🌸- "Yeah... you're right. It'll just take some time."

Time was going to be one of the larger hurdles she would have to overcome, and it wouldn't be easy to do so. But she would have to power through it in order to reach the goal she was setting for herself. She needed time to grieve still, but how would she go about doing that?

She took a deep breath and sighed.

🌸- "I'm thinking about traveling around for awhile. Maybe it'll help clear my head."

She looked up at Jiraiya, curious to hear his opinion.

🌸- "What do you think?"

"Traveling has always helped me when my heart gets tough. I think it will help you too."

Jiraiya nodded. Initially, he went traveling to find the chosen one. But as time passed, he found Nagato, but continued to travel simply because it helped him keep his head fresh. It was becoming more and more difficult to be in the village; he was oppressed by the framework and the negativity that had accumulated over the years. And then Orochimaru left Konoha, and after a while Tsunade left too… Traveling allowed him to feel freer from the framework into which Konoha drove him.

"On a journey, you get to know yourself and other people. You will have time to understand yourself and your feelings. And you will be able to understand what to do next. We all sometimes need time to take a break."

🌸- "Well, I guess it's settled then."

Hana had never gotten an opportunity to travel much outside of moving hideouts and missions. There was so much of the world that she wanted to see, but just couldn't. Now that the opportunity was given to her she couldn't just waste it.

But where would she go first?

She gave it some sincere thought, as she wanted her journey to be meaningful. Thinking back, she remembered something that she mentioned to a friend a long time ago. Something that she wanted to see for a long time.

🌸- "Maybe I'll go see the ocean. Who knows, maybe I'll get to see the baby sea turtles hatch."

@musesofchaos

Continued from [X]

Hana glowered at the blonde from the inside of her cell. He was lucky that she had been locked up and her chakra had been sealed, or else he'd be having a really bad time trying to fight her off.

🌸- "And just what makes you think I'm privy to that knowledge? I never know where he's going until the day we leave for the next hideout. He's probably moved on to the next one by now."

It was absolutely baffling as to just how broken the system was in Konoha. In Hana's mind it was almost as if it was made that way on purpose. What's worse is that she and Naruto weren't the only ones that the system had failed. Far from it, sadly. There had to be some kind of fallout from this. Consequences for the remaining ones involved.

Hana leaned back against the bars of her cell, sighing heavily.

🌸- "Unfortunately, things won't change until the last two elders are gone. But something tells me they'll be in power until they die. They won't allow themselves to be deposed."

Justice was, sadly, out of their reach. Hana had given up on that a long time ago. What could she, a criminal in their eyes, possibly do?

🌸- "I hope that you can at least understand why I made the choices I did. Why I allied myself with Orochimaru."

Well, that was reassuring. At least he wouldn't laugh at her. Maybe his reaction would be better than she thought. Now she just needed to stop being such a coward and tell him. She finally had the opportunity she wanted.

It was now or never.

Hana took a deep breath to try and steady her nerves, but her hands just wouldn't stop shaking.

🌸- "Orochimaru, I...I have feelings for you. I have for a while now. At first I thought it was just a temporary crush or something, but it turned into more than that."

It felt like a weight had been lifted from her, but there was still an air of sadness about her.

🌸- "I know that you don't feel the same, and that's okay. I just wanted to tell you now since I wasn't able to before..."

Orochimaru was not blind. He noticed a lot of things, which is why he was so good at what he did. And he noticed that Hana treated him a little differently. Orochimaru wasn't sure if he felt anything for her back then. But now he felt that he really missed her and wanted her to be near him. More than a friend.

"Thank you for telling me. And you're wrong that I don't feel the same way. I care about you. I realized this recently when I realized that I miss you. I'm bad at expressing that kind of affection, but I'm willing to learn. Let's try an experiment? You and me and… something more?"

Orochimaru was immersed in his research for so many years, completely shutting himself off from the world. And he’s probably forgotten how to deal with such emotions a little.

Ah, she figured as much. It wasn't surprising that Orochimaru was able to pick up on how she felt, no matter how hard she had tried to hide it. In hindsight, it may have been easier back then to just be honest. Probably would have been less stressful that way.

But he said that he felt the same way, and that's what surprised her the most.

🌸- "Orochimaru, you..."

Ah, she didn't know what to say. There wasn't much she could say, since the look on her face spoke for her. Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes but they were happy tears, and her heart fluttered with these new emotions. A big, happy smile finally graced her lips.

The two of them and something more...

She nodded happily as she rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand.

🌸- "Of course! I'd love nothing more."

so I was thinking about tumblr badges, and I'd like to propose two new ones for next March

Do you know this woman?

These are some reconstructuions of what shr may have looked like in life.

She was the passenger in tractor trailer that was in an accident on I5 in Cowlitz County, Washington, on May 14, 1991.

The driver, a trucker, was known to pick up hitchhikers. He had driven through Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho and Oregon before arriving in Washington, and he was headed to Portland.

She:

Namus ID: #UP10449

If you think you know who she is, please contact Washington State Patrol at (360) 596-4000.

“I’d love to do something… kinky sometime. I doubt I could find someone to do it with but I can always imagine.”

🌸- "How kinky are we talkin'?"

“Ever banged in public?” He asks with a mischievous grin.

Well that caught her off guard. She blinks a couple of times before clearing her throat.

🌸- "No, I haven't actually."

“I’d love to do something… kinky sometime. I doubt I could find someone to do it with but I can always imagine.”

🌸- "How kinky are we talkin'?"

Escaping celestial doctrine has definitely been the hardest part of Ace's life recently, but for the past several years, he's been able to integrate into this foreign reality with surprising ease. No other Mana users. No other Angels. Celestials, sure. But he was the only Angel. The magics of this world was more like Ki than Mana.

Ace stood at the roof of his home, overlooking the town he resided in. He exhales softly, letting his black cloak flow along the blowing winds. He was lost in thought. Lost in memories. And lost in future planning.

So much so he didn't realize he was being approached from behind.

Hana never thought that her life would be peaceful. Even after the war and the ninja world entering an era of peace, Hana didn't expect her own life to be that way. Especially when Ace returned from a long absence and the threat of other Angels and Celestials coming to collect him. But that never happened; no one ever came.

So the two of them lived their lives in relative peace, despite the constant threat.

The surprises didn't stop there. Much to Hana's happiness and amazement, they welcomed their daughter into the world. The child, named Lycoris by Ace, was the apple of her mother's eye. Hana doted on her and maybe spoiled her a little too much. But she had the family she always wanted, and she couldn't be happier.

But the wind was starting to shift.

Hana stepped outside for some fresh air after putting Lycoris, now age five, down for a nap. After seeing Ace standing on the roof she climbed up herself and sat next to him, enjoying the quiet for a while before speaking.

🌸- "Something on your mind?"