❝    relax.    i    know    you’re    scared.    ❞    you    take    a    seat    next    to    him.    he’s    bloodied    and    hurt,    but    you    hold    out    your    hand    palm    up.    ❝    i’m    just    here    to    patch    you    up,    if    that’s    okay.    ❞

suggest up to three muses for vana to add to their blog. from this meme thing // @ajisaai

anon asked: hey :)c how do u feel about mr kazekage, shikamaru

“Feel?” 

He scoffs at the word and raises the cigarette to his lips and takes a drag from it as though attempting to stall himself from the inevitable confession that will tumble from his lips. Shikamaru’s feelings towards the Kazekage are complex to say the least, and he does not like to examine them too closely. Examining them exposes the fatal flaw in the fact that they are inconvenient in the political landscape and unlikely to amount to anything more than what they have. 

And he’s okay with that. 

“Gaara is a capable and skilled shinobi...” he voices aloud eventually, finishing his cigarette and tipping his head back as he exhales his final stream of smoke to the sky. “He’s come a long way from the person I first met, works hard and makes a strong leader as Kazekage...” He trails off again, eyes watching a cloud drift as he focuses his attention upwards fingers curling into fists at his sides. For a moment the teeth of his upper jaw find his lower lip, embedding an impression upon it as he considers what he’s saying and realises he’s doing the same as always. Covering up the underneath with work or arrogance, bluster or remark, anything to avoid that kernel of truth caught in his chest. He sighs, swallows and falls back to lay in the place he’s sitting. 

“If things were different... I’d ask him to stay.” It feels as honest as it comes and something in him heaves at the admission. “Or offer to stay... the semantics of it are irrelevant...” he adds after a minute folding his arms behind his head. He stares to the sky in a moment of reflection and wonders if the implications of his words are understood. If they weren’t the Kazekage and the Hokage’s advisor... if they were just them... he’d want to be a them. He’d want everything that comes with that and more, build a life with him in whatever way that ended up. 

But they aren’t just them, they are the Hokage’s advisor and the Kazekage and the idea of a happy life between them is laughable. He’d never give up his work and never ask Gaara to choose him over a country. So instead he takes what he can get, hoards the moments and keeps things at a manageable level so that he can maintain emotional distance while indulging in something with someone he cares about. In his mind he can acknowledge he loves Gaara, but externally he’ll keep it hidden, a secret to hold passed in little gestures and breathed teases. Hidden in deliberate aggravations and tender touches. 

@ajisaai​ said:  ayo menma can i get an owa owa

Eventually, the old dog does slow down, eventually. She stops just before Mitsuki, wagging her stubby tail as she tries to peer behind his legs at the cat.  Contrary to popular belief, not all dogs were hateful towards cats.  Honeydew the dog wanted to be friends with everyone— Including cats.

“Mitsuki-kun!” Li reaches the young boy surrounded by two small animals. “I am very sorry for Honeydew’s alarming approach.”  Cue the large man bowing to the young teen.  “Is your cat all right?”