from him when he had said her name, wondering if their gods could be so kind, or if this was a trick being played on her by Loki himself. She turned, meeting his eyes, searching for the truth. What she saw had her second guessing her instinct to separate from him. Ivar was hurt. He had just told Eira he loved her, had loved her for years, and her response was to leave him, cock still covered in their mixed lust. He watched her, his eyes hardening with every step that took her further from him. He grabbed for his knife, and let it sail through the air just as she turned, sinking in to one of the posts of her tent. She looked at the knife, then back at him, and her rage encompassed her entire body. She strode over to him, her fist connecting with his face. She screamed at him,"What the fuck was that for, Ivar?" He responded, yelling just as loudly,"What is wrong with you??" She had the decency to duck her head, but what surprised him more, was that she admitted something he never thought he'd hear from her; she was scared. He sat there, as she told him how she had loved him as well, not just desired him but loved him, for years. How she thought she was not worthy enough for a Prince of Kattegat, or else she would have pursued him earlier. He kept the angry look on his face as she looked up at him. He could not believe her stupidity. But, he thought to himself, he had thought nearly the same thing as she did. "We make a grand pair of idiots, Eira." Ivar shook his head, mentally kicking himself. "You mean to say we could have been doing this for years?" Eira chuckled at his question. She was disappointed in herself for being so afraid of pursuing what she wanted; him. Their heated coupling showed her how perfect of a match they were. She refused to give an inch to Ivar, and he would always press her for more. She looked up at him, seeing his beautiful face with his striking blue eyes. She punched him again for good measure, saying,"That is for not pursuing me." She smiled at him, lips still partially bloody, when he reached up and grabbed her hand. Eira began to half-heartedly struggle, guessing what was coming, as his hand smacked across her ass twice, leaving red handprints on each cheek. 'And that is for thinking you are less than what you are, dróttning skapraun.' She playfully smacked him when he called her that, and always would, no matter how affectionately he said it. They passed the rest of the night and well in to the next morning with each other. He had traced over her scars, already knowing how she had gotten each one, and she did the same for him. He had spent time taking care of her sore shoulder, while she had rubbed the knots from his legs. But Eira's favorite part was discovering just how well her prince could obey, once he knew that he would be well rewarded for it. They emerged from her tent together, covered in each other's marks. Smirking to one another, they saw the looks from the other warriors and from Ivar's brothers, proud to bear the love of each other in such a physical manifestation. Ivar had gone to eat with his brothers, and Eira followed. She had suffered from a moment of insecurity, and harshly shoved it away. If he was not concerned about showing her off in front of his brothers, she would not be. She was proud of having his love, and giving hers to him. She sat down next to Ivar, a smile covering her face. Sigurd began to speak to Hvitserk, mumbling in what he thought was a quiet voice,"I guess we know who is in charge in that tent," speaking of the small cuts she had made in a line down Ivar's neck, and the bruise she had given him to cover them. Eira grabbed one of her axes from her belt and threw it at the post that Sigurd was sitting next to. If she had been a hair to her left, it would have taken his nose off. She turned her eyes to Sigurd and lifted her head, knowing he would not retaliate. She knew he was afraid of her, and she reveled in it. Ivar wanted to take her right there on the table when he saw the predatory look on her face at Sigurd's comments. He did not care what his brother had to say, because he knew that Sigurd would run screaming from Eira's tent if she had wanted to bed him. Eira was strong. Too strong for someone like Sigurd. Ivar suddenly laughed, a sound full of happiness and joy, instead of his usual laugh of derision. He saw as his brothers looked at him, and when Eira aimed a questioning brow at him, he said,"Later, my valkyrie." She nodded, unfazed, and resumed shovelling food in her mouth. His woman could eat, and he appreciated that she was not afraid to display her hunger. Eira wondered what had made such a glorious sound emerge from her lover's throat, and she fell in love with him all over again when she saw how his eyes crinkled at the corners, and his blue irises almost glittered. Content to wait for his explanation as he had instructed, she began eating again, and finished her plate of meat and bread in but a few more moments. She finished her drink, and sat back while waiting for Ivar. He finished his meal shortly after she did, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. She watched as he turned his head toward Sigurd, and smiled. But this grin was not like before. This one was full of anger and disdain. "You know what I think is funny, Eira?" She turned her head towards Sigurd, and said," What, Ivar?" He continued, saying," I was thinking of how jealous Sigurd must be, knowing that I can claim a such a fierce shield-maiden as my own, while he cannot. I imagine you would shove his oud up his ass if he tried to lay with you. But then again, he would probably enjoy that." Eira tried her best not to laugh, for Sigurd was still a prince of Kattegat, and she just a warrior. But she knew Ivar could see the look on her face for what it was, while Ubbe and Hvitserk laughed boisterously. Sigurd looked around at the other vikings that were enjoying the joke at his expense, and grabbed his cup of mead, mumbling to himself as he walked away. Eira reached under the table and placed a hand on Ivar's cock, causing it to twitch. "You will pay for that later, I suspect, but for now, we should return to my tent." She knew that she was going to be the one to submit this time, and couldn't wait for it any longer.
10984485	Stolen Cars and an	{ "Archive Warning": null, "Category": "F/M", "Characters": null, "Fandom": "Supernatural", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Not Rated", "author": "by argentscoyote", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-24T00:00:00", "words": "648", "Additional Tags": null, "Relationship": "Sam Winchester/Original Female Character(s)", "Character": "Emmeline Gracia", "Relationships": null, "Series": "About Riley", "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply", "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	For as long as she could remember, Emmeline Gracia was extremely unlucky in life. Perhaps that's thought to be a tad bit dramatic. The truth is, it isn't. In fact, it would be sugar-coating it entirely.The curse was thrust upon her at the young age of thirteen, where she learned in a very traumatizing way that people are a temporary thing. In an odd, torturous way, the two seem to constantly go hand in hand when it concerns Emmeline – terrible luck followed by the loss of the people she cares about. Time and time again the pattern has haunted her. First with her parents, then her brother, then Casey, and then everyone and everything she had left. Emmeline Gracia is extremely unlucky in life. So, it shouldn't surprise her that much when she comes out of the motel room one morning to find her car stolen.Except it does.Because everything she owned was in that car. Everything except Riley, that is.The baby is unaware of the state of shock Emmeline finds herself paralyzed in, and goes on playing with the rattle in his hands as his mother stares at the vacant spot where her car should have been parked. Emmeline's eyes focus on the graveled spot between the two white painted lines, as if to wish the car back, before they travel up and around the rest of area, scanning to see if she parked the car somewhere else without realizing it. She didn't. The car is nowhere to be found, and neither is all their belongings.Emmeline had driven in late the night before, and in a hasty decision that could be blamed on fatigue and the urgent need to pee, she had grabbed a sleeping Riley and her bag, booked a room, and fell asleep straight away. She assumed it was a safe enough decision to bring in their luggage in the morning when she wasn't too tired to keep her eyes open. She doesn't remember locking the car."Shit," Emmeline curses, before realizing what she's just said. She's quick to cover Riley's ears by putting one hand on his ear, and pushing his head so the other is against her chest. "Shit, shit, shit," she says it softer. Just in case.She's lucky enough to have her wallet, phone, and a few of Riley's clothes, diapers, and other baby necessities in her bag, but that's it. She barely has enough money for another night at the motel, let alone to replace everything they just lost or even the basics she'll need for Riley.There are so many thoughts, so many worries, and so many emotions, Emmeline feels like crying simply because she doesn't know what else to do. But she can't because she has to be strong for Riley. They are all they've got. But still she succumbs to the weakness, and the tear falls before she can wipe it. And then the next. And then the next.Riley's focus is taken away from the rattle and instead moves on to his mother. He doesn't know what's going on. His large brown eyes see the tears, but he doesn't know what they are or what they mean, or at least not on her. Emmeline never cries. The tears do look familiar, though. He reaches forward and touches her face, just where a tear has stained her cheek. They feel familiar, too. The warm wetness often comes when he's in pain. Or hungry. Or just crabby in general. He rubs his hand against her face.Emmeline let's out a breathy laugh and kisses Riley's cheek. Not even a year old, and yet he's little personality is the most precious thing she's ever encountered. She wipes away her tears, straightens her back, and goes back inside their room. She doesn't have much, but she has Riley. She needs to figure something out, and fast.
10923648	I met Myself the Other	{ "Archive Warning": "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings", "Category": "Gen", "Characters": "Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester", "Fandom": "Supernatural", "Language": "English", "Rating": "General Audiences", "author": "by Thruterryseyes", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-16T00:00:00", "words": "1,789", "Additional Tags": "Emotional Baggage, Angst, Dean-Centric, Self-Worth Issues", "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	Sam looked over at Dean, who was still sitting silently in the corner of the room. He was leaning to one side, resting his weight on the arm of the chair, his lower lip pinched lightly between his fingers, eyes unfocused as he stared at some midpoint Sam was unable to discern.Sam made no attempt to draw Dean from his thoughts, his own mind still to caught up in what Dean had said to him earlier.The words Sam had bitterly forsaken ever hearing from Dean's lips had come unexpectedly that morning, reluctantly, a shy confession of need and fear.Of vulnerability.Sam had felt his heart start to race as the weight of watching Dean casually throw himself toward self-destruction fell away as though it had never existed and hope burst like the breaking rays of dawn. Dean wanted to live. Nothing else mattered. Sam's nod and reassurance that they would find a way to save him had been answered with a small, relieved, Okay, good, the tiniest question mark trailing along at the end. Dean wanted to believe, the look in his eyes said so; it was a look Sam had never seen before.This look wasn't for the father, the son, the soldier, the protector or the brother. That tiny spark, struggling to burn in Dean's haunted green gaze was for his own sake. This one time, after a lifetime, this was something for Dean.What, Sam wondered, had changed …So lost in his confused thoughts, Dean was oblivious to the fact that Sam had been staring at him off and on since they had called it a night and found a room at the local No-Tell Motel.While Sam had showered Dean had settled his thrumming body into a chair and the inner war was on.He could still hear the words coming from his mouth, screamed, so berserk with anger at this copy of himself telling him the worthless story of his own life he couldn't stop them. The words he heard ripping open every festering wound, every secret he kept from himself, every thought and memory, dream and feeling he had ever had that had been instantly buried so nothing stood in the way of becoming the man his father expected him to be, fulfilling the only destiny he had ever known. Take your brother outside as fast as you can! Don't look back! Now, Dean, go! Even twenty-four years later he could cradle his arms and still feel the warm bundle that had been given to him, entrusted to him, that he had spent his entire life protecting. Stepping up to take the bullet without thought, never questioning his role in this bizarre life they had led. My father was an obsessed bastard! It wasn't fair! His eyes closed at the memory of those words, the taste of them on his tongue, the anger that went with them, pouring out of him in a torrential roar, declaring, even if only, finally, to himself, that he had deserved better, deserved more than being the perennial guard dog, the faithful, mindless drone raised to follow orders without question. That he had deserved the same love from their father that had been Sam's.He'd been a finely-honed weapon, serving its purpose and then forgotten until it was needed once more.Even as that thought appeared he refuted it. Weapon he may have been, but he also knew he had been more than that, more than a carefully forged tool.Dad had loved him, just not in the same way… How can you care so little about yourself? Sam, half drunk, had asked him. What's wrong with you? What was wrong with him? How had he reached adulthood attaching no value to his existence?He had saved countless lives, righted wrongs, thrown himself in harm's way without thought for the sake of innocents. He'd bartered his own life and soul to pull his brother from the arms of death, taking his promise to protect Sammy as far as it was possible to go. It wasn't fair! I don't deserve to die! And I don't deserve to go to hell! Blasts of the shotgun punctuating his words as the part of him he had fought the hardest to keep locked away turned him inside out and forced him to face the words he never realized had been there to say.And having said them, he waited for the guilt, the remorse for those words, those thoughts, the betrayal, to wash over him like a tidal wave, the sensation of selfishness that he associated with his own wants and needs, barricaded behind a door for so long he no longer even knew what he wanted. What he wanted had never been an issue. It had always been what Dad wanted or what Sam needed.But strangely, the guilt didn't come.It was frightening, to have such thoughts and not be punished for them by his own mind. It had been such a part of his life for so long it suddenly felt as though something was missing.Was this how Sam felt, when he had stood toe-to-toe with their father, yelled back in his face and damn the consequences of his actions? Taken his life into his own hands to live as he wanted?Dean clutched the arms of the chair as he felt a hole opening up beneath him at the thought.Dad had done what he thought was best, even if it had meant leaving a frightened, lonely child to watch an even more frightened child for days at a time in the pursuit of monsters.It was too much to take in all at once. Dad's death had left Dean reeling, unable to come to terms with having no one to rely on but himself, no one to turn to for direction on how to live a life that had never been his. Fumbling to maintain control when he realized he didn't have any to start with.Even grappling with this sudden new sense of self, Dean knew he didn't regret what he had done to save Sam, would have done it again in a heartbeat. A lifetime of conditioning not withstanding, he'd be damned if was giving up the last of his family without a fight. At least this way, something good could come out of it. You know? It's like my life can mean something… And it doesn't now? Do you have that low of an opinion of yourself? Bobby had stood in the junkyard and berated him. Are you that screwed in the head?Dean had seen the look on Bobby's face, never understanding the pain in those eyes when Bobby looked at Dean, never realizing that Bobby saw the beautiful broken boy in the broken man before him. The lost child behind the man's eyes, struggling to live up to impossible expectations and willing to sacrifice something he considered worthless for the sake of a life he considered beyond price.Sam's life.Was his own life worth fighting for? Did he have dreams? Needs? Wants that existed for no other reason than to fulfill his own selfish desires, with no one else to consider?Did he even dare to have them? If he could escape this deal, if somehow they could figure a way to stop it without endangering Sam- and Dean would have put a bullet through is own head first before he would allow that to happen- was it possible there could be more for him than he had always thought?He tried to reject this thought the instant it appeared, but it refused to be shoved behind the door and locked away. Like a weed it took swift root and refused to die. By admitting to Sam he didn't want to die, he admitted that he wanted to live, almost as surprised as Sam by the confession.And he did want to live.Even with a bleak future, or possibly no future, certainly nothing that would include picnics in the woods and baseball games, nothing to solace him from his past but the tall form of his brother standing next to him, staring a war in the face, knowing he could go down tomorrow and it would have been for nothing. He wanted to live. Those words he had heard himself say and screamed back to himself in his head, the words that had burned and bled out of him, held back for so long, pouring out of the mightiest dam that had ever been built, that had forced him to fight back, to declare he deserved better, that he'd had hopes and dreams that had been burned to ash and left in the dust.This was his life. It belonged to him. He made his own choices. Just because they were influenced by a man he loved and admired-- no matter how fucked up that man had been-- didn't make them any less his. Didn't make his life worthless. Didn't make him worthless. But it scared the shit out of him..."Dean…"Dean gasped and jerked away from the touch on his shoulder, heart thudding."Christ, Sam! What the hell?""I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," Sam said, equally startled. "You been sitting there for hours, I thought we could get something to eat, I'm hungry, aren't you?"When Dean continued to just look at him, Sam shifted uncomfortably. "If you don't want to, that's fine. I just thought we could celebrate a little, eat, maybe grab a few beers, shoot some pool…or not," he concluded lamely, fading under that intense green stare.Dean cocked his head slightly and his mouth suddenly quirked up on one side. "Celebrate what? I forget our anniversary again?""No! Just…just kinda felt like celebrating…something." Sam shrugged. "Never mind…it was just an idea…"Dean reached out and caught Sam's wrist, tugging gently on his arm, his face softening. "I think that sounds like a helluvan idea. I'm starving."Dean could feel the light from Sam's sudden smile on his face.Long fingers wrapped around Dean's wrist and Sam pulled Dean to his feet. "Great!"Dean stretched, joints cracking and aching as they straightened from the long session in the chair. He pulled the car keys from his pocket and started toward the door."Wait," Sam said walking over to the chair where John's leather jacket lay. Sam grabbed it and held it out. "What about your jacket? It's cool out."Dean paused at the door, turning back to give Sam and his jacket a long look. He smiled softly and shook his head."Nah, I think I got what I need without the jacket."END
10990917	Sanguine	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "Gen", "Characters": "Maria (Fire Emblem), Misheil \| Michalis, Minerva (Fire Emblem)", "Fandom": null, "Language": "English", "Rating": "General Audiences", "author": "by tiamo (rinne)", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-06-04T00:00:00", "words": "5,033", "Additional Tags": null, "Relationship": null, "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": null, "Collections": null, "Fandoms": "Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Shin Ankoku Ryuu to Hikari no Ken \| Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon", "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	There is blood before there is even a memory, and she enters the world in a cacophony of screaming (and only half of it is hers). There is yelling, a sense of urgency, the clatter of heels against stone and items falling to the floor, discarded in the mayhem. All of it is followed by the resounding crash of a door, then silence. In what was almost an absence of sound-- a gray world stained crimson-- she cries; her voice is one of two. She will never know her mother, but she grows up with the broken gaze of her father trailing after her. • • • Her first memory of blood is when she is four (or she thinks she was four then, at least), slipping past the castle maids to the stone archway near the training grounds. Hers is a small and delicate presence amongst the group of soldiers, and when she hangs back, peering past a pillar that hides her from men that she has long since stopped being scared of, she goes unnoticed. She feels so sneaky, hiding away like that, but the way her siblings smile at her when they return from training is always worth it.(She is not truly unnoticed, not really, but she has always charmed others with her sweet smiles and warm laughter; they would not have the heart to deny her such joys)But there is something wrong with the clamor that suddenly rises about the training grounds, the rising sound of voices strained with urgency tearing the silly smile from the little princess’s face. She leans further out from her hiding spot, much more concerned about what has inspired such worry among the soldiers than she is about her secrecy, and for the first time in her life, her breath catches in her throat (and later, when she has learned enough to read books and appreciate common sayings, she will know that it was the feeling of her heart stopping, if only for a second).From the masses of uniforms, she spots a familiar face whose florid hair tumbles over his shoulders as he curls around his hand. Though the faces around him are frenzied and panicked, there is a ferocity in the absolute sternness of Michalis’ brow; the sheen of sweat on his forehead is visible in the vivid light of midday, but the only other sign of her brother’s suffering is the tension about his jaw. Even at his young age, he does not submit to anything and holds his head high-- and even at Maria’s much younger age, she sees that Michalis has the eyes of a king.It is only once he draws close enough to see her that the ferocity in his eyes crumbles, and for the first time, Maria sees the shadow of panic flutter through her brother’s expression. His eyes are wide as he sharply sucks in a breath-- “ Maria ,” he gasps, pressing his hands into his stomach as he passes-- and then he is gone, whisked away amidst distressed murmurs of ‘infirmaries’ and ‘clerics.’Even when he is gone, Maria can see the path he walked, if only for the crimson speckling the dirt. Later that night, Michalis sits on Maria’s bed with her, and he shows her his hand-- big and rough, covered in bandages and other nicks and scrapes, a bloodstain seeping through the fabric where his pinkie should be-- and she takes it in hers gently. Though the ferocity has left his features, Maria still sees the tension in his face, sees the restrained expressions he gives her as she looks at his hand uncomprehendingly, and she knows something is wrong. “Does it hurt?” She asks, and the sweetness of her voice is enough to lighten the distressed furrow of her brother’s brow.“I’m fine, Maria,” he replies, and gone is the gruffness of the prince of Macedon; she hears only the gentle and warm voice of her big brother.So she cries for him, that kind big brother of hers-- she cries until she can cry no more, then cries even still, because she knows it does hurt-- and falls asleep in his arms, comforted by the beating of his heart and lulled to slumber by the feeling of his voice rumbling in his chest. She is long gone to the realm of dreams and happier things when her brother tucks her in, but somehow, a smile still works its way onto her face as he shuts the door behind him, leaving her with a softly whispered ‘thank you.’ • • • Her second memory of blood is in the bright light of summer. It is less clear than the others, frayed at the edges, but she treasures it all the same (for it is tinted with the laughter of her siblings, and that is too precious to ever let go of). She remembers a cloudless sky and soft grass beneath her feet, but most importantly, she remembers her siblings, sat in the shade of nearby trees with soft eyes.It is lonely, running in the grass all by herself, but she knows even then that her siblings no longer have the privilege to always run beside her. They have grown, already, into a prince and princess who can only humor her, at best. It is not something she wholly understands just yet, but she understands just enough to enjoy her summer days enough for the three of them-- and for all her efforts, she is rewarded by the sight of her siblings’ smiles.She does not remember what exactly it is that finally springs the expressions to their faces, but she remembers the way Minerva laughs, her face lighting up like the sun cresting a hill after a damp and foggy night. Her eyes squeeze all the way shut (and that is how Maria knows she is, in that moment, truly happy), and she lets loose a bright, singular ‘ Hah !’. She supposes it must be a particularly rare and humorous occasion, because her sister is quick to follow with a second ‘hah,’ and to the little princess who loves her siblings with all her heart, that is a great accomplishment indeed.What delights her even more is the light that seeps into Michalis’ eyes, for they have always seemed to carry some dark, personal storm within them. It is always hard to make her brother laugh-- even harder than making Minerva laugh with two ‘hah’s instead of one-- but when he smiles, his whole face relaxes. His eyes narrow in a different way than usual-- a melty sort of narrow, rather than a sharp one. He never laughs, though, not really… But he does give her a long, drawn out ‘hmmm…’ before tousling her hair (and not even Minerva is allowed to tousle her hair, but if Maria has to let her hair get messy to see the pain vanish from her brother’s eyes-- to see him smile-- she will do it over and over and over again).It is only when his hand (warm, it’s always so warm) lifts from her head that she giggles and skips away, but no sooner than she takes off does she trip over a root and fall spectacularly. Her siblings are up on their feet before she even registers the smears of green across her dress or the crimson beading up on her palms; Michalis sweeps her up into his arms, just like he does on those dark nights full of nightmares, and Minerva follows close behind, pausing every now and then to dart off somewhere else (and amidst her siblings’ kindness, Maria does not even remember to cry). The blood soon disappears, once she sits on a chair in some room she does not recognize; Minerva’s hands wrap a light bandage around her scrapes, and Michalis’ rest on Maria’s back comfortingly. Though they fret, Maria simply smiles up at them-- a skinned knee and twisted ankle are worth it, if that is what it costs to see them happy. For such a thing as that, she does not even mind the grassy smears and freckled bloodstains on her dress. (But of course, Maria never considers this a memory of blood-- not when her siblings’ warmth gives her comfort even still) • • • The third is set in the same place as the first, but in a time where Maria no longer hides behind pillars. She often stands with the soldiers when she waits for her siblings and their troops to return,and has long since made them her friends. (For example, she knows that Mister Raymond has a mole beneath his eye and a stern face, but his eyes twinkle kindly whenever she thanks him for those little candies he always gives her, and Miss Wynn has the biggest smiles for her whenever she brings her flowers)But as she finally spies the figures in the sky, she hears a rising murmur within the crowd, and suddenly, her eyes are covered and she can’t see anymore.“What’s going on?” She breathes, her voice laced with a small tremor of panic, and then:“I’m sorry,” comes a voice she knows to be Mister Raymond’s, and she relaxes, if only a bit. “...I’m sorry, Princess. Please don’t look.”And because Mister Raymond is her friend, she doesn’t look, wringing the fabric of her dress with her hands as he keeps her blind to the world. She still hears it, though-- the panic, the thud of footsteps and the hurried words that escalate too quickly into yelling. Then, cutting through it all, there comes a bellowing voice so fierce and commanding, so familiar and yet wholly not , that Maria’s hands freeze where they are, the fabric slipping from her hands.“Healers, now!” Michalis roars, and all at once, the chaos takes direction, a stampede of footsteps rushing past her. Though the scene unfolding around her is raucous, Maria stays put even still, her heart beating loudly in her chest. It is only when she hears a familiar voice wheezing a pitiful excuse of ‘I’m fine’ that she jolts from where she stands. As light floods her vision and she breathes out a panicked ‘Minerva ,’ she sees her sister hobbling away, a pitiful bandage wrapped around her waist and dark droplets falling from her gauntlets as she clutches at her side. “Maria--?” Her brother’s voice sounds so distant. “Take her away from here! Go, now!” And then the world goes black once more. The fourth memory follows just a few short hours after the third-- a recollection of her knuckles rapping lightly against a wooden door and bloodstained bandages around Michalis’ head. She has to look almost straight up just to see his face, but only for a moment, because soon, she finds herself lifted into the air. It lifts her heart-- quite literally, in a sense-- to see that her gentle big brother is still here for her, and his actions net him a sweet, if not slightly tired giggle (and in later years, she will remember that moment as the one where she learned to believe in the goodness of even the scariest men). “What brings you here so late, Maria?” The harsh growl of a prince has left Michalis’ voice, and he brushes her bangs aside with a delicate touch as he sits at his desk once more, Maria seated quite comfortably on his knee.“I wanted to tell you something…” Her voice trails off sheepishly, like she has done something that bad kids do, and her brother arches a single brow with vague curiosity.“Oh?”She looks down, hesitation written all over her face as she clings onto fistfuls of her dress; it is only when Michalis gently pries the fabric from her hands that the little princess looks back to him.“I… I want to be a cleric.”Silence. Her brother stares at her uncomprehendingly, and she stares back, a little fearful, a little shameful, but determined all the same.“Are you sure?” A brief pause. “You don’t want to be a dracoknight like myself or Minerva?”Maria shakes her head, then reaches out; it is her turn, this time, to brush back her brother’s bangs with a gentle touch, her fingertips brushing lightly against the bandage on his head.“I want to be able to make your pain go away. Yours and Minerva’s.”Michalis draws in a long, shaking breath, and as he stares at her wordlessly, Maria can see the reflection of flickering candlelight in his eyes. The silence drags on long enough that she becomes fearful, her brows upturning fretfully.“Are… are you mad?”As if those are the magic words, Michalis blinks, and suddenly his eyes are shining and there is a warmth in the way the corner of his mouth tugs just the slightest bit upwards.“No, Maria,” he murmurs softly in reply, enveloping her in a warm hug, “I’m proud.” • • • The fifth is formed in pieces, shards of memories she only half remembers now. It is the smell of salves and herbs and sweat as she watches the grown ups work; it is the smell of old pages and the dull pain behind her eyes as she tries to read words she’s not yet old enough to understand; most importantly, it is the glow of staves and the relieved smiles of soldiers whose pain has ended. One of her favorite fragments is a memory of her hands full of bandages and salves, a young soldier smiling both kindly and nervously at her, and Sister Eirene watching her closely from behind.“This one…” Maria’s brows furrow as she rubs the salve onto the back of the man’s hand. She knows it’s the right salve, because Sister Eirene gave it to her, but she also knows a test when she sees one.“What’s it do?” The soldier asks, shifting his feet but keeping his hand just as still as ever; Maria’s very grateful for it. “It looks sort of yellow.” Yellow ! The little princess thinks, and all of the sudden, she beams at him brightly.“It helps prevent infections!” And she knows she’s right by the way that the Sister smiles at her.“Wow… That’s pretty impressive.” The smile she flashes him nets her a warm chuckle, and Maria hums happily in agreement as she wraps his hand in bandages. It’s not the most expert job, nor is it the prettiest, but she is careful and caring in how she attends to his wound. “There you go! You’re all better, Mister Cole!”The soldier blinks at that, and even as he retracts his hand, his gaze remains fixed on her, like she’s said something profound, imparting unto him some wisdom only the young still remember.“You… know my name?” His voice is tentative, startled, but not unhappy.“Yup! Thank you for working so hard, Mister Cole! I hope your hand doesn’t hurt anymore.”He is speechless for a long moment, and something about him reminds her of the way Michalis stared at her the night she told him her first true dream, from his silence to the way his eyes flicker with something that is half shock, half admiration. Then--“Thank you, Princess” he replies, tousling her hair gently, and when she peeks up at his face again, he wears a brilliant smile, bursting at the seams with warmth and gratitude. “Thank you, truly.”It is at that moment that Maria knows she is walking the right path. • • • Her sixth memory is one that haunts her still, and some nights, she still wakes with the scent of copper seared into her lungs.It starts with her tugging at Minerva’s sleeve, a hand cupped around her sister’s ear as she whispers a silly request with the utmost seriousness. A present for Papa , she murmurs, because she knows his is a sad soul (and though she doesn’t ever say it aloud, she knows it’s all her fault). Her siblings, having always been by her side, hear both what she does and doesn’t say aloud; how can they refuse their sweet little sister? They can’t, not when all she wants is to make their father smile.So though Minerva half rolls her eyes, a sigh escaping her lips, she smiles all the same. It’s hard not to, when Maria beams at her so brightly. Minerva’s hands are so calloused, years of hard work engraved into her skin, but even a warrior’s grip will melt into something gentle, the way Maria holds her hand. Hers is a delicate grip, warm and soft and comforting in a way that would temper even the most tempestuous fury.Even at that moment, Minerva knows Maria’s path will never be like hers or Michalis’.Their venture into town is peaceful, like it should be-- a simple disguise works wonders, and the populace knows little of their youngest princess. Even in the bright light of day, they are treated like any other, though some of the merchants have a spare smile for the little princess and the way her eyes glitter and sparkle just so. She has only known the castle, after all, with all its stone walls and slinking shadows; the brightness and cheer of the marketplace is so strange and enchanting. There is no end to the way she gasps and giggles at all the beautiful things she sees, not when even something as small as the sight of jam is enough to make her eyes light up (“ Minerva ,” she breathes, eyes full of light, “ That’s the kind Michalis likes !”). It is enough to erase the furrow of her sister’s brow and soften the corners of her eyes.“Let’s go over here, Maria,” the elder princess says, taking her by the shoulders and steering her towards the other side of the market. She complies, eager to see what it is her sister wishes to show her-- and her hand flies up to her mouth as soon as she does, eyes wide and bright as she hides her surprise behind her fingertips (and this time, the corners of Minerva’s eyes crinkle).“They’re so pretty,” she whispers, each step along the side of the display slow, careful, like she intends to pay every piece its due honor. Yet even though her breath is stolen time and time again, Maria does not stop for those feathers trapped in amber or the faces of dragons carved into precious stones. What she does stop for is--“This one!” Maria chimes, holding up a rough heart hewn from wood and strung about some twine. The vendor’s shop is all but ignored, tended to by an elderly woman and a boy who looks to be about Maria’s age, their display filled with both beautiful jewelry and other wooden charms of a starkly contrasting caliber. Undeterred by the surprise etched into her sister’s expression, the little princess leans over, a wide smile blooming on her face as she speaks to him. “You made this, right?”“Uh…. Uh-huh.” The boy stutters, making an expression akin to Minerva’s; it’s clear by the shock in his eyes and the untouched corner of the display that no one else has so much as looked at his wares.“I bet you did your best!” Maria giggles sweetly. “It looks so happy!”Though a flush of crimson crawls into the boy’s cheeks, he nods, quickly charmed into smiling back at her and yet silenced by that same admiration. He has no words even when Maria drops a few gold coins into his hand (but she remembers vividly the way his eyes glisten as she thanks him; she thinks she always will).“She’s like a princess,” she hears the boy whisper to his grandmother as they walk away, and she giggles quietly to herself. The streets are turning dark as they finally make their way back, and the memory of shadows spilling across cobblestone torment her for many years to come. She cannot remember anymore the way that Minerva had thrust her arm out in front of her, a simmering fury in her expression that had cowed Maria into silence; she cannot remember the sick glint in the stranger’s eyes as he traps them in an alleyway before they can slip back into the castle; most fortunately of all, she cannot remember the split-second flash of crimson before Minerva’s hand covers her eyes.What she does remember is the gurgling behind her as she clings to Minerva’s coat, struggling to breathe as her veins turned cold. The sound haunts her long after it’s stopped, and it is only when she is swept up into her sister’s arms that she manages to stop her sobs, comforted by the rumble of her chest as she hums to her.“He’s dead,” she whispers, staring blankly over Minerva’s shoulder.“I’m sorry,” her sister replies, and Maria feels as though it is an apology she has made many times before. “I had to protect you.”That is the night that Maria decides she, too, will do anything for her siblings; it is a promise she makes to both of their shaking hands. • • • Her seventh memory begins with her knocking timidly on a looming door (she knows he will be there; he always is, this time of year), and peering around it when a low voice ushers her to come in. The eyes that find her once she lets the sunlight spill into the darkness of the room are quick to widen, something akin to panic flickering within.“Maria,” her father murmurs, and when she nods at the sound of her name, he swings his legs over the side of his bed, patting the space behind him. “Come… Come here.”So she totters over to him obediently, and he lifts her up with ease, sitting her on knee despite the space at his side he’d saved just for her. There is something soothing about the way he wraps his arm around her-- a warmth that so distinctly belongs to family-- and she relaxes, silently staring up at him.“What is it?” He asks, his voice gentle and lacking the gruffness that she sometimes hears in her siblings’ own. “You seldom visit me so early.” And when her brows furrow and her hands bury themselves within the folds of her dress, her father simply smiles at her. It is a tired smile and it is a sad smile, but it is also a kind one.“...Today’s your sad day, isn’t it?” Finally, she manages to mumble out her question, and the smile on her father’s face crumbles away, morphing into shock. “You always have a sad day when the leaves turn orange, every single year.”“My sad day, hm…?” He echoes the words thoughtfully. “Yes, I… I suppose you’re right.”Lifting her fist from where it had lain in her lap, Maria slowly unfurls it, revealing the charm she’d bought at the market. “I got you this. It was the happiest charm I found.”“Happiest…? How do you mean?”The little princess fidgets slightly. “There was a boy at the market--” She can see the way her father’s face stiffens at the mention of the land outside the castle. “--who was selling these charms. He made them himself…! And I asked him, and he said he did his very best. He was selling them with his grandmother and they both looked so happy, so I’m sure he knows the most important thing.”“Hm…” He brushes her bangs to the side with a gentle hand, smiling once more (but this time his face has come alive, curiosity glimmering in the depths of his eyes). “What is this? This ‘most important thing’ of yours?”“Love,” Maria replies simply. “I’m sure he loves his grandmother; he loves her just like I love you, so I’m sure this charm can make you happy today.”He is silent as she peers up at him, and even his hands have stilled, as though he has very nearly forgotten to breathe.“...It’s my fault you’re sad, isn’t it, Pa-- ...Father? Because Mother isn’t here anymore. ...I’m sorry.”“Oh, Maria,” he finally whispers, pulling her close; she does not mind how tight his embrace is, and simply wraps her arms gently around his shaking back. “You can always call me Papa.”She closes her eyes and breathes in. “...Okay, Papa.”It is a long time before he pulls away, but though his face is still tired and sad, the arm supporting her is warmer than ever.“I am sad.” Such a simple statement after such an overwhelming silence, but Maria knows how to hear the depth in it. “I miss your mother terribly… But it is not your fault I am sad, Maria. It has never, ever been your fault. It was simply time for your mother to leave us… But you are the light she left behind.” At that, he plants a gentle kiss upon her forehead. “Now, hold out your hands.”“Like this?” She cups her hands, and he nods, procuring a locket from underneath his shirt. With a practiced motion, he opens it, and a flash of gold drops into the princess’ palms.“Go on,” he says, “Look at it.” Mystified, Maria holds it up, letting it sparkle in the faint slivers of light filtering in. The ring is a simple thing, undecorated save for a single sparkling stone, but she can tell immediately that it is his treasure.“What’s this? She asks, curious. Then, pointing to the crimson flecks along its side: “There’s something on it.”He pries it from her grasp gently, a shadow flickering across his face for a moment, but only that. Slowly, he drags his thumb across its surface, and when he hands it back to her, all the crimson is gone.“It was your mother’s ring,” he says, “But it’s yours now.”“But it was in your locket… Isn’t it super special?”Her father smiles, eyes crinkling at the corners. “It’s alright. You gave me this charm, after all-- I’m just casting a spell.”Maria’s eyes grow wide, and she leans in as he does. “A spell?”“A spell,” he confirms. “Whenever I feel sad, I’ll look at this charm you gave me, and I’ll feel happy once more. And you, whenever you feel as though you’re the reason I’m sad, will look at this ring and remember that I love you dearly.” Another kiss upon her forehead. “It is a magic spell that only fathers can cast upon their daughters.”Her eyes are practically sparkling as he pulls away, and the corners of his mouth tug further upwards. “Are you going to keep that in your locket, then?”“I am,” her father replies.“Really?”“Really really.”“Okay…! I guess it is kind of scratchy.”“Hm… Indeed it is.”And for the first time that morning, her father chuckles. • • • The eighth memory is one of the worst; it is the innocuous sound of liquid splashing and a dark stain at her feet as she passes her father’s door, as well as the first and last time in Maria’s life that she truly screams. The sound echoes down the corridors and summons a swarm of servants and guards, as well as her siblings, with faces white as sheets. It is only Minerva’s arms that keep her steady when a guard exits the room. “King Osmond is dead,” he announces gravely, and moments later, Maria is whisked away to her room. The days afterwards pass like a long nightmare. Maria does not leave her room, even to eat. It is her siblings who bring her her meals, and it is her siblings who wipe away her tears when they begin anew. Maria is not strong, not like they are (with their stony faces and the way they stand straight and true), but she is the reason that they are able to be strong at all. “Maria,” her brother says one day, one arm wrapped around her as she sits on his lap, “You need to eat.” There is a firmness about his voice, but even more than that, there is an aching tenderness; Maria thinks it is sorrow. “I’m sad,” she whispers, nigh inaudible. “I miss him, Michalis. I miss Papa…” “...I know,” Michalis replies, and his voice breaks just slightly at the end, “But Father would be upset if he knew you were skipping meals.” “...Yes,” the little princess finally relents, because she knows he’s right. The plate Michalis hands her has nothing extravagant-- merely jam and bread-- but he knows it to be her favorite (Michalis always knows). Hesitantly, she takes a bite, then another, and then another, eating in silence until the entire plate is empty. She can tell it is enough, though, because the worry fades from her brother’s eyes, and they instead crinkle just slightly at the corners. “The way you smile is the same,” Maria murmurs amidst the silence. “You and Papa. It’s kind and warm… I love your smiles.” The plate shatters on the ground. Maria flinches at the sharp sound, grabbing onto her brother’s shirt; his arms have gone slack, and there is something terrifying about the way he looks at his hands (because she has never seen someone look so terrified of themselves). “I’m sorry,” he breathes. Then, more quietly: “...I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” But Maria simply reaches out and cradles his cheek in her tiny palm, smiling warmly at him. She pulls him closer slowly, slowly, until he finally rests his head on her shoulder. When he pulls away, there is a single tear falling down his cheek. It is the only time she sees him cry, that strong big brother of hers; he will stand tall as he always does when their father is hidden away forever beneath the coffin’s lid; he will stand tall when they crown him king, the weight of thousands of lives placed upon his head; most certainly, she is sure, he will stand tall even when the trouble she hears whispers of in the castle halls finally comes to pass. But for now, she wipes away his lone tear with that gentleness of hers that will one day save him. “It’s okay,” she replies. “We’ll be okay.”
10901700	Reeses Peanut Butter	{ "Archive Warning": "No Archive Warnings Apply", "Category": "M/M", "Characters": "Finn Balor \| Prince Devitt, Roman Reigns", "Fandom": "World Wrestling Entertainment", "Language": "English", "Rating": "Teen And Up Audiences", "author": "by tetemics", "chapters": "1/1", "completed": "", "published": "2017-05-14T00:00:00", "words": "2,410", "Additional Tags": "First Meetings", "Relationship": "Finn Balor \| Prince Devitt/Roman Reigns", "Character": null, "Relationships": null, "Series": "I fucking love you", "Collections": null, "Fandoms": null, "Archive Warnings": null, "Categories": null, "Bookmarks": null, "Chapters": null, "Comments": null, "Completed": null, "Hits": null, "Kudos": null, "Published": null, "Words": null, "Updated": null }	Roman hated parties.No, he didn't hate them because the music was too loud or whatever drug the kids were into these days. No, he hated parties because he was a bit older now, and looking for something more than one night hookup with a hot guy who probably wouldn’t remember his name the next morning. Roman was in his late 20’s, formidable years where he would much rather cuddle up at home with a nice man, with food and wine and intimacy.So why then, you may ask, was Roman at a dorm party, on a late Saturday night?It was simple. The story began as Roman was helping his best friend Dean move from his old dorm into his new apartment with his new boyfriend Seth. After about two hours of emptying out everything, Roman decided to take a much needed snack break. He told Dean he would be right back, and Roman turned down towards the dorm hall where the vending machines were. He kept his mind on the last reese's peanut butter cup that he saw in the vending machine earlier and a nice bottle of water to wash it down. Roman came down the long hall, ready for his cheat day treat... ...and that's when he saw him. He was maybe the cutest guy Roman had laid eyes on in a while. He had short brown hair, what looked like a tight small body and a nice ass that screamed “I love to take dick.” He was pushing the vending machine heavily trying to get a snack out, it released quickly, making the boy smile. He took the last reese's peanut butter cup and a water, Roman’s exact cheat day treat, then he looked down the hallway, only to see... Roman there, looking at him. He offered Roman a humble smile as he bit into the peanut butter goodness, then he waved and disappeared in the other direction. Roman didn't know what came over him, but he ran. He ran like it was his high school football days and he tried to catch up with the hot guy with the nice smile but once he turned the corner… he was gone. Roman never felt more defeated in his life. He went back to Dean’s room, and fell back against Dean's pillows, sadly looking up at the ceiling. “Careful there big guy, the last time we were in bed together we ended up dating for a year.” Dean joked. “Shut up,” Roman sighed, “I am dealing with a dilemma and you aren't helping.” Dean came over to the bed and laid down next to Roman, taking his hand. “What's going on dude? You okay?” “I just saw possibly, the hottest guy in my entire life at the vending machine, and he smiled and waved at me while eating my peanut butter cup... Then he just walks away. I tried to run after him but as soon as I turned the corner he was gone.” Roman shook his head, “I have the worst fucking luck.” “No, you don’t, because fortunately for you, you have the bestest friend in the entire world,” Dean countered, “If you're looking for any possibly hot gay guy this time of night then we gotta hit up the dorm party at the end of the hall. That’s hot gay guy central. It's where I met Seth. No doubt your guy is there. Come on you big lug, let's go.” “Wait really?” Roman was so unsure as Dean pulled him up off the bed with him. “Are you sure about this Dean? “Yes really, now come on, stop being scared of everything and let's go find your soulmate.” Dean teased him. “Soul mate is a stretch, but I'll bite, lead the way babe.” ~And that, is how Roman ended up at this party, looking through the crowd of young kids trying to find his mystery man. He saw some really cute guys as he searched through the crowd, some young boys who kept staring at Roman like he had rich daddy written all over his forehead, and some older ones who were loved up already together in the corner. Roman smiled softly as he saw them, he wanted that for himself. He spent five minutes searching for the man in question but for the life of him Roman couldn't find him anywhere. He let out a frustrated sigh, ready to give up, and just let this all go but…“ Hey Finn! You bitch, long time no see! ”Roman looked towards the end of the room and saw the man in question. He was hugging some young twink character, and some red headed guy who looked at him with hearts in his eyes. He saw him kiss the redhead on the lips, and that's when Roman knew, he had made a mistake. Just because you see a hot guy doesn't mean they're available. Roman chastised himself, his head hung low as he began to walk off towards what he hoped was a kitchen full of alcohol. Roman grabbed the red cup off the table, and some green label patron, popping it open and pouring slowly. He slammed the bottle back down on the counter and took a slow sip from the cup, letting the burning liquid speak volumes inside of him.Roman was just ready to go, he turned around, trying to look for Dean when…“Mind if I get some?”Roman looked back at the boy in question and he could practically feel his heart in his throat. He was even cuter than at the vending machine. He had crisp blue eyes and an Irish accent, or was it Scottish? Roman didn't know. He wasn’t good at accents he just knew that pretty boy had come all the way across the room to ask for some alcohol. He could've easily got it himself, but he didn't. It was clear, his intention was to talk to Roman. Don't fuck it up. Roman told himself.“Uh, yeah, do you want me to pour you some or?” Roman asked him.“No, it's okay, I'll just...” the boy took the cup right out of Roman’s hands, sipping slowly from it, making Roman gulp, as he watched those pretty lips imprint of the same side he drunk from. “Mm, that's so tasty. I imagine... that’s what you taste like. Sour yet so sweet.” Oh god, he was flirting heavily already? Roman liked it, “I'm Finnegan, my mates call me Finn, and tonight if you want, I can call you daddy.”“Heh,” Roman released a deep breath, and laughed, then looked down. This guy wanted the exact same thing all other men seem to want from him. He may be cute, actually he was really hot but the night of lazy one night stands were over for Roman. He wanted something real, a true relationship full of love, and intimacy.But, that didn't mean he was just going to let this cute guy go.Roman didn't know why but he saw something different in his eyes, a certain something that told him that Finn was more than just a hot body. “I don't think my dick in you is what you really want.” Roman whispered it in Finn's ear and it made Finn look back at him, confused. “Is that all you want? Are you sure? Cause I'm not a five minute, or 20 minute man, if I fuck you, you'll never want to fuck anyone else.”Finn was thrown off course, usually by now he'd have this guy's dick somewhere deep in his mouth, letting his cum seep into his beautiful pores and now he was so… confused. His whole “I want you to be my daddy” shtick always worked with older men, but this guy seemed different. Maybe Finn just needed a different approach. “How about you tell me exactly how you’d fuck me, while we dance.” Finn didn’t give Roman the option of saying no as he pulled Roman into the middle of the room.Finn immediately turned around in his arms, giving him his greatest and most desired feature, his ass. He felt Roman grab at his hips, giving Finn that tightness he so greatly craved. Finn placed his body on Roman's, and rolled his hips on his clothed dick, making Roman breathe out heavily. Fuck yes! Finn thought. He had him exactly where he wanted him. He'd get that thick dick soon enough. “I thought you were gonna tell me how you'd like to fuck me,” Finn said, as his head turned to looked deep into devilish brown eyes.“I'm distracted by your ass on my dick,” Roman responded, grabbing at Finn’s small waist with his big hands as they moved. He looked over to the corner where Finn's possible boyfriend was, he was watching the scene between Roman and Finn, while heavily biting down on his bottom lip. “Your boyfriend seems to enjoy me holding you like this, do you guys like threesomes?”“He's not my boyfriend, I don't do relationships,” Finn didn't know why he admitted that. He was never this honest with a guy he just met before.“I can see that, you're more of the fuck em and leave em type.” Roman turned Finn around so they were face to face. Finn gasped when he felt Roman’s hands go to his ass, but also him being pulled flush against his body. His hands were so big, but his touch was secure, dangerous, and fucking hot. “My guess is, you've never let yourself get close to someone. You never let a man take you out on an expensive date, woo you, or see those pretty blue eyes in the morning when you wake up in my bed, only for those nice thighs to spread for me, so I can fuck you like crazy.”Finn let out a soft whimper as he listened to this guy. He had no idea what the fuck his name was, or where he came from but already he felt this weird connection to him, he was so confusing but yet so clear at the same time. He leaned in, his breath close to Finn's as their lips hovered over each other. “My names Roman, and I don't sleep around, and I'm not looking for a one night stand, and even though I'd love to fuck you, I'd love it even more, if I got the pleasure of taking you out sometime. I know that’s scary, but if you want something real, then…” Roman took out his business card and placed it in Finn's back jean pocket. “Call me.”He let Finn go, and then smiled at him, then began to walk away. Roman exited the dorm only to see Dean outside the door waiting for him. “Hey man, how did it go?” Dean asked, as he took Roman's arm in his own and held him close as they walked together.“I dunno, I laid it all out on the line, and told him to call me, but you know he's one of those young guys who like to explore and I'm not gonna take that away from him. He was really cute though.”“He was really cute.” Dean agreed. “Seth just called me. He wants me to come over tonight. I'm just gonna take all my stuff over there now. Do you need a ride home mister big shot condo complex?”“No, I'll walk. Have fun babe,” Roman gave Dean a kiss on the cheek and it made Dean blush.“You know if you would've let me top more than once in awhile I probably would've married you.” Dean teased him. “See you later big guy.”“Bye babe.” Roman and Dean parted ways and that’s when Roman decided to go outside for some fresh air. He sat out by the steps, and just breathed in and out evenly. Roman realized that Finn wasn't going to ever call him and that was okay. Sometimes life worked out weird, where good people have to go through it alone. He was coming to grips with his loneliness, realizing that he didn’t really need anyone to be happy. He had a new job, and his first condo right out of grad school and things were looking up. Maybe that’s all he'd ever get. He got up, ready to go home when..“You're still here.” Roman turned at the sound of the soft irish accent. He smiled when he saw Finn walking towards him, slowly.“Yeah, I am.” Roman replied. “Did you come looking for me?”Finn shrugged playfully, “I dunno, maybe.” He looked down shyly, but kept walking until he and Roman were face to face. “Maybe I liked what you said back there at the party. Maybe… I came to find you because…”“Because of what?” Roman asked, bringing Finn in closer, flush against him like he did at the party.“Because you were right." Finn admitted, "I would love to go on expensive dates, and waking up to a very gorgeous man. I just never had a man interested in me for more than an hour or two. It's how us young guys do it around here. Hell, I've never even been on an expensive date, and I've also never been held, the way you held me back there. I guess what I'm saying is... I would really like it if... you took me out on a date.” Finn couldn’t even look at him as he asked it. He was never this shy around a guy before. Roman was so different, Finn was scared of that… but at the same time, he loved it. he felt Roman lifting up his chin so that their eyes met, and once they did, Roman saw the fear Finn had in them. He honestly felt the same way.“It would be my pleasure.” Roman agreed, making Finn smile. “What are you doing right now?”“You wanna take me on an expensive date right now?” Finn laughed.“Well no, I'm definitely not dressed for the occasion, but I was thinking maybe we get some coffee, and talk.”Finn smiled, “Coffee sounds great.”“Good, then come on, I'll show you my favorite place.”They both walked out of the entrance together, and as soon as they passed the thick oak trees on campus, Finn felt Roman hold his hand and for the first time ever, Finn Balor felt more than just desired…He felt wanted.

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.