#netsui

nethaniel sui akane, aka netsui, is a high-ranking demon. his ability is centered around the concept of heartstrings. he is highly manipulative, and his main power is taking people's hearts out and using them to control people like a puppeteer.

neji: no lady hinata you don't understand it's terrible-

hinata: crushing on a loud blond man. how could i possibly relate

anon: A platonic interpretation of Florence + The Machine's What the Water Gave Me, feels like what I'd consider Reverse Garden!Sai & Root!Shikako vibes? idk

[Verse 1] Time it took us To where the water was That's what the water gave me And time goes quicker Between the two of us Oh, my love, don't forsake me Take what the water gave me [Chorus] Lay me down Let the only sound Be the overflow Pockets full of stones Lay me down Let the only sound Be the overflow [Verse 2] And oh, poor Atlas The world's a beast of a burden You've been holding on a long time And all this longing And the ships are left to rust That's what the water gave us [Chorus] So lay me down Let the only sound Be the overflow Pockets full of stones Lay me down Let the only sound Be the overflow [Verse 3] Because they took your loved ones But returned them in exchange for you But would you have it any other way? Would you have it any other way? You couldn't have it any other way [Bridge] Because she's a cruel mistress And a bargain must be made But oh, my love, don't forget me While I let the water take me [Chorus] Lay me down Let the only sound Be the overflow Pockets full of stones Lay me down Let the only sound Be the overflow So lay me down Let the only sound Be the overflow Pockets full of stones Lay me down Let the only sound Be the overflow

I’m glad you liked the Reverse Gardens idea, anon! This is a pretty excellent choice for Reverse Gardens in general--though, of course, if I could figure out how to get Shisui in there somehow that would be the most excellent. :D 

This next bit is unrelated to either Sai or Shisui or ROOT!Shikako, or, even, I think AUs that currently exist (or maybe they do? Oh man, I’m so bad at keeping track of them) but I thought maybe people might appreciate this as well?

---

She dodges the first blow, easy. The second, not so much, it catches her across the jaw and with it goes her sense of balance. She stumbles--not much, not enough to fall, but enough to create an opening--and a leg sweeps hers out from under her. She crashes to the ground, rocks scraping, and doesn’t even bother to get back up. Instead, she rolls, out of the way of a sword stabbed into the ground where she was just seconds ago.

She doesn’t bother to complain about the double standards going on in this fight, the teachers don’t care. Or, well, they do. But not in any way that will benefit her.

Netsui is occupied, her sword stabbed too far into the ground that now it’s stuck--if she cared at all about Netsui, she’d say something about how relying on that sword too much is more of a liability than a strength, but she doesn’t so she won’t--so that’s one combatant down, at least. Not really the one she was worried about, but one less to worry about.

Akantai is there as soon as she pops up, kick high and fast and brutal. Impressive. If it had landed, she’d have been out like a light. But it doesn’t. It leaves him vulnerable, especially without his partner to provide cover, leaves his stance too wide, weight poorly distributed. She counters with a kick of her own, low and sharp and ruthless, her force and his own mass used against him. She connects with his ankle. A snap, followed by a strangled scream, and Akantai is down.

Netsui finally pulls out her sword, ready to wield it once more, only to be met with a kunai held close and sharp to her neck. The sword is too long and unwieldy to do anything. Netsui surrenders.

“Victory to Shippai,” the teacher says with barely concealed displeasure in his voice. They’re never pleased when Shippai wins. Good. They’re the enemy.

-

The nice thing about genjutsu is that it doesn’t use a lot of chakra. If done right, if it’s small and subtle enough, it barely uses any chakra at all. What it does require is a lot of imagination, focus, and determination.

Three year old Shikako doesn’t have many tools at her disposal--what with being a three year old and all--but she does have those at least.

-

Shippai does not go back to the orphanage after classes are let out for the day. She tries not to go back to the orphanage until she absolutely needs to, either hunger or exhaustion drawing her back.

Instead she takes an extremely circuitous route around the village, shaking off her inept tails from the academy, a small hand darting out every so often to palm whatever she can reach. By the time she gets to one of her hidey-holes way in the outskirts of the village boundaries, her jacket is full of money and senbon and trinkets and food.

The perishables she eats, the senbon she hides back in her clothes, the money and trinkets she stashes for later. She doesn’t know any actual earth jutsu, but her chakra is naturally aligned that way: she sweeps a hand over her hidey-hole, the stone sliding along enough so she can add her haul from today, before she sweeps it back to close it.

Then she heads back to Hidden Cloud.

-

The Cloud ambassador successfully kidnaps a Konoha clan heiress and runs back to Land of Lightning.

The Sandaime Hokage, fearing war, does nothing.

No one dies.

The tragic thing is, this is the best outcome Shikako could think of.

-

She doesn’t have much of a range on her sensing, but what she doesn’t have in distance she makes up in detail. (Her enemies are all already so close, what does she need range for?)

It’s how she knows that the woman standing in front of her, hand pressed to her mouth in horror, is using a genjutsu. (She recognizes the feel of it.)

It’s how she knows that the woman isn’t from Cloud at all. Chakra bright and somehow translucent, like glass and crystal; fragile, still, but precise and deadly. (Some part of her feels like she should recognize it, but she’s certain she’s never met this woman before.)

“You’re not from around here, are you?” Shippai asks and the woman inhales sharply, as if wounded.

“N-no,” the woman responds, lowering to a knee so as to be on an even eye level with Shippai. (She doesn’t understand why, since it’ll be harder to react if it comes to a fight, but that’s to Shippai’s advantage so so she doesn’t say anything.)

“No,” the woman repeats, more confident this time, before she lets the genjutsu go revealing pale white Byakugan. (The part of Shippai that isn’t stunned is now  especially confused as to why this woman bothered to get on eye level with her.)

“But neither are you, Shikako-chan.”

~

A/N: Is Cloud!Shikako already a thing? Anyway, I figure they’d rename her--Shippai means failure, mistake, blunder which is as much an admonishment to the Cloud ambassador as it is to belittle Shikako since, as far as Cloud knows, the Nara don’t have a bloodline and thus they have a “useless” Konoha clan heiress.

The genjutsu and the details vs range sensing and the small but potent earth jutsu (being able to do stone instead of just rocky earth) is how I think the situation would have changed her style. She’s essentially in hostile territory, she doesn’t have the freedom to do big bold stuff.

gay ocs are very gay

Actual cinnamon roll, Siren!Netsui 

Sparky gorl