#zisestars

[mokutone]

Once again dropping in to tell you how much not I love not only your art (esp the way you draw Yamato's luminous, eyes) but also your tag for Sai. Every single time, your tag for Sai sends me into helpless giggling fits when I read it so thank you for all the serotonin!

hehehehe thank u! the tag also makes me giggle!

[kakayamaweek]

Undeserving

For Day 1: "You deserved it." & Day 5: Soulmates

Tags: Angst, fluff, soulmate AU, mentioned child abuse/experimentation (bc Danzo and Orochimaru are terrible

________________

Tenzō stood in the middle of the field, awe struck. 

ROOT operatives had always stuck to the shadows when they carried out their missions- even in a place as sunny and teeming with life as Konoha. So Tenzō had never had a chance to feast his eyes on a sight like this.

A sprawling carpet of emerald green grass. Morning dew glittering like diamonds dropped by a careless goddess. Flowers dripping with nectar, bursting with colour, ornamenting the field. And the sun, glinting down on them, accentuating each individual facets of every petal and grass blade.

Yugao had insisted that Tenzō wear civvies to this field and he understood why now. Without the reinforced armour and the heavy clothing, Tenzō felt…light. 

He could feel the silky breeze curling around his calves. He could feel the shy tickle of the grass against his ankles. Without the weight of his mask, he could breathe in the sweet honey smell of flowers. Yugao  had even pulled up Tenzō’s hair into a ponytail, so he could feel the sun warming the back on his neck.

He had never felt so free.

“Do you like it?” Kakashi padded up next to him.

“It’s beautiful,’ Tenzō breathed. “I had no idea a place this wonderful existed.”

Why on earth did he let Tenzō just walk off? It was clear that Tenzō wasn’t just a brainwashed ROOT lackey. He had saved Kakashi when it probably would have served his mission better if Kakashi had been dead. He risked his own life protecting Kakashi. He risked his own life saving Yukimi against one of the Sannin- the one responsible for experimenting on him.

Of course you didn’t. Kakashi thought sadly. After all, they had been on back to back missions in the ANBU. And just a year ago, Tenzō had still been deeply embedded in ROOT.

Kakashi had always regretted how he left the Iburi clan incident. At the time, he thought that he had been kind by never mentioning Tenzō in his report. But as the years passed, with no sign of Tenzō, and an ever increasing threat posed by Danzo, Kakashi started to regret his decision.

Even from that very first mission, Tenzō had gone against everything ROOT programmed into him. His compassion and kindness had been unsullied by Danzo.

And Kakashi had just let him walk back into the snake’s hole. 

That decision had weighed heavy on Kakashi for years. He should’ve convinced Tenzō to go back to the Hokage with him. Insisted that the ANBU, the real ANBU was better for him, where the Hokage- where Kakashi could protect him from Danzo. Where Tenzō would be able to walk in the sunlight instead of serving in that underground hell. 

When Tenzō had turned up three years later, Kakashi had been secretly ecstatic to have a second shot at helping him. At hopefully getting him into ANBU and more importantly- out of ROOT.

When Tenzō turned against him and he had Tenzō pinned against the floor, Chidori at his heart, Kakashi…couldn’t do it. He wanted to believe that the Tenzō he had met was still in there. He captured him to bring him back to the Hokage.

He was never going to let Tenzō go back to Danzo.

And Kakashi had been right in the end. Tenzō had put himself at risk to save Kakashi twice over. And though Kakashi had saved him in the end, gotten him into his own squad where he could watch out for him, Kakashi could never shake off that guilt.

Because, Kakashi thought, watching Tenzō tilt his head up and enjoy the ribbons of fresh air streaming over him, sunlight illuminating the bronze of his hair. You could’ve had this a lot sooner, if I had been a little braver. 

“Kakashi-senpai!” Tenzō’s voice broke him out of his reverie. There, carefully balanced on his finger, was a butterfly. Its blue wings, colour deep as the ocean and edged with black lace, flapped lazily as it perched on Tenzō’s finger. His kohai looked delighted.

  Yes, Kakashi thought. You deserved it, Tenzō. You deserved your place in the sun so much quicker.

“Senpai?” Tenzō tore his gaze away from the butterfly and looked at Kakashi curiously. 

Kakashi gave him a smile and gestured to the butterfly. “Are you using your Wood style, Tenzō? Secretly growing flowers out of your fingers, hmmmm?”

Sufficiently distracted, Tenzō squawked his defence as Kakashi laughed at him. With a huff, Tenzō turned his back pointedly on Kakashi. 

Kakashi’s eye strayed towards the nape of Tenzō’s neck. Towards the mark that claimed Tenzō as his soulmate. 

And Kakashi knew that he would never, ever tell Tenzō.

Because after all, Tenzō had never done anything bad enough to deserve Kakashi as a soulmate.

_____________

A/N: thank you to @sketchy-and-unformed, @matsukisama, @kodiaksage and @kaoruhana08 for organising Kakayama Week 2022! 

(Also I know I left this sad but do not fret! If you liked this, you'll be pleased to know that I plan on continuing it over the rest of kkym week!)

[vibgyoroygbiv]

hihi! I just wanted to say that I LOVE your Yamato and Kakayama stuff!! The Kakashi that dotes on Yamato is always the cutest Kakashi to me, and I love the way you write and draw Yamato! :DDD thank you for all your work!

I let this nice message stay in the inbox for a few day, because it made me feel like I did something right. THANK YOU!

[marshmallowprotection]

Can I just say how much I adore your blog and your writing and character analysis? (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ I love GE Saeran especially but your posts on him make me love him even more! Thank you! (Side note, I swear GE Saeran has ruined me for all the other characters, he's just too sweet tho i'm still trying to get his good ending in Ray AE ಥ_ಥ)

Haha, thank you kindly. I try my best to represent Saeran in a way that feels warm and inviting, as well a vulnerable and honest. He is a really important character to me and a lot of other people, so making sure that everyone remembers that they're beloved by Saeran is a full time job. I hope that you can get his ending soon! It's tricky but it's a roller coaster worth the ride.

[mokutone]

hi!! just wanted to thank you for all your Yamato content! he's my fave naruto character and your art style and comics are so wonderful!

thank you for taking the time to say so!!! he is also my favorite naruto character :^) !

[fukkafyla]

hihi! just wanted to say that I love your art/idea of Team Ro being in the Land of Snow during the coup! Thanks for all your work! :DDD

ohhhh thank you! I'm glad you like it! I wish more people used that idea

[abrokecupoftea]

hihi! may I ask about your solo barb thoughts from your brilliant Barbatos fic? 👉👈

yes!! i feel like i answered something like this before but honestly i'm not sure nor do i mind saying it again lol

uhm basically once the om! characters realize that mc isn't part of their world (they just appear and disappear whenever they want) barbatos choose to consider mc as a god of sorts (deity might be a better word) and accepts his place as a simple character since he believes in a hierarchy where you are above him due to the fact that you are omnipotent and can heavily influence the world he resides in.

i consider it to be like... a mind-break ending bc i feel like barbatos would fight back against the world he knows being just a game and fake and everything...

solomon, on the other hand, refuses to accept that he's living in a game. he considers himself to be a powerful sorcerer, and since he's immortal he believes that there should be no higher power than him (because like, even demons have lifespans too).

he wants to fight his way to freedom and break the boundaries of the game in order to continue his life as he wishes, and expects barbatos to do the same, do to the fact that he thinks that their power combined could make them unstoppable.

he's just pissy that barbatos basically gave up instead of trying to fight back against the game itself.

[kakayamaweek]

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