Tumgik
#i finally got ramen from the store the other day so perhaps now ill have three things <3
britishassistant · 3 years
Text
Too Many Bridges (I Dig Canals) 1
He was twenty-two when he died.
His mama hadn’t wanted him to move out to West Texas, crying that it wasn’t safe. His dad had soothed that he’d be fine at UTEP, the first one in the family to go to university, a business major, doing them all so proud.
His little sister had said they’d all dealt with much worse in high school, where the teachers screamed at you for speaking Spanish until you could barely remember a word.
His short older sister just snuck a dumb Homestuck backpack into his luggage, filled with the latest volumes of Boruto. He’d liked to read them while eating shitty convenience store ramen at 2AM.
Then he’d run out of cup ramen in his senior year, gone to the 7-11 at 1AM to grab some more, and made the mistake of glancing at a cracker junkie shaking from withdrawal.
Last thing he knew, he was bleeding out around a knife while the druggie tore through his groceries, crooning, “C’mon, c’mon where’s the hit, where is it, I know you’re hiding it.”
He’d only had the strength left to flip the racist fucker off before he finally drifted away.
He wakes as a baby.
The only natural response to this is to begin screaming.
What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck?! Why the fuck is he a baby?! Is everyone a baby when they go to Heaven?! Or wait, his butt’s kinda damp, is this Heaven at all?! Is he in Hell?! Was him flipping off that cracker enough to get him sent to Hell, after all he’s done?! All the masses he’s been to?! For the love of Christ, what’s going on—
A woman with white-blond hair and a tired face leans over him, muttering something harsh-sounding in a foreign language.
A loud and angry sounding man’s voice shouts something from somewhere he can’t see, which startles him into crying harder.
Then a large and callused hand slams down over his mouth, practically smothering him.
The woman’s face looms over him, wrinkled and shadowed like the face of the devil himself, poisonous green eyes glaring at him.
“Damare, kuso gaki.” The devil-woman hisses.
He whimpers.
His hair is green now.
Like a dehydrated shrub left too long in the heat, spiky-dry and almost yellowing at the edges.
And his eyes are purple. As if the green spiky anime hair wasn’t enough to humiliate him.
He misses his mama and his dad and his sisters but thank Jesus they’ll never see him like this.
At least his skin color’s pretty much the same as his last life. If he ended up resembling that fucking junkie who murdered him in any way, shape or form...
Well. All he knows is it wouldn't be pretty.
His new name is Meiun Nobuo.
The devil-woman who would rather smother him in his crib than let him cry apparently gave birth to him.
The deadbeat who cursed him with this eye and hair color and returns most nights stinking of alcohol and rotting fish is the sperm donor.
He misses his real family.
They live in a dock town.
Their house is farthest from the shore, so the scent of rotting fish guts and seagull shit is vaguely bearable. It’s bigger than the fishermen and farmer’s huts and market stalls that make up the rest of the village, with a curved asian roof.
He thinks the sperm donor is in a relatively high position in the village, perhaps an official of some sort. Probably inherited, because he seriously doubts anyone with a brain would elect that drunk deadbeat to any position of authority, but who knows.
He used to think the same thing about the government in his past life, and look what happened there.
Ragged official looking people buzz in and out of the rooms he’s not supposed to enter all day every day. Some of them smile at him if they notice him, lips spread sickeningly wide and eyes sycophantically crinkled.
Others look at him like he’s a nuisance, worthy of only their ire.
As if he asked to be reborn to this fucking paltry excuse for family when he had a perfectly good one back home
The devil-woman isn’t from around here.
That much is obvious in the way she’s constantly ill at ease, snapping at the slightest inconvenience, acting like everyone’s out to get her.
To be fair, a lot of them probably are just for the chance to have some peace and quiet again.
He privately counts himself among that number.
She’s always grumbling about how much better it is in rain, but regardless of the weather her shitty attitude never seems to improve.
She also starts trying to poison him when he turns four.
When his rice tastes weirdly bitter he spits it back into the bowl.
The devil-woman slaps him across the face.
“Eat.” She hisses, forcing his head into the bowl. “I didn’t destroy my body for you to bring shame to the Dokuso name like this. Your great uncle was already immune to neurotoxins by the time he was your age. The least you can do is eat.”
He tries to struggle, to scream for someone to help him, but the devil-woman just forces his head down farther until he swallows every last grain of tainted rice.
His body won’t stop shaking for the rest of the day, every gasp of air feeling like it’s scraping his lungs raw.
It becomes some kind of demented pattern.
He’s poisoned, he suffers, his body adjusts, he’s poisoned again in a new way, rinse and repeat until he seriously finds himself contemplating whether his last death was better than this.
The look of dissatisfaction the devil-woman always wears, as though he’s somehow not doing this (or dying) fast enough for her liking, weighs the argument a lot.
On the days where he’s in less danger of throwing up his guts, he has lessons with a tutor, because of course he fucking does.
Death, taxes and homework: the three constants of existence.
The tutor calls him a prodigy with mathematics, even if his grasp of kanji is shaky.
The deadbeat uses this as an excuse to push some of his work onto a five year old with some garbled line about “carrying on the work of our forefathers”.
He hates this.
He hates it so fucking much.
He prays every night, asking Christ why he’s being tormented like this. He hasn’t got an answer back yet.
He’s gonna make a break for it as soon as he’s old enough to do so. He’s still too young to be allowed out of the house, even for festivals. He also doesn’t receive anything like an allowance yet either, though he suspects that’s more due to the fact that the sperm donor is a cheapskate.
It’s fine. It’ll be fine. He’s already got access to some of the accounts, has proven himself to be a dedicated worker beneath suspicion.
Nobody’ll suspect the kid “carrying on the work of his forefathers” if money begins disappearing, not when there are so many greedy adults around. It’s foolproof.
He’s just gotta wait until he learns where he is and how he can get away.
He can do that. It’ll be fine.
“The daimyō has declared dōjutsu users enemies of the state.” His sperm donor complains one evening. “The Mizukage has authorized the use of deadly force to subdue them.”
The devil-woman sniffs, says something nasally and contrarian back but he can’t hear her over the blood rushing in his ears.
Dōjutsu.
Mizukage.
His mouth is dry. He can’t breathe.
There’s no way—there’s absolutely no fucking way—the tech here is way too primitive, he must be hallucinating, going through withdrawal from not reading his favorite manga for so long.
There’s no way this place could be the same world as Boruto. Besides, Chojuro would never authorize a-a genocide like that, Kagura-kun would be so disappointed in him—
But Kagura-kun’s grandfather wouldn’t have had any problems with it, would he?
It’s not until the devil-woman whacks him over the head and screams at him to get up that he realizes he’s on the floor.
He climbs shakily to his feet.
He endures the scolding quietly.
He goes to his room when dismissed.
He shuts the door behind him and slides down it, trying to muffle the sounds escaping his throat. They could be hysterical laughter or sobs. He really isn’t sure.
Because of course he’s been reborn years before any of the good characters of this series or plot developments that he can clearly remember will make their appearance.
That’s just his fucking luck.
He presses his forehead to his knees and screams.
This revelation helps along his plans, at least.
If he’s in Kiri, then he knows he’s probably on one of the many islands that make up the...peninsula? Archipelago? Fuck, geography was never his strong suit.
But yeah, he’ll need to charter a boat to get to the mainland so he can disappear.
He briefly entertains the idea of becoming a ninja for Kiri, maybe growing up to become one of Chojuro’s aides and Kagura-kun’s mentors. Getting to meet Boruto when that arc comes around.
But no. Or at least, not yet.
Going there before Terumi Mei has had the chance to overthrow Yagura isn’t a good idea, what with the whole “kill everyone else you studied with to become a genin” thing they’ve got going on. Also the people claiming to be his parents might track him down and have him sent back.
Fire Country is probably his best bet to vanish. The ninja there actually care about the populace.
He might even be able to go to Konoha. See Boruto and Sarada and Mitsuki grow up firsthand.
The thought leaves a warm feeling in his chest even as his limbs tremble from the effects of the latest venom for the rest of the week.
It doesn’t last.
Of course it doesn’t.
It’s one thing to know that certain people in the community are slated for death.
It’s a different ballgame entirely to see a mob barge into the sperm donor’s office, howling for blood.
He can only hear the words “kekkai genkai filth” chanted like a curse before the deadbeat is nodding his head and rising, grabbing a huge ass sword from where it’s been gathering dust on the wall.
He tries to shrink back, tries to let the throng pass him without drawing their attention, but a hand grabs his collar and yanks him away from his little table, away from his calculations, and drags him along with the frothing crowd of people with hate in their eyes.
He’s squashed near the back of the herd, but every time he tries to get away there are hands and arms to yank him back into line, hands of men or women or—Jesus, or other kids.
He’s eventually funneled through the doorway of a tiny farmer’s hut, pushed into one of the walls by the crush of people, and he looks up and there’s—
There’s—
Oh God.
Oh God.
Oh Jesus in Heaven have mercy.
He can’t look.
It’s awful, it’s too much, he can’t look, he can’t, he gags, averts his eyes—
He sees the girl in the corner of the room.
She’s crying, mouthing “Mama” to herself over and over.
One of those murderers has seen her too.
The man takes a step towards the girl—
“Stay the fuck away from her!” He yells.
He can’t remember moving. All he knows is he’s now in between the girl and the mob, knees trembling and adrenaline pounding in his ears.
His voice is all shaky and squeaky, not intimidating at all.
He’s scared.
Jesus Christ, he’s so scared.
These monsters just killed that innocent lady for their dumb fucking witch hunt.
What’ll they do to this girl if they get their hands on her?
One of the villagers steps forward and growls, “Outta the way, boy. You don’t wanna get hurt for that thing.”
“Fuck you, asshole!” He screams back.
“Meiun, discipline your fucking brat before we do it for you!” Someone else in the mob shouts.
The sperm donor is pushed to the front and begrudgingly holds out a hand. “Don’t be stupid Nobuo. Get your ass over here, now.”
“Listen to your father!” The demon-woman shrieks from the safety of several people away.
He laughs. He can’t help it. “My father?! You want me to acknowledge that drunken excuse of a sperm donor as a father?! Get real, you fucking hag!! You and him wouldn’t know what real fucking parenting looked like if you fucking murdered it in cold fucking blood!!”
He points at what’s left of the lady. “Because guess what? Looks like ya did!”
“How dare you—” The deadbeat’s gone dark purple.
“No, how dare you?!” His hands are shaking and Christ, there’s no way this can end well, but his mouth won’t stop running. “That lady was a perfectly fucking nice lady, a loving wife and a good mom and you assholes think you can just come out here and murder her for what?! Having something that you don’t?! Being a genuinely good person, like you aren’t?! You’re all just JEALOUS FU—”
Pain explodes in his temple.
A man’s screaming, “SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP, YOU KNOW NOTHING YOU LITTLE BASTARD, SHUT UP—”
He tries to raise his arms, tries to fight back, but the man’s swinging too wildly, he can’t stop the blow to the gut that knocks the air out of him.
More arms appear from nowhere, shoving him to the ground, pinning him down, jeers and taunts about how if he loves kekkai genkai filth that much he can join them, see what happens to them.
The knife glints evilly in the light.
He doesn’t wanna die again.
Jesus Christ, he doesn’t wanna die again.
There’s cold for a moment behind his right ear.
And then there’s nothing but agony, red and sharp and pounding pounding pounding and Nobuo is screaming screaming screaming.
Until his throat feels like it’s going to give out.
Until he knows he’ll die like this.
He doesn’t wanna die he doesn’t wanna die he doesn’t wanna die he doesn’t wanna die he doesn’t wanna die he doesn’t wanna die he doesn’t wanna die he doesn’t wanna die Christ—
The sensation is sudden and painful.
Like he’s been punched in the chest again, but in reverse.
Something erupts from him, with enough force to leave him breathless.
The jeers and ugly laughter become screams as pained as his own.
“Shit, he’s one t—?!” is the last thing he hears before a sound like glass shattering over and over overwhelms all other noise, even the terrified shrieks for mercy.
Nobuo’s eyes roll back into his head.
He blacks out.
The right side of his head throbs.
He whimpers in pain, curling in on himself.
“A-are you alright? Are you hurting? I tried to patch you up as best I could...” A soft, sweet voice murmurs.
He cracks open his eyes a sliver to see a dark-haired head with a pretty face hovering over him. The pretty face looks worried, almost scared.
“What...?” He tries to ask, voice croaky as hell. “Where...?”
“Ah, I, uh, took you and ran away after you got those guys off you.” The pretty face explains, averting their eyes for some reason. Their kimono is torn in places. “You-your e-head was bleeding really bad, so I tried to fix it, but I don’t think I did a very good job...”
What?
His hand lifts to the side of his head, feeling cloth sticky with what he can only assume is blood.
And feeling nothing beneath it.
His breathing hitches. He tries to stop it, tries to gulp the panic and fear back down, he can’t cry, he’ll get hit again if he cries, he can’t—
He lets out a sound that can only be described as a wail, shoulders shaking.
There’s movement and he flinches, oh god, he doesn’t want a hit, not now, not when he’s already dealing with this—
Small, thin arms wrap around him, trembling. A head of soft hair buries itself in his other shoulder, and a low voice begins sobbing “I-I’m so-sorry, I-I didn’t, I co-couldn’t stop them, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” in his remaining ear.
A small part of his brain notes that this is the first time he’s been hugged since he woke up as a baby.
They cry for a long, long time.
Finally, when it feels like he’s gonna have a head cold for a week at least, he shrugs his shoulder minutely.
The girl looks up, face blotchy and red.
“You’re that girl, right? What’s your name?” He croaks.
The girl tenses and pulls away a little. “I’m Haku. I’m eight. A-and I-I’m a b-boy.”
“Oh. Sorry.” He rubs the back of his neck, feeling his cheeks flush. Where does he feel like he’s heard that name before...?
“And you are?” Haku prompts.
“M-Meiun Nobuo.” He states with a grimace. “M’ six.”
“Ah...then Official Meiun was...” Haku’s eyes begin to fill with tears again. “Y-your father, and, and your m-mother—”
“God no.” He snaps. “That man impregnated that woman to make me, but father and mother are the last things they can be called. Real parents don’t pull the shit they do on their kids.”
He folds his arms across his chest. “This may’ve sped up my plans, but you did me a favor, taking me with you. I was planning on running away anyway.”
Haku lets out a confused sniffle.“Where were you planning on running away to?”
“Fire Country.” He might puff out his chest a little. “Their ninja actually care about people, and they don’t hate kekkai genkai there.”
“Kekkai genkai...th-that’s what they kept calling me and m-mama...” Fat tears begin rolling Haku’s pretty face.
He shakily slides an arm around the older boy’s shoulders. “Y-you can come with me. If you want. I-I don’t exactly know the way, I was hoping to get some more geography and funds first, b-but I’ll figure something out, I swear.”
Haku takes a few deep, shuddery breaths. “I-I don’t either, but I know how to get to the next village, if that’s okay?”
“That’s great! That’s way better than what I can do!” He assures, giving his traveling companion’s shoulder a pat. “...d’you, like, wanna start going now, or...?”
“Can we stay here for a moment?” Haku asks. “J-just until I can check your head’s okay?”
Meiun Nobuo nods carefully, leaning more against the older boy. “Sure. No rush.”
13 notes · View notes
hwangskz · 5 years
Text
winning loss | street racer! changbin
a big fat shoutout to my bby @chanhee-bby for helping me out on choosing a member for this oof,, also no the title isn't related to the story JSHSCSSV
Tumblr media
• seoul is a..... pretty wildt city
• and so is ur school .wildt
• and ur house is just?? nowhere to be found?? 
• like ur house is basically just hidden somewhere in the city, where even the Lord google maps himself can’t find it DJNDJNDJJDJJDDJJ
• “hey y/n is there possibly some kind of construction going on beside ur place?” - one of ur friends, once when they tried to come to ur house
• “no..??? send me a pic of where u r rn on kkt- BRO THAT PLACE IS HALF AN HOUR AWAY FROM MY HOUSE WHAT THE HECK???????”
• “i- I ONLY FOLLOWED THE DIRECTIONS THAT GOOGLE MAPS GAVE ME TO UR PLACE!!!!!!!! THROUGH THE LINK!!!!!!!”
• “oH YEAH??????? AND WHO SENT U THAT LINK?”
• “yOU”
• “..............oh...........”
•  yeah the condition IS that bad
• anyways
• this also means that any dangers happening to u is more likely to happen than u urself can imagine
• “yo y/n did u watch the news? apparently that prisoner got away and is probably now hiding in ur area, bcs it is suspected to be the place where he will find his next victim”
• and now that ur walking to ur home with a bunch of ramen noodles and some strawberry milk in that grocery bag, u cant help but feel nervous
• after all there IS A FUCKING CRIMINAL OUT THERE U READERS
• wait
• what's that….. sound?
• u probably would’ve brushed it off if not for the fact that u had ur Precious food in ur hands
• not gonna let that one go, u fucking murderer (◣_◢)
• "um excuse me-"
•"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"
• "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"
• LITERALLY WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON MS. Y/N AND MR-
• OH IT'S A BOY???????????
• y/n shut up it's not a murderer
• "JESUS CHRIST I THOUGHT I WAS GONNA DIE"
• "ME TOO"
• "U THOUGHT THAT I WILL D I E????"
• "WELL YEAH IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT ANYONE CAN GET MURDERED U DUMBASS LADY"
• "......... right"
• both of u sigh at the fact that the other wasn't a murderer and an actual sane human
• (well.... can't assure u abt the sane part tho..)
• ANYWAYS
• "STOP SCREAMING IN MY EAR BOY"
• "SAYS THE ONE WHO SCREAMED FIRST????? AND IM NOT JUST SOME BOY IM SEO CHANGBIN OK ONE GREAT STREET RACER"
• u eye him from top to bottom ; he has a black leather jacket on (very sleek..hm), with brown boots, and his hair looks all gel-ed, and he owns some ?? bike ??
• cool bike tho (つ▀¯▀)つ
• "obviously, this bike is known for its-"
• "sounds like ur flexing bro"
• "im enlightening u"
• "PFT"
• u snort, followed by him laughing at u as u cough bcs damn u shouldn't have snorted, when after a while, the laughter seems to die down, resulting in silence
• "so, uh....are u going home alone? at this hour?"
• "yeah?"
• "u know there's a criminal on loose right.."
• "yeah"
• changbin sighs and then gets on his bike, followed by him patting the space behind him
• "get on. ill take u home."
• "u don't even know where i live"
• "but u know where u live"
• "...."
• changbin probably senses the tension in u, to which he gives u a smile
• "don't worry, ill drop u a few blocks away, if that makes u feel better"
• so here u are, sitting behind him, hands wrapped around his waist because ur scared u might fall off (but are u even complaining amirite)
• when he drops u off at the signboard, ur still gazing at the trees rhythmic movements to the wind
• "hey? we're here"
• "huh-"
• before u can comprehend, changbin takes u in his arms and keeps u down
• "t-thanks"
• "no problem, uh-"
• u look up too fast
• "y/n! y/n l/n!"
• and he grins
• "that's....a pretty cute name actually... fits for someone as cute as u.."
• u break into a grin too and then point at a building to ur right, not very far away
• "that's my place. feel free to come by whenever u want, yeah?"
• ":D!"
• and u run off into ur place, while changbin stands there, against his bike, thinking about how glad he was that he postponed the race to today
• the next day u were pretty sad :( bcs u rlly thought he'd come by yk? but he didn't the entire day :(
• but no worries anymore!! bcs at night
• THUD!
• "i- WHO'S THERE AT THIS HOU- oh????????? hELLO"
• changbin stood there, another empty milk carton in his hand that he was about throw when he saw u finally opened the window for him
• "h-hi y/n!!!!"
• "???? what r u doing here at this hour????"
• "come down first!!!!! ill tell u everything!!!"
• so u come down and he's just standing there, leaning against his bike as he pretends to look cool for u JSGSSVS
• "what's up?"
• "do u wanna!!! go to the convenience store!! together!! they recently stacked up on ur fav strawberry milk so"
• ":D OMG YES"
• so y'all go to the store to get the strawberry milk bcs strawberry milk? Superior
• "so..why were u throwing empty milk cartons at my window?- i mean,, don't people in movies and stuff throw rocks?"
• "well what if i had thrown one and it broke ur window? that's some stalker-ass shit. i don't do that. plus, it would've caused u some damage probably, physically and/or in terms of money. so why would i?"
• changbin stop being so caring for a second before y/n falls in love with u challenge ಥ_ಥ
• needless to say, this became a routine of the both of u; coming to the convenience store late at night and talking about ur lives
• yall felt so close (and so in love with each other) after every visit
• Insane.
• when one day
• "hey changbin, don't u have that race near my area tomorrow?? ill come around ok!!"
• and changbin almost SPITS out his milk because NO Y/N U CANT
• "why not (◕︵◕)"
• oh no
• not the puppy eye attack y/n pls
• "because-"
• "(◕︵◕) (◕︵◕) (◕︵◕) but changbin (◕︵◕) (◕︵◕) (◕︵◕) i have to support u (◕︵◕) (◕︵◕) (◕︵◕)"
• ".....fine"
• ":D YEEEEEE LET'S GO LOSERS!!!!!!!"
• that night when changbin goes home to his other 8 best friends they Automatically sense Tension wow what a bond
• even minho who usually doesn't give a fuck at all was concerned JDJDJDBD
• "she's coming to the race tomorrow"
• "isn't that a good thing? i mean there'll be the love ur life giving u all that damn support u need" - hyunjin
• "did u have extra dumb bitch juice today or what,,,,,, it's the competition with jihyuk and and the others. the final race."
• "he's right. but do even have a choice anymore" - chan, as he sits down beside changbin and gives him an assuring nod
• fast forward to the race setup already there, with u and changbin (ft. his 8 best friends) standing there at the start line
• "changbin, remember. i'm here for u, okay?"
• "everyone! get ready!"
• u move away, giving him a nod, when the race starts, with changbin starting at a full speed
• u knew he could do it
• for the days u have known him, ur sure he will win
• "and changbin wins!"
• there are loud cheers coming from ur side, while the other is quiet
• HAH LOSERS!!!!! CHANGBIN STAY WINNING
• changbin runs to u and hugs u so tightly
• "congratulations dumb bitch!!!!!"
• "thank u!!!!!!"
• the guy, who ur guessing to be jihyuk, comes around, with his helmet in one hand, and the other reaching out to handshake with changbin
• "well played"
• "you too."
• jihyuk glances at u for a second
• "tell me how it goes, yeah?"
• and then he leaves
• "so....y/n........are u free today...."
• ".............. yeah"
• "!!! to the convenience store we go!!!"
• yall did the same routine again, yk
• getting strawberry milk, talking abt life
• everything felt normal for u
• can't say the same abt changbin tho,,,,,, boy was LOSING HIS MIND HOW WAS HE SUPPOSED TO TELL U ABT HIS FEELS
• "god;;;;;; i should've just lost,,,,,"
• "??? did u say something ??"
• "HUH NO AHAHAAHA NO I DIDN'T?????"
• u didn't think much abt his behavior
• but when u reached home
• as u were abt to open the door to ur place
• "y/n! i- i like u!"
• u pause. all of a sudden????? a confession????
• u turn around to see him fidgeting with his fingers as he looks down
• "i-i'm sorry if this is so sudden..but i wanted to maybe take some time and then confess? but bcs i wanted to prove that i wasn't a coward abt my feelings i made a bet that if i won, i would confess.
• i thought that even if i won, i probably would delay it by taking my sweet time because GOD im a coward. but then u said that u would come and then OBVIOUSLY u had seen me looking like a coward even after i won and obviously my friends saw u too..so they probably would've told u anyways if i hadn't today. so i thought it was time that i stop being a cowa-"
• u cut him off by placing a quick kiss on his lips
• "shut up. u aren't a coward, dumbass. ur really one of the most confident people i've met..and that's a huge thing."
• changbin blushes and looks down, which makes u kiss him again when he looks up
• "i- did u just kiss me aga-"
• "seo changbin, i like u too."
• at first he just stands there, his mouth hung open at ur words, but then picks himself up and smiles before placing his lips on urs
• "perhaps im very glad i postponed the race that day"
126 notes · View notes