#asunokami

starter for @asunokami

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“Listen to me. Yukirama, no -- listen.” Madara batted his son’s hands away from his hair. “We can’t go back home right now. It’s -- it’s dangerous. For both of us. I know you want to go back but not now, okay?”

Ever since Yukirama woke up and discovered the two of them in a completely different country, he’d been a bundle of questions, asking why this, why that, what now, when would this happen, when would that. Madara had tried his best to answer them but some things... some things didn’t have answers that Yukirama could be ready for. Maybe couldn’t ever be ready for. He was just so young, Madara didn’t want to burden him with things that he couldn’t even understand.

He’d gone to the liberty of hastily hacking their hair off too. Yukirama looked different with his hair turned tar-black by a pungent dye, the uneven edges of his hair fluffing around his chin. Madara’s own head felt strangely lighter without his long mane. He’d spent years growing it out, something that’d first been just convenient and warm during the winter, and then became a minor vanity, a testament to his skill that he could have hair that long and not be hindered by it.

@asunokami

Since that night, things between himself and Yukirama had tapered off to their previous normal. What little time they had together inbetween their respective missions was spent with further training, and any awkwardness over the kiss on either end was kept under strict wraps.

He’d opened his eyes, since then. Began to look around him when he was walking to and from home, or simply being led around by Master Gai. 

Never before had he paid attention to any couples. Now, they were all that caught his attention, studying how the men and women treated each other in public. 

Several times, Tenten caught him, with a mischievous look on her face, but she never pressed too deep. 

At night, he thinks. Imagines himself and Yukirama in the same positions, or sharing the same affections. The warm feeling always returns. 

But he has to plan this carefully. Tonight he is lucky, a cursory scan of the Uchiha District reveals only Yukirama is within its walls. Nothing against Sasuke, but this isn’t necessarily a discussion that should be had in his presence. 

starter for @asunokami & (later) @rainokami

How long they’d been at Sakura’s birthday party now, Naruto couldn’t exactly say. Afternoon had turned evening had turned night and somewhere in between, the party had really started. Someone had brought booze in inexplicably large masses and Sakura surely hadn’t thought her party would swing itself to these heights. People were loud, there was music from somewhere, some were dancing, others were singing along croakily, laughing.

It was nice, really, and Naruto didn’t feel so bad about having convinced Sasuke to come like he did. Sasuke, who had tried to skip out on it. Naruto knew that Sakura’s feelings didn’t matter to him, and that he was beyond feeling bad for her, and that hadn’t been why Naruto had remained adamant.

For Sasuke’s own sake, Naruto had first yelled at him, then dragged him here. The people here, his friends, still saw nothing else in Sasuke than a war criminal, someone that had betrayed them all, and regardless of how often Naruto insisted that he’d changed, they didn’t believe him. He knew that, deep down and this was why he had to prove that Sasuke was really just like them, a young adult, lost like all of them after the war.

This evening was going to start proving that, for sure. But right now, the target of Naruto’s interest wasn’t Sasuke (for once), but rather the one guy present that he had no idea about. He didn’t know his face, nor the messy mane of brown hair he probably called his hair. Neji’s boyfriend, or that’s what he had bashfully introduced him as for everyone to make big eyes. As the evening progressed and Neji too had some drink here and there, it became more obvious what exactly that meant: Neji stuck to him eagerly. Right now though, Hinata had pulled him away to obviously answer some rather interesting questions to a whole group of people that consisted of Hinata herself, Ino, Tenten and Sai.

It was Naruto’s chance to saunter over and stick his face in front of that of Neji’s boyfriend.

@asunokami

THE LAND OF FIRE    /    how she hated this country  ,  although not to any fault of its own. It was simply the stage for possibly the worst years of her life    ;    she rarely came here  ,  but a stubborn bastard of the Daimyo demanded she was to stay here for a full month in order to protect him. Now her duty to him was finished  ,  && she could return to doing whatever the Akatsuki asked of her. However  ,  she was only a subordinate  ,  so her presence wasn’t of great importance. Minami could take her time returning to her ugly little shack of a home in Wind. Normally  ,  she would have ran as fast as she could but apparently a nearby town was having some kind of festival. Minami loved festival food. The promise of such goods was enough to entice her  ,  even if the very air here made her crinkle her nose in disgust. She planned to stick around for a week or so until she had her fill of whatever was on offer.

SHE COULDN’T STAND CROWDS    /    people-watching was an enjoyable past time  ,  but she was a kunoichi trained to notice even the smallest details. Being around too many people for too long just led to her becoming overwhelmed && set off her paranoia. That was why she decided to find some peace in the nearby forest  ,  quietly munching on taiyaki while resting on a large rock. She was so tired. The last time she slept had been two days ago  ,  && a violent nightmare had scared her off from even resting her eyes longer than a few seconds. At this point  ,  Minami had come to accept the dark circles beneath her eyes as a permanent part of her appearance. The woman pinched the side of her waist  ,  hoping the pain would keep her eyelids open.

[starter for @asunokami]

Fourty-eight hours ago, the place had smelled like the dust that had been gathering on the furniture and window sills. Now, even with everything neat and decisively dust-free, it still didn’t quite feel like home. Something was definitely missing, even when Neji settled down with his dinner for tonight, freshly prepared.

It was one of the first things he did after returning from a lengthy mission: cleaning, washing, making sure everything looked homely again. And yet, even with the lanterns on and the plants from the balcony back inside, with the surfaces clean and his flak jacket on the drying rack, even now it wasn’t quite enough yet.

Not that Neji didn’t like the little flat he’d rented shortly after Lady Hinata had moved out. It was nicely set up, had everything he needed and the neighbours were okay even if they had odd habits. Like the woman from next door who sometimes stood in front of his own door, but never knocked. Neji had accidentally seen her once, through the closed door, mind you. Not that he spied on his neighbours, but if they banged against the wall, he had to check sometimes. Only to regret it immediately after, in most cases.

But all in all, it was nice. It was good to live his own life as well, the Hyuuga didn’t really need him there anyway. Neji had trained Lady Hanabi to be quite defensible herself and Lady Hinata, well, she had married the current hokage.

starter for @asunokami

“You’re going again?”

Sasuke sat in the kitchen. It was barely sunrise and the light had yet to hit this side of the house. He was already dressed, his new sandals squeaking on the linoleum. He had to throw out his old ones after they got trashed from his genin exam with Kakashi. These ones dug into his toes, still stiff from the store.

He poked at his breakfast halfheartedly, not hungry but trying to eat anyway. He didn’t look up at Yukirama.

THE DETAILS WERE VAGUE    /    but the overall message was clear     ---    for however long  ,  the village expected the Uchiha to take this boy in as one of their own. It was definitely a surprise  ,  && seemed more than suspicious  ,  but not even the main family were in any place to refuse the desires of the village. Not that Mikoto refused  ,  of course. She had been the one to insist on raising him herself  ,  after all.  If he was to be considered an Uchiha  ,  then she would make sure he was treated as one. Under the care of lesser members of the clan  ,  Yuki would undoubtedly face all kinds of issues. With Mikoto && Fugaku  ,  however  ,  not a single person with any sense would dare treat him badly simply because he was ‘foreign’. 

THIS WAS STRANGE    /    it had been easier with Itachi && Sasuke simply because she had been with them since they were born. With Yuki  ,  it was different. Introductions  ,  ice breakers  ,  analysis. Mikoto had never needed to go through these with her previous sons. She sat on the floor carefully  ,  but purposefully kept her posture open && non-threatening. Mikoto always had the Uchiha && her prestigious parents to keep her out the claws of the village  ,  but she had heard of    (    && seen    )     the misery children with no such protection suffered. She didn’t know what he had been through  ,  but she assumed the worst && acted accordingly.