Christmas Alone - Toboe x Reader [Wolf's Rain]

Christmas Eve means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. It’s a time for family, and love, and friendship. For excited children and well-prepared parents.

For some, though, like you, it’s a cursed time. A time for longing to leave work early, for missing your family who live too far away to see, for jealously flipping off your co-workers who gloat that their partners are waiting up for them after their shifts are done with food and festive films.

You sigh, staring blankly into the monitor of your desktop, trying to drown out the hum of happy co-workers as you tap at the keyboard at no more than a leisurely pace. You have no one to rush home to. There’s nothing waiting on the table for you, cooked and warm. You have your cheap, fake Christmas tree, decked in tinsel and rainbow coloured baubles, and star-shaped LED string-lights on the inside of your window. The only thing keeping your fingers typing is the bottle of unopened champagne in your fridge. You have no reason to celebrate, other than surviving your first year away from home, and it hardly feels like a celebration when you feel so lonely, knowing you’re going to miss your mother’s Christmas dinner. Still, champagne is champagne.

'Beach Trip' - Requested Naruto One-shot

Your head flops against your friend's bed as a sigh of defeat jumps from your mouth. You close your eyes and cover them with an arm; sheltering them from the midday sun streaming in through the window. Konan, giving you a sympathetic - but slightly smug - smile, says,
“Well, think about it this way! In two weeks you'll have done all of your exams and we can celebrate with a month of straight-partying!”
You lift your arm off your face and give her a depressed look. Yes, it's exam season. You had your first exam earlier today, and in your opinion it did not go well. You had revised quite a lot, but as soon as you had turned over the exam paper, BAM! Your mind had gone blank. Just your luck, huh?
Konan sighs, trying to think of a good way to cheer you up. She knows exactly what exam-season can get like; it had been just the same for her two years ago, when she had been up to her knees in revision and tests and lack of sleep. That had been a fun couple of months...
Realising that you are about to lose the will to live, Konan quickly opens her mouth and asks in as cheery a voice as she can muster,
“Well, what would you like-”

Loveless: {Genesis x You One-shot}

            (Posted originally as a 10k profile hit commemoration on Quizilla)         

You walk with a spring in your step on the way to your house, your school bag slung over a shoulder and a small pile of books and folders clustered in your arms. You let out a happy whistle as you turn the next corner, deciding to take a short cut home. You are in a little bit of a hurry.

            Earlier today your mother sent you a text saying that the book you had ordered has finally arrived. It is probably sat in your bedroom right now. You clench your school books closer to your chest, tickling with anticipation and excitement. The book you have ordered is the first volume of 'Loveless' – a series of manga about a boy with cat ears, trying to find his brother. You can't wait!

You speed up, trying to get home faster. You dodge a large group of younger students from your school, rolling your eyes at them. Why they have to walk in such large groups that walk so slowly, you have no idea. You leave them in the distance behind you, almost coming into a sprint now. You are not too far away; in fact you can see the light blue slating of your roof. You grin, securing a hand over your book bag, then run the last few meters to your front gate. You hop over it – momentarily looking back, surprised that you managed to clear it (usually you fall flat on your face) – then run up to your front door.

            You shuffle the books around in your arms, dropping a couple, then with one free hand you knock on wood. You pause. No one answers. You begin to bounce on the balls of your feet, hoping that your parents haven't stepped out for a quick errand. You hadn't picked up your key this morning, and it would be luck that now is the first time you've ever needed it. There's about another few seconds of waiting, then you give a small sigh of relief when the door is unlatched.

            Feeling you've wasted too much time already, even before the door's been pulled back you set off moving, pushing what remains of your pile of books out in front of you. Your mother manages to get the door just wide enough to stop you from colliding into it painfully, then you push your books into her hands and dart past her, dropping your school bag in the hallway.

            “___!” your mother yells scornfully, looking at the collection of books spilling from her hands, and some still left to wallow out in the garden. You look over your shoulder and call back,

            “Sorry! I'll get them in a minute!” by this time you're already up the stairs and on the landing. You dash along to your room and fling open the door, whereas down below your mother can only roll her eyes, laughing slightly at your over-enthusiasm. You manage to slow down once your door's open and you're inside. You can see the package sitting on your bedside table. It's at this point that you finally sigh, panting slightly. You know for a fact that all that running you've just done is going to come back to bite you tomorrow. You'll be as stiff as a bone.

            You kick your school-shoes off, slackening off your tie at the same time. You walk across the floor to one side of your bed and flop down onto it, pausing slightly to take in the comfortable feeling of your cotton blankets, then shuffle across so that your hands are just reaching over the other side of the bed, where they are in reach of the package. You wrap your fingers around the brown packaging and pull it up, dropping it in front of you with the sound of someone letting the air out of a beach-ball. You stare at it, your face breaking out in a grin then pull it towards you; needy hands grasping at the packaging to tear it all away.

            Below the layer of cardboard box there is another layer of bubble-wrap, wound so tightly that the book in the middle is barely noticeable for all of the compressed pockets of air. Nevertheless your hands work quickly, pulling the protective layer away, earning the occasional pop that makes you laugh. You will be playing with that later. You strip the thing bare then turn it over so the front cover of the book is looking up at you. You grin. It looks so... regal.

            The cover is a layer of white bound on top of a brown leathering with thin rope, held in place with four ornate, golden metal corner pieces. The decoration on the cover is very simple. In the top centre of the book there is the title 'LOVELESS' in golden lettering, surrounded by a boarder of ornate stencils, then below it there is - what you can only presume to be - a flower made of four golden circles, each holding a heart inside them. Below that are the words 'Legends of the LOVELESS' and the author of the book – whose name you have never heard of before, but of course that's expected as it had been your friend who had suggested the series to you in the first place. You have no idea who's written it.

            You give a giddy giggle, taking the book firmly in your hands, then flip to the first page. That's when you stop. You study the page, your eyebrows slowly pulling down into a frown, then flip to the next page, then the next, then the next. You take a better grip on the book then pull your thumb up the side, flicking through the pages. It's all writing. This isn't right. Your friend told you that this book is a manga – a Japanese cartoon book... so why is it all in writing? You flick back to the first page and start to read it,

            When the war of the beast brings about world's end the goddess descends from the sky. Wings of light and dark spread far-

            You put the book down. This isn't right at all. You close the book, dusting your hand lightly over the cover, then pull yourself up to  a sitting position. Hmm. You look around. There, on the floor, is the cardboard box it had arrived in. You lean down and pick it up, flipping it to look at the collection of stamps.

            There. Now you realise the problem. Looking across the many many foreign stamps – some of which you've never even heard of – you come to realise that this book 'LOVELESS' is not your Loveless. You are expecting your package to have come from across America, whereas this package has come from somewhere called... Midgar? You've never heard of the place. You flex your fingers, thinking things over. There must be more than one book under the same title then. You curse under your breath. This means there must have been a mix-up at the post-office or something, and that means you have someone's 'LOVELESS', and that same someone has your 'Loveless' instead. Damn. You've been looking forward to reading your new book ever since you'd gotten the text.

You drop the packaging onto your bed, next to the book, then flop backwards so your head crashes against your pillow, a pout on your lips. Your Loveless could be anywhere now. Half way across the world for all you know. Where is 'Midgar' anyway? It sounds almost Norwegian.

            That's when a thought hits you. You roll onto your side and pick up the packaging again, twirling it round in your fingers to find something. Of course what you're looking for is on the bottom. The address. Why it's on the bottom of the package you have no idea. That's probably the reason your package got mixed in the first place. You read over the words of where this package was meant to have been sent, expecting it to be a foreign country. What you don't expect is it to be in the same neighbourhood as you.

            With the address firmly burnt into your mind you jump up from the bed, landing on your carpeted floor with a loud thud. You scoop up the confounded 'LOVELESS', stuff it back into the cardboard box (making sure to leave the bubble-wrap for you to play with later), then slip back into your school shoes and head out the door. You charge along the landing, not bothering to miss treading on your baby brother's pile of stuffed toys, down the stairs and into the living room. In the same breath you manage to say,

            “MumwhereisthisaddressIneedtoknowIwanttogetmybookback?!” you thrust the package forward, holding the address out for you mother to look at. She takes a moment to blink, staring wide-eyed at you as what you've just said processes in her mind. As it all settles down she begins to realise why you're holding a torn up cardboard box for her. She takes it from you and looks at the barely legible address, then holds it away from her so she can think properly.

            “That's... well that's a couple of streets over. That's the same street the post office's on!” She hands you back the package. “Now what was that about needed to get a book back?”

            Too late. You're already out the door. You're already half way down the street.

Christmas Time: {Axel x You One-shot}

            You cupped your hands in front of your face, blowing warm air in to them to stop them from going numb, then quickly shoved them down into the pockets of your thick winter coat. It was a nice day out, you had to admit, even if it was a little cold. There were thick blankets of snow on the ground, the sun was shining brightly from above, and everyone around you was enjoying their time at the festive Christmas markets.

            The Christmas market was one of your favourite things about the holidays, with hundreds of stalls dedicated to selling baubles and mulled wine, toys and chocolates, everything you could possibly need at Christmas time. But the shops weren't the only things you liked about the market. There were also the events that went on, such as the best dressed Santa competition, the ice-sculpting competition, and of course the bonfire at night where everyone came together to sing festive songs. Yes, it was safe to say that the Christmas market was one of your favourite things about the holidays.

            Turning away from a small stall selling Christmas cookies, you grinned, hearing a sudden childish scream of delight coming from the frozen lake, not too far away. You decided then to go and watch, feeling that maybe it was a little too cold for you to go ice-skating, but warm enough for you to, at least, see others having fun.

            You walked over to the railing that separated the frozen lake from the street and leant on it with your arms dangling over the other side, a smile on your face as you saw some of the other children you knew skating around in circles – some more successfully than others, as you watched a thin boy with short blonde hair try to do an intricate spin on one foot to try and impress his female friend, only he quickly lost his balance and ended up on the floor, his female friend and his other, more rounded friend with spiky brown hair, laughing at him.

            There were couples on the ice as well, skating hand-in-hand with each other, and even a set of instructors to teach the little ones how to skate for the first time. The instructors were all dressed in black coats, some with fluffy black hoods up, hiding their faces, to cover them from the chill.

Too busy staring at the many people skating together, you did not notice someone skate up to the railings that you were leaning on. You only noticed the person after they had turned round, leant their elbows against the railings, next to you, turned their head and had started to speak,

            “Do you want to have a go?”

            You turned your head to look at the person, only there was a black, fluffy hood hiding their face,

            “What? Oh- well I don't know. It's a little cold to be-”

            The person raised their hands to the hood, pulling it down, revealing their - slightly more beautiful than you had been expecting - face.

            “Excuses, excuses. I've heard them all before.” The hood was dropped low enough for you to make out a mass of red, spiky hair, and a pair of bright green eyes that looked playfully at you, “The name's Axel.” He tapped the side of his head with a finger, smirking, “Got it memorised?”

            Surprised by Axel's confident personality, you laughed, but then when you noticed he was looking confusedly at you, you decided not to be rude, and gave a half-hearted attempt to defend yourself,

            “That wasn't an excuse; it is too cold.”

            Axel shook his head, grabbing hold of the railings with one hand, then pushed away and span around so he was facing you, his hands coming to rest so that both of your hands were boxed in by his,

            “So what's your name?”

            “____,” you replied, giving him what you hoped was a friendly smile, despite the fact that your teeth were chattering slightly. He nodded, giving you another smirk,

            “Okay, ____, I'm going to take a wild guess and say you've never skated before?”

            Well, that wasn't entirely true. You had been skating quite a few times before, actually, but never on a frozen lake. You were used to skating on levelled-off ice-rinks where there was no chance of hitting a bump and falling flat on your face. Axel noticed your hesitant expression and smiled again, this time in a more reassuring manner,

            “Come on, it'll be fun! If you're worried about the cold, then I've got enough body heat for the both of us, and don't worry, you won't fall. I'll make sure of it.”

            You pursed your lips, weighing it up in your mind. You were a little cold, yes, but from the happy sounds you could hear coming from the natural ice-rink, you decided, what the heck, you may as well. You nodded at Axel, smiling,

            “Okay,”

            Axel, happy he had coaxed you into skating, pushed back from the railings slightly, grinning,

            “Great.”

            “Oh! But I don't have any skates with me.”

           As Axel began to skate sideways, motioning for you to follow him, he said,

            “Don't worry. You can borrow some from us.” He pointed to a small shack by the edge of the lake, where a man with bright pink, overly-flamboyant hair was sitting behind a screen, taking money and handing out skates to customers.

            “Okay then,” You could tell that there was no way you were going to get out of this, even if it was too cold - and it was too cold; you could see your breath as a white cloud in front of your face.

            Axel, seeing you following him, skated off ahead, over to the shack. At the point when any normal person would have crashed into the shack for travelling at such a high speed, Axel managed to do a hockey stop, spraying ice-shavings into the screen, behind which sat the man with pink hair. He looked quite alarmed.

            “Axel, what are you doing?”

            “Showing off,” he said bluntly. Axel turned to the screen, placing his hands on the small ledge in front of it, then said, “Marluxia, take the price of a pair of skates out of my wages, would ya'?”

            “Sure,” he said, already beginning to scribble things down onto a piece of paper, “but why?”

            When there was no reply, Marluxia looked up, only to find that Axel had already skated off and was currently stood with a pretty girl by the side of the shack, helping her to find some skates that fit. He rolled his eyes.

            Now wearing a comfortable pair of skates – already broken in by the many uses of other people – you walked across to the edge of the lake with Axel just ahead of you, then he stepped out first, skating just a short distance away, then turned and waited for you. You were quick to follow, quite confident in your ability to skate. You stepped out onto the ice, giving yourself a bit of a push with the railings, and came to a gentle stop in front of Axel. He raised an eyebrow, a hand finding its way onto his hip,

Theme 12 - Wall {Kakashi x You}

Atop of the high walls that encircled your house, you could see for miles and miles easily; your vision only being interrupted by the larger walls that protected the village. It gave you almost a birds-eye-view of Konoha, as you lived on a row of houses situated on the top of a hill.

It was early evening and the sun was beginning to set. The sky was a pool of reds and purples, casting the village into shadow.

You tapped your heels gently back and forth against the bricks of the wall, a sketchpad held in one hand, a pencil in the other and a small box of paints sat next to you. With a view as nice as this, you knew it would be a shame not to recreate it on paper.

You brushed your pencil against the paper again, defining the half-circle of the sun.

It wasn’t often that you climbed the walls; it was too troublesome. On your side of the wall stood a large oak-tree; surrounded by many small bramble-patches. Though what were a few bruises when it came to art?

Theme 11 - Masquerade {Itachi x You}

What a bad idea. It had been a bad idea then and it was a bad idea now.

You were walking down the corridor of what could only be described as a mansion, wearing a dress that would be more suited on a prom-queen, and the mask of a bird covering the top half of your face.

This is not how you had planned to spend your Saturday but yesterday Sakura had shown up at our door telling you to pick a number and throwing a bird-mask at you, then told you to come here and meet your ‘knight in shining armour’.

So here you were, not knowing where you were going - the signs saying ‘this way idiot’ in Sakura’s handwriting being a big help. You arrived at the end of the corridor, stopping in front of a door three times your size. On it was a small white envelope.

Theme 8 - House With the Picket Fence {Deidara x You}

You lay in Deidara’s arms, his head resting lazily atop of yours. The pair of you were having a peaceful day in the base after both coming back from separate missions; his an assassination, yours an infiltration of Suna.

The rest of the members were still out on their missions apart from Sasori and Kakuzu, but they kept themselves locked in their rooms, giving the pair of you some time to yourselves.

You rolled over, lazily lacing your arms around his neck. He smiled, leaning forward slightly to kiss the bridge of your nose.

Theme 7 - Flower {Shikamaru x You}

It had been two months since you’d first arrived in Konoha and now - after finally unpacking the last box - you had time to relax.

On the far side of Konoha stood the hills that helped to conceal the village. It was here that you'd learnt to visit when you wanted to be alone. It was a ten minute walk from your house so you went there regularly.

Akatsuki Night In: Snuggle Bug

“How about we play snuggle-bug?” You say merrily. It has been a long long time since you'd last played it; so long in fact that it was before your time in Akatsuki.

Everyone looks at you for a second, then the majority nod, strange looks in their eyes. You notice.

“W-what?” You ask anxiously. They don't reply so you decide to quickly set up the game, brushing it off. You rip up a piece of paper so that there are ten pieces, then as you go to write 'snuggle-bug' on one of them, you feel a hand close over yours. You look up to see Pein standing over you,

“Sir?”

“I'll do that, if it's alright with you.” He says quietly. You know he's not asking but you reply anyway,

“Oh, yes, that's fine.”

You stand up and give the pen to Pein. He sits down and picks up one of the pieces of paper. You look away as he writes the words down, only to see half of the males in the room looking at you.

“What!?”

They don't look away; in fact those that hadn't been looking at you, look as well instead.

'Oh great...- weirdos.'

Just then Pein rises to his feet. The game is ready to begin. He walks around the room, each member taking a piece of paper from him, then he arrives at you last. You take the paper from him and open it.

Akatsuki Night In: Camping

You smile, an idea popping into your head,

“Let’s go camping!”

No one says anything – then Itachi points out from his armchair,

“We go camping on missions all the time.”

You nod, agreeing,

“Yeah, we do, but I don’t mean camping like that; I mean proper camping! With camp-fires and marshmallows and staying up at night making shadow-puppets on the side of the tent!” Again, silence. You sweat-drop, “Aww, come on guys, it will be fun!”

Pein is the first to reply to your idea, sat hidden in shadows at the back of the room,

“I think…that that is actually quite a good idea, ____.” He hears a few protests but continues, “It could be a very good bonding experience and can change the way we look at camping; not having to get up early in the morning to carry on moving.”

You grin; glad someone is supporting you,

“Yeah! Exactly!”

A few of the other members – now looking at camping in a different light – agree with you, thinking it will probably be alright, though a few still complain.

Nevertheless at 7:00pm sharp, all members of Akatsuki make their way from the base carrying tents, sleeping bags and other equipment, heading deep into the surrounding forest. Pein has bullied them into going whether they want to or not.

You walk for a good twenty minutes until you make it to a small coveted area; perfect for setting up the tents. You’re grinning from ear-to-ear, happy that Pein had taken your idea on.

Akatsuki Night In: Party

“Hmm…” you say, pressing your finger to your bottom lip. “How abouutttt…-” You click your fingers. “Let’s have a party!”

You hear a few yells of approval, and Hidan calls, “Fuck yeah! House party!”

You laugh. “No, Hidan, not that kind of party! I mean a real party! Dancing and waistcoats and champagne in small glasses!”

Akatsuki Night In: Drinking Game

Oh dear. To put it politely… oh dear. As you hadn’t managed to think of one single thing to do in over ten minutes, the job had been passed onto someone else, and that someone was Hidan. It had only taken him 0.4 of a second to make up his mind on what to do. He had dashed off, leaving you all in suspense, reappearing moments later with two crates of sake, announcing to you all,

“Ring of fire, anyone?”

Akatsuki Night In: Film Night

“Let's watch a film!” you say happily. Everyone nods and Deidara grins.

“Let's watch a scary film, un! Tobi, grab some popcorn!”

“Yes sir!” Says the masked boy enthusiastically. He scurries from the room, off into the kitchen.

So all of you pile onto the chairs and the sofas, then Hidan picks out a scary film at Deidara request. The blonde bomber looks over to you and smirks.

Akatsuki Night In: Truth or Dare

"Okay, truth or dare, ____?" Kisame says with a grin. It had been his idea to play truth or dare, since you hadn't thought of anything in time... unlucky. Tobi had suggested baking cookies but that was ruled out after the last time; and the less said about that the better.
You stare at Kisame, weighing up your options. Well... the obvious dare he's going to choose is something to do with drinking; it is Kisame after all.
“Dare!” You say with a smile, confident in your choice. You watch the blue man closely, then your smile falters when he gives you a toothy grin.

FFVII ~ 7 minutes in Heaven: Rufus

“N-nine?”
You look around to see who you've got. Your eyes dart the length of the room before you see someone getting up out of their seat. Rufus Shinra. Crap.

FFVII ~ 7 minutes in Heaven: Rude

“Seven?” you ask, already on your feet and raring to go. Now unfortunately for whoever the person is that you'll be spending seven minutes with, you're in the middle of a mega sugar-rush. Unlucky them.
You falter for a second when you see who it is that stands up; not really knowing Reno's partner, Rude, that well, but it doesn't faze you for long.

FFVII ~ 7 minutes in Heaven: Yazoo

“Eight!” you say, looking around to find your partner. One of the silver-haired brothers rises to his feet so you give him a smile and say energetically,
“Hi!”
He gives you an amused look then heads over to the closet. You get up and follow behind him feeling surprising optimistic considering the stories you've heard about the brothers from Cloud. To be honest, you are actually rather curious about him. Surely he can't be that bad?

FFVII ~ 7 minutes in Heaven: Genesis

Special setting:
The night after the party you go to sleep in your bed, laughing at all that had happened. No sooner do you close your eyes, you reopen them to find yourself back in my living-room, where the party had been. The room is full of people you have never met. You look around and spot three males sitting just away from you on the sofa, all looking at you. One of them smiles.

FFVII ~ 7 minutes in Heaven: Angeal

Special Setting:
The night after the party you go to sleep in your bed, laughing at all that had happened. No sooner do you close your eyes, you reopen them to find yourself back in the living-room, where the party had been. The room is full of people you have never met. You look around and spot three males sitting just away from you on the sofa, all looking at you. One of them smiles.
“You didn't think we'd let our old friends have all the fun, did you?”
You take a step back.
“What do you mean?”
”Let's just say we all used to know Cloud...”
“No, I mean what do you mean by have all the fun.”
One of the males, a boy with black hair and a goofy grin on his face, says,
“You're playing seven minutes in heaven with us!”
You nearly fall over.
“C-come again?”
To cut a long story short, you realise you must be dreaming and decide to play along with it. You end up sitting in between two of the males, and then the third passes you a...
“A glove?”
The boy shrugs.
“It's all we've got.”
You laugh and pull out a piece of paper. What's on it?
“W-w-wings...?” You say.

FFVII ~ 7 minutes in Heaven: Zack

Special Setting:
The night after the party you go to sleep in your bed, laughing at all that had happened. No sooner do you close your eyes, you reopen them to find yourself back in the living-room, where the party had been. The room is full of people you have never met. You look around and spot three males sitting just away from you on the sofa, all looking at you. One of them smiles.
“You didn't think we'd let our old friends have all the fun, did you?”
You take a step back.
“What do you mean?”
”Let's just say we all used to know Cloud...”
“No, I mean what do you mean by have all the fun.”
One of the males, a boy with black hair and a goofy grin on his face, says,
“You're playing seven minutes in heaven with us!”
You nearly fall over.
“C-come again?”
To cut a long story short, you realise you must be dreaming and decide to play along with it. You end up sitting in between two of the males, and then the third passes you a...
“A glove?”
The boy shrugs.
“It's all we've got.”
You laugh and pull out a piece of paper. What's on it?
“A sword?”