damnfooltalk | December Wordcount Tracking

Total December Wordcount: 10668 words

Posted: There's a place I've seen where the soul burns clean, Chapter 5 -AND- a bonus solstice interlude =^-^= I'm really pleased with myself that I pulled that off in the middle of year end madness, even if it did burn through most of my buffer :p

IN PROGRESS:

There’s a place I’ve seen where the soul burns clean: 10193 words \(^o^)/

Self Indulgence Sandbox (collection of ficlets I may or may not ever get into posting shape centered around the first generation of ninja to actually grow up in Konoha, plus OCs for enrichment): 475 words

Sneak Peeks:

>There's a place I've seen where the soul burns clean<

"Waa, your hair goes poof like Madara-ji's!"

"Kagami," came a quiet, tired-sounding voice from a side room, but the boy paid it no mind, already chattering on.

"- but it's all shiny and ripply and stuff, instead of pointy like teeth."

Haruka had been mostly intent on plowing her groggy way through breakfast and that was the only thing that had managed to preserve her straight face thus far. She blinked at her bowl, all two active brain cells furiously trying to strike a spark. Off to her side, Izuna snorted softly, looking at whatever expression his brother was wearing after hearing that description of his hair.

Once she was certain she could hold her expression, she looked to her left at the tousle-headed Uchiha child staring openly at her hair. He redirected his attention up to her face as she blinked down at him.

"Why?"

"Why my hair is different?" Haruka guessed.

He scrunched his little face up in a frown, shaking his head. "Why..." he trailed off, looking at her eyes. "Your eyes are weird too," he informed her.

Haruka bit her lip to keep from laughing as a second, scandalized, "Kagami!" sounded from the other room.

>Self Indulgence Sandbox<

"You heard what the ghost likes, you'll make a prettier bride than me."

Hyuuga glared, but could feel the shift in opinion in the form of relief that someone else had said it; Keikou was good for that, unfortunately. "You're just saying that because you don't want to do it."

"Oh, that too," she agreed shamelessly, beckoning him over. "But I also won't be able to see if you put me in the wife box until the ghost is on top of me - shut up, [Yamanaka?] - so it's tactically sound, too. Come here, I'll do your makeup."

It said a great deal about the improved cohesion of their team that (Hyuuga) walked over with nothing more than a mutter (--"it's a palanquin, not a wife box, you disgrace" --"close enough!") and put himself in the hands of a daughter of the Uchiha who, for her part, was painstakingly careful to telegraph her motions and talk through the steps of each application once it came time to apply powder to his face, color to his lips, and a rich red shade to his eyelids that beautifully set off the mirror clarity of his byakugan.

"I feel like I should take a picture for posterity," (Yamanaka?) joked as Keikou put the brush down, (Hyuuga's) eyes staying closed for a breath more as they both visibly released the almost uncomfortable intimacy of the moment.

"They'll hang it in the Academy with some pompous title about inter-clan cooperation and the Spirit of Fire, and Hyuuga (Name)-sama will have a mission offered to destroy it the moment he finds out it exists," Keikou said with a dry smirk. She kept her eyes on her brushes as she wiped them clean to avoid staring at the ethereal beauty that had taken shape under her (admittedly inexpert) hands.

"If Uchiha Madara-sama wouldn't do so as well," (Hyuuga) retorted, more out of habit than conviction.

Keikou snorted, able to look at him more easily with the illusion shattered by (Hyuuga's) reserved baritone. Civilian's henge indeed - Myoukou-sama wasn't joking.

"No, he'd set Myoukou-sama to critique my color choices or something, as if I have a full kit with me for a mission that was supposed to be a simple rogue ninja turned bandit problem."

"For shame," (Yamanaka?) said, trying and failing to look stern.