Do you realize Konan went from being a war orphan with no training at all in taijutsu, ninjutsu anything to one of those most powerful kunoichi around like yes Jiraiya trained her for two years but u know he focused on Yahiko and Nagato bc that’s what the Mens do in this series like queen took her own interest made it a deadly weapon beat sasori on her own and dragged his lil twink ass into the Akatsuki full on beat Obito if he didn’t have Uchiha L33t Hax he would have be Big Dead like wow queen I love you
The cupboard was quiet. It usually was quiet in there, since he was the only one in there. His only company was the spiders that occasionally wandered in, and they couldn’t exactly speak to him. But he had his dolls, his toys and his puppets, the ones that he had oh so carefully stolen over the years and crafted piece by piece. Each one was tiny, no larger than his hand, but they were beautiful. Made of wood and porcelain and plastic, wearing clothing carefully made with scraps of fabric, and painted with tiny designs to make them look oh so real. They were his treasures, his precious treasures.
He absolutely could not let anyone find them.
So he hid them, just as he hid all things. He hid them under the threadbare blanket and the thin pillow. Under the mattress that lay in tatters above the cot. He hid them in the darkest corners of his cupboard, where the Dursleys never bothered to look.
He was cold today, shivering for reasons he knew not. He clutched the blanket that he had been given tighter around him. He should be sleeping by this time, it was so very late at night. But he couldn’t sleep. Such had become the norm in recent times, for nightmares plagued him whenever he closed his eyes. The lack of sleep was catching up to him, and people had been commenting that he looked like death.
Green eyes that so seemed to glow, large circular, broken glasses held together by tape and glue, and wild inky black hair that stuck up in every direction. Add in the pale skin and the black bags beneath his eyes, and it went for quite the picture.
But he didn’t care. Freak didn’t care. Boy didn’t boy didn’t care. Harry didn’t care.
Because his appearance felt wrong.
He would see his reflection in the mirror, green eyes, glasses, and everything, and all he would be able to think about was how off his appearance looked to him. It didn’t feel right. He shouldn’t have been wearing glasses. His hair wasn’t black. His eyes shouldn’t be so green. But they were. He was. This was how he looked. But it still felt wrong.
So much in his life felt off. He always felt like he was forgetting something. There as always something missing, something fantastical, something different.
Sometimes he thought his dreams were the answer. The dreams of red sand and people screaming. The dreams of hundreds of figures blotting out the sky, all descending on something. The dreams of loneliness and loss, or long dark nights spent in a place surrounded by blurry colorless shapes. He sought out those dreams at times, because at times they felt so real and damn it why couldn’t he remember more and why was he here and why did something feel like it was missing and the world was wrong wrong wrong.
He schooled his features, forcing a blank mask upon his face. That was his default expression most days, he got in less trouble with his relatives when he stayed like this.
*fond roll of eyes* At this point, I think I have to be grateful almost all the time now, Lang, because you have really good timing. Even when I’m reading this almost 24 hours later, the story still warms my heart because of how funny and enjoyable it is.
Reviewing, here I go. I’m a bit more well-rested, with not so many classes today, so I can do this. Though, I’m starting to think I can only do one ramble a day now, considering my stamina when it comes to words and how writing anything seems to take something from me every time. *shrugs helplessly* I’ll try to sleep more in that case if it means giving something, because gosh, the workaholic in me wants to do more. Buuuuut I know that would just give off so many alarm bells because I’m not a robot.
*waves hands in the air* Anywho.
Training! That’s certainly one way to go about things. Half of me wants to giggle at the antics between Shinso and Kei when it comes to the trade-off between the two; the other half of me wants to just feel bad for Shinso because I’ve been in his shoes plenty of times. The number of moments that I’ve had to (1) either exercise with my exercise-junkie family, who can do a lot more than me in push-ups and so on, or (2) stick along with them for a bike ride back when I had more free time meant I was trying to hold back groans and complaining as much as Shinso is doing right now. Like, gosh, Kei, I know you’re used to ninja-standards, but bring it down a little. =-= *speaking from experience being on both ends of the problem*
On a more positive note, this chapter certainly gives a lot of background and (possibly coincidental or not, I’m not sure) foreshadowing as to how Kei became a Jounin-sensei to the Dragonlings later on in CYB! I’ve been reviewing a lot of the earlier chapters for the sake of S&S research, so to get some extra idea on how Kei conducts herself when training others is kinda sweet. Though, then again, Tomoko and Shinso are two very different people. The way Kei is patient when correcting Shinso’s posture and her trolling him all the same, it is endearing.
Any last notes… Obito! Obito, I missed you! I know it’s only been a chapter or two, but hey, resident Uchiha who didn’t get corrupted by Madara, welcome back! It’s good to see you be an oblivious doof as always to Shinso’s thought process, and to finish a run like it was nothing… pfffft. That emoji was also really cute, since I have yet to actually figure out how to do those emojis. I’m just limited to smileys and things like =-= since I don’t know much else with my keyboard. Though, seeing Kei correct Shinso on Obito being her best friend and not her boyfriend is already having me giggle a bit inside, because we both know who’s getting that title in the next few in-story years. Hee hee. But at the same time, it’s good to see the characters in their teenage years again, because it’s only these times where sillier moments can happen, at least in my opinion. Adults can still be silly and dorky of course, I mean, my dad recently bought a drone to play around with, hah, but maybe I’m just too used to being serious almost all the time. Oh well. Friends say I’m easy to tease as a result of that, but eh. I ramble, and this is working as a review, I hope.
🙂 You did good on this so far, Lang. Nothing bad to note as always, and I enjoyed the read. Keep up the good work. I’ll make sure to rest as much as I can to give more rambles when necessary. *salutes*
I’ll see you at the next update for the next ramble!
It is hard to get in shape! If exercise was easy, it’d be a lot more simple to persuade kids to actually do it. Kei is just spoiled by her ninja upbringing, since she never really got a chance to be anything but a tiny warrior. Means gym class is a cinch, though.
Poor Shinso. He’s in hell now.
And Obito likes being able to help! And his presence let me obliquely point out that the ninja-verse characters are substantially more casual with each other than Kei is with anybody in Tokyo. Even her narration doesn’t ever call Shinso by his personal name, and she hasn’t changed “-san” to “-kun” or anything.
The Thin Line – Kakashi loses patience with the Sandaime when no appreciable action is taken to remove Danzo from power even after Kakashi literally reports that he was ordered by the man to assassinate the Hokage. So Kakashi crashes an Uchiha Clan meeting and asks them to run away with him and his cute little brothers to this lovely tropical island he knows about. Cue the Uchiha Exodus that Fucks Over Canon.
I have a tag called The Uchiha Exodus That Fucks Over Canon for a reason, and it’s not just because my fixits tend to veer towards removing people from toxic situations as the first step towards healing. XP
Cheloneuniverse 