Hey boo! Saw your post and you said prompts so how about something bitter sweet and Asuma related? Starting with his first impressions of his bby genins and then some memories he's made with them?
Kurenai had always been good company at the bar. Her presence was soothing and understated, and she was more than comfortable to sit in silence. She also had a knack of dropping ridiculously witty remarks at the right time with this perfect, throaty laugh to go with it. Her laugh suited her. When she did converse, it was in a smooth voice that gracefully filled the area.
It was no surprise that Asuma found himself seeking out her company.
She looked like she expected him, offering him room next to her across from Hatake. There were no words between the three, but that was to be expected. It was their first day meeting their genin teams. His second, Kurenai’s third, and the next in a long, unsuccessful line of Hatake’s. Maybe this one would be different.
“Who are your genin, Asuma?”
He could get used to hearing her say his name. “Ino-Shika-Cho.” He grinned at the smiles from the other two. “Guess they couldn’t bear to split them up. What about you, Kurenai?”
She puffed out a laugh and Asuma had the sudden yearning to hear more. “Inuzuka, Aburame, and Hyuuga.”
Both he and Hatake groaned in sympathy. “Ouch. I’ll take my Uchiha anytime over dealing with the Hyuuga clan.”
“Uchiha?” Asuma asked. Hatake simply stared at him for a moment before taking a pull on his beer. “Huh, I guess that makes sense. Who else?”
“A kunoichi from a civilian family, Haruno, and Uzumaki.”
Asuma broke the somber mood with a booming laugh. “So you got Naruto?” His laughter carried, turning a few heads, but not drawing any unwanted attention. “No wonder Iruka’s in a snit. You’ve failed how many genin teams so far?”
“Haruno won’t be any trouble,” Kurenai murmured, pulling Hatake’s attention from Asuma. “She’s a little boy crazy, but she’s very intelligent.”
Hatake nodded, accepting that silently before drinking the last of his beer. “It’s not my fault they fail,” he shot back at Asuma as he signaled the bartender for another round. “We already know your team will work together. Just have to see if mine will, too.”
Their second round arrived just as Gai entered the bar. Toasting his companions, Asuma simply sat back and watched in growing amusement as Konoha’s Noble Blue Beast rained his congratulations upon his begrudging rival.
He was going to kill them.
They had just reached Konoha borders and the fight started. Ino and Choji were going at it, her shrieks piercing and his yelling was shaking the trees. The two had been bickering since they left for the mission, but it was only in the last hour that it escalated to an argument. Asuma tried to get them to calm down and continue on, only to find Shikamaru lying in a tree branch watching the clouds.
If most teams fought like this, no wonder Hatake failed them all. Well, all but one.
The fight was taking a turn for the worse. Choji was starting to collect his chakra and Ino was getting precariously close to commenting on his appearance. He juggled a few thoughts around, trying to figure out how best to break up the fight. Of course, he could always let them wear each other out. It would just be another lesson in managing their tempers when faced with exhaustion.
“Well, maybe if you didn’t eat so much, you would have an appearance to be proud of, too!”
That was enough. Two kunai flew out, each perilously close to the kids’ noses. They sank into the tree trunk and Asuma drank in the silence that filled the area. Two pairs of wide eyes turned to him, both still holding onto rampant anger. Time for a valuable lesson every shinobi had to learn.
“If that were enemy-nin, you’d both be dead right now.” He watched in satisfaction as the anger started to bleed out. “You two are so busy trying to be right, you’re completely ignoring your surroundings.”
“But Asuma-sensei, she said–”
“Do you even know where your third teammate is?”
They both blinked, glancing at each other before looking around the trees.
“You are shinobi and this is a mission,” he continued. “The mission isn’t over until you’ve reported it complete, and to assume safety because we reached Konoha territory is to assume death.”
“Yes, Asuma-sensei,” Ino chirped sweetly. “I was only–”
“-picking an unnecessary fight with your teammate and putting everyone at risk,” Asuma finished. They had to acknowledge what happened now.
They both stayed quiet, gazes dropping down to their feet.
“You’re exhausted. If there is really a problem, then you wait until after you’ve gotten home and rested to deal with it, not while you’re Leaf shinobi on a mission. Everything you do outside of those village gates reflects on how people view your clans, our shinobi, and the village. Think your clans would be happy to know how you ended your first mission?” The deafening silence was all the answer he needed. “Now find your teammate and let’s get going.”
Shikamaru dropped out of his branch then, looking as eager as he could manage at the prospect of returning home. “Thank you, sensei. Their arguing was–”
“Where were you during all of this?” Asuma growled, pulling shocked expressions from all three genin. Shikamaru’s gaze dropped instantly. “You could have prevented them from arguing for so long, but instead, you abandon them for the clouds at the first opportunity.”
The three exuded shame and it took most of Asuma’s training to keep his rough exterior. It was a hard lesson every genin had to learn, but these three had phenomenal potential and the sooner they got out of the basics, the better.
“Here’s what we’re going to do,” he continued, softening his tone just a bit. “The village gates are about two hours away, but we’re going to push and make it in an hour and a half. I’m going to show you the process of reporting the finished mission, and then you three are going home to rest.”
They each nodded and murmured a sullen “Yes, sensei.”
“Tomorrow, we’ll meet at ten and review the mission. Talk about what went right, what went wrong, and how to ensure it doesn’t happen again. Then we’ll celebrate your first completed mission as genin with some barbeque. Okay?”
This “Yes, sensei,” chorus was accompanied by beautiful, shy smiles.
He wasn’t usually torn between emotions, but pride tugged at the loss of his heart as he looked at Shikamaru. The chuunin vest fit him perfectly.
Asuma laid a heavy hand on his shoulder, bending slightly to be eyelevel with his student. “Do not forget your accomplishment for the grief of others.”
It was something he’d had to learn long ago. Being shinobi wasn’t safe, it wasn’t happy. Times of sadness were many, times of hope few and far between. To forget the hope was to despair, to embrace the sadness was to die. Even with his own grief, with his own personal loss of a Clan leader and father, he couldn’t ignore the pride he held for his student.
He pulled Shikamaru close, two arms wrapping around the teen. “I am so proud of you,” he said into his hair. “Don’t you ever forget that.”
Shinobi were a surprisingly materialistic lot. They understood earthly possessions burned just as easily as paper and worth was better in people than things, but that didn’t stop them from holding onto a few meaningful mementoes.
Jewelry held surprising significance to Asuma. His own bracelets were gifts from his sensei, a physical representation of his chakra flow. He had worked hard to fight with them on, relearning his grip on kunai so they wouldn’t get in the way. Looking down at his hands reminded him of that time, before he left Konoha in search of his own path.
And just like the circles, he returned.
The earrings he gave his team, all chuunin who had proven themselves most admirably, represented something different. Not only part of the long-standing tradition between their Clans, but also in memory of his own gift. His team already knew how to work together, they already knew how to fight seamlessly. But sometimes, they let their own voices outweigh each other.
Remember your ears, he told them. Remember to listen rather than hear.
He watched as memories played over their faces, different missions they had taken when he had made this point known. When they smiled at him, full of gratitude and understanding, he knew they heard him.
He couldn’t help but smile every time he saw those earrings being worn.
There were so many things he wanted to do; so many things still waiting for him. He knew at that moment, he would always regret leaving Kurenai to raise his child alone. He wouldn’t be able to watch Konohamru grow as a shinobi, nor continue being the brother Iruka loved him as. He wouldn’t ever have the opportunity to teach another genin team, to watch them grow and guide them on their path.
He was not the first to pass before his time and he wouldn’t be the last. As such was every shinobi life.
But in that moment that should have been surrounded by regrets and what-ifs, he instead chose to look into the eyes of his students. He found himself fondly remembering who they were, seeing who they are, and knowing who they will be.
And in those last memories of quiet words with Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Choji, Sarutobi Asuma, member of the Guardian Shinobi Twelve, heir to the Sarutobi Clan, and son of the Third Hokage, found peace.
There are parts of this I like and parts of this I hate, but not matter how long I stared at it, I couldn’t fix what was wrong. Sorry it’s so late! And I’m sorry it’s shorter than I intended.Â
But it really did help. Thank you @peacheddreams for the prompt!
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lowkey otp ot3: KibaHinaShino. I just love their entire dynamic. Please never change. Ever. And NejiTen. And NejiLee brotp eternal rival goodness be still my heart. And ItaSaku recently came into my radar and I am loving it?highkey notp: KakaObi! It is just totally not for me. [softly] don’t notp: SasuSaku. At least in canon. I’m really just -- I don’t like what canon did to those two characters in relation to each other. I get why people will ship them because there’s so much history and angst and emotional foundation to explore, but just. Not my cup of tea.highkey otp but i’m scared of saying it because it’s not a very popular choice: YAMASAKU. Put everyone’s favorite kohai with everyone’s favorite medic and let me be happy with all the love and respect and amazing perfection of those two living happily ever after.highkey otp and anyone on my tumblr knows it: It is impossible to follow my blog and not know I’m KakaIru and KakaSaku trash. Impossible. Unless you blacklist either of those tags. But seriously. All about that life right there. (Now to slowly switch it over to YamaSaku and we got a party.)
PSA: I got into this fandom before ship names became a thing. So while I know they exist, they just feel weird to me?
lowkey otp: Draco/Ginny. Crackship hello. Love it.highkey notp: Fred/George. No, please. Sorry. Don’t. I just-- no thank you.[softly] don’t notp: Harry/Hermione. I’m the biggest brotp shipper of this pair, but I really don’t like anything romantic between them.highkey otp but i’m scared of saying it because it’s not a very popular choice: Ron/Hermione. They’re just so perfect? Seven beautiful books of them learning how to love each other? I love them so much. And people hate to put them together. It makes me sad. Stupid movies ruined his character.highkey otp and anyone on my tumblr knows it: Okay I am straight up Draco/Harry BROTP trash. I love them being the best of friends and it’s my favorite thing in the world. At the height of being very involved in this fandom, I didn’t ship them romantically, but now, I can see the appeal. I’m still slightly iffy (because Draco with Ginny and marrying into the Weasley family yes please) but nothing beats how much I love those two being friends.
Could I get the cute Heloise with the prompt D please?
Varric watches, because he always is. Â He's pretty sure nobody would believe any of what he wrote down, but he'd been sure nobody would believe The Tale Of The Champion, and that got him dragged into Hawke's scary basement and interrogated.
The Inquisitor makes no effort to hide that she's a basically decent and maybe even kind person. Â She doesn't hide being willing to do damn near whatever it takes to defeat Corypheus, either, but that's not really a bad thing.
It's just that Her Worship, the Herald of Andraste, Inquisitor Heloise Trevelyan is more a green-eyed statue, an image, an ideal. Â Inquisitor Trevelyan is larger than Heloise, outshines her. Â Heloise only shows in the rare smile that's shy, rather than sardonic, or the flicker of fear in her eyes, or the way she stops in at every single camp in every single region the Inquisition establishes a presence in. Â 'What do you need?' she's always asking, 'What can we do?'
It's so easy to overlook how Heloise always checks in on the party's potion count, how she makes sure to double-check the progress of any injury, how though she rarely comments during her many, many treks through the ass-ends of Thedas, she's always listening. Â She looks at them some nights, seated by the fire, and her eyes glint with something that isn't the breezy good humor she always shows, and she brings up what she's heard them say.
But for all that, Heloise's words come out in the Inquisitor's voice, and sound like, 'What can I give you?'  Heloise may be a woman, but the Inquisitor is a martyr in progress — if a deliberately funny one — and doesn't dare be anything else.
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2: Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?Nope. Not at all. I am going to make more, though. I have a lot of things about my life that I need to fix and I need to start working on that now. So yeah, I’ll make more, but I’m going to have a plan to go with them.
8: What was your biggest achievement of the year?I know this sounds crazy, but surviving? Kinda. My grandmother lived with us for ten months out of the year, and it was hard. So hard. She’s stubborn as a mule and prideful and just a hateful, two-faced Southern lady…with dementia. So it was a constant battle of having to deal with the disease on top of dealing with her. She hasn’t lived with us since the end of October, but we’re only just now done with it. It’s been the biggest struggle I’ve seen my parents go through since my sister told them she was pregnant sixteen years ago.ON A DIFFERENT NOTE: I also quit my job and went to cosmetology school for a nail tech license. I’ve been into nail art for three years and for those three years have had so many people tell me that I need to go to school for it. I did it this year and that was an accomplishment all it’s own.
14: Where did most of your money go?Gas. Food. Nail polish. I’ve been driving around 100 miles a day since the end of August for nail school, so definitely gas. Food because I’m almost never home. And nail polish because it’s an escape. Oh and journals! I went quite a few years not buying journals, and then suddenly bought like ten in the span of a month.
Who steals french fries off the other’s plate?
Neji. Lee doesn’t believe that Neji would actually steal fries, but there’s no one else around. He doesn’t know what’s going on. Neji does it to practice his speed, because if he can get past Lee, he can pretty much get past anyone.
Who jokingly moves in for the kiss when someone asks if they’re a couple?
Also Neji. He didn’t expect Lee to blush, though. When confronted about it, Lee stuttered and said he didn’t know how to react that someone as noble and talented as Neji would even consider being in a relationship with him. Also, he was about to piss his pants because there was no way in hell he was going to explain this all to Tenten.
Who has to bust or bail the other out of jail?
Lee! Not that Neji is usually ever in jail, but it’s happened, usually when Neji’s had a little to much to drink in the bar and someone made a pass at Tenten. Lee usually only drinks water (because no one’s prepared for that mess!) and he’s usually following Neji to the jail to them immediately get him out and drag him home.
(Tenten’s out behind the bar beating the stuffing out of the idiot who grabbed her butt.)
Who gives the other advice/comfort about dating issues?
Lee. Neji is usually really annoyed about it because he can figure it out himself, only to realize that Lee actually knows the girls! If you take what Lee says with a grain of salt and mix it in with a healthy dose of a special ingredient called subtlety, Lee usually offers pretty sound advice. Neji is astounded the first time he tries it, so he will actually listen to Lee (not that Lee ever knows it).
Who shamelessly cheats at games by reaching over to cover the other’s eyes?
Neji. But only sometimes. Lee figures out that when Neji does something like that, he’s stuck in a bad part in his head and needs a distraction. Lee’s good at nothing if not offering a distraction.
Who immediately calls dibs on the top bunk?
Lee calls dibs, but Neji always gets it. For some reason or another, Lee always finds himself offering to take the bottom bunk even though he called the top one! He doesn’t know how it happens. (Neji’s totally doing it on purpose. It’s so funny to see Lee confused.)
Who starts and who wins the pillow fights?
They both start, but Neji always wins. The pillow fight will start and get going, but something will happen and Neji is not going to lose a freaking pillow fight to Lee. So Byakugan it is and Lee is left on the ground getting wailed at with a pillow. It’s Tenten’s favorite thing in the world.
Who says “your pants would look better on their floor” to the other’s potential crush?
They both do. Oh, they both do, with drastically different results. Lee practically yells it, he’s so happy to have a chance to say it, and Neji is left soothing over ruffled feathers making sure everyone leaves intact and in peace. But when Neji says it? Lee gets laid.
Who steals french fries off the other’s plate?
Naruto tries. Oh he tries. But poor Sai. He knows immediately when Naruto starts inching toward his plate, and then offers the idiot his food. “Naruto, are your fries not adequate?” And then Naruto can’t even finish stealing them because Sai just doesn’t get it. It’s just not as fun.
Who jokingly moves in for the kiss when someone asks if they’re a couple?
Naruto tried it once. Sakura will never let him forget it. It’s not his fault Sai didn’t understand the joke and kissed him! Sai was just confused. “I thought that’s what you were going for?” Naruto was gobsmacked. “Do you want to kiss me?!” The entire village heard Sakura’s laughter when Sai replied, “Why would I want to kiss you, Dickless? I thought it was considered rude to shove you away.”
(Sai actually knew what he was doing, he later confessed to Sakura. But it was totally worth it to see Naruto argue with himself on why he was offended Sai didn’t want to kiss him.)
Who has to bust or bail the other out of jail?
Sai. Naruto can’t ever keep his mouth shut. Ever. And he’s always landing himself somewhere. Successfully bailing him out is a shot in the dark, though. Half the time, Sai accidentally ends up saying something that’s apparently offensive (what is wrong with these people) and lands himself right next to Naruto. But, Sai still saves it all because he can actually figure out how to get out. So now, he just either brings someone with to make sure he doesn’t get in trouble, or sneaks Naruto out from the beginning.
Who gives the other advice/comfort about dating issues?
Sai. He’s just so confused about it all. I mean, it’s not hard to see that Hinata likes Naruto, and if he can see it, there’s no way Naruto doesn’t! But he doesn’t, and Sai just doesn’t grasp the extent of Naruto’s ignorance, so he just assumes they’re already dating. Which leads to a lot of awkward conversations about condoms and oral sex.
Who shamelessly cheats at games by reaching over to cover the other’s eyes?
Naruto. It doesn’t work. Sai just lets it happen because he believes it’s all a part of the game, and he wins anyway.
Who immediately calls dibs on the top bunk?
Also Naruto. What he doesn’t realize is that Sai prefers the bottom bunk (he doesn’t like the idea of someone underneath him while he’s sleeping), but they argue about it anyway. When Naruto finally does find out Sai’s preference, he doesn’t say anything about it, just keeps on going as normal.
Who starts and who wins the pillow fights?
Naruto starts them, Sai wins them. Sai started it once, but bad timing. How was he supposed to know it wasn’t just Naruto in the bed?
Who says “your pants would look better on their floor” to the other’s potential crush?
Sai. Sai. He says it all the time. The first time was to Sakura, who stuttered and had to realize Sai wasn’t trying to get her into his bed, then she beat the tar out of him. Hinata fainted. The best was when he said it to Kiba. The man didn’t even know how to respond, but Shino snorted into his drink, which brought on everyone’s attention, because what made Shino laugh?
It was the closest Naruto got to actually killing Sai. (It wasn’t close at all, but closer than the other attempts.)
