š Youāre welcome! Shikako as Iron Hartāall the genius innovation of Tony Stark but none of the celebrity scandals!
I have a feeling that, unless its already been outed, Shikako would want to keep her two identities separate. Sheās very grateful that the Iron Hart armor has a face mask because the amount of footage of her is embarrassing. Thereās a twitter account thats just all pictures of Iron Hart mid-battle in an awkward positions.
Thanks! šĀ Pining!kid!Deidara just feels perfect.
Oh man, okay. Ā Iāve already discussed how Shikako is aro/demi-romantic so this isā¦ really. This is a crack pair. I just cannot see it happening in canon in any way, and itād have to be in an AU so far removed from canon that I justā¦
Okay. Letās see.
Ermā¦
Is this one-sided Shikako/Deidara? I mean, the song lyrics donāt necessarily specify? And itāsā¦ uhā¦
I feel like this is an age/role swap!AU plus aā¦ superhero AU? But not the Insuperable superhero!AUā¦ I guess more like Big Hero 6? In the sense that itās technically in the Marvel Universe but also kind of its own thing?
So Konoha Twelve would be older and the Avengers equivalent (in that, theyāre famous and well-established, etc. etc.) but the Akatsuki would be not evil, and also students who become heroes but only on a small scale?
Agh, I donāt know, does that make sense?
And so Deidaraās a Shikako fanboy and totally jumps on the chance to be a hero like her and tries to emulate her explosion abilities with his own clay bombsā¦ I think I just made Deidara into Honey Lemon?
So it would be more about how AUĀ²!Akatsuki become misfit heroes and at the end get to meet the members of Konoha Twelve who are basically like āgood job kidsā and thatāsā¦ all Iāve got, sorry anon, this is really outside of my scope I think. 
Trapped In The Lightbulb Fixation
One day, Deidaraās going to be a famous badass billionaire artist/hero and impress Iron Hart. Today, he has to try not to get kicked out of his chem lab for causing an explosion.
Or, how Deidara and his friends stumble into heroism and learn the cost of power (hereās a hint: it starts with an R and ends with an -esponsibility)
I just discovered from this summary I wrote that Shikako is apparently the Iron Man equivalent? Hart as in deer, but maybe a pun on heart because the Gelel stone is powering her arc reactor? Okay thenā¦ sure.
So my brain first went to Infinite Tsukuyomi because thatās how I filled the last ādark side of the moonā prompt I received but thatās not really sustainable for a full fic summary, soā¦
I know there are already a lot of amazing ROOT!Shikako fics which have gone in varying, fascinating directions, but I think thatās what would best match this prompt title. And also because the request for Sai and thereās only so many options that gives me. Aaand as a title itās a nice foil to Dreaming of Sunshine, even though usually I thematically link Moon to Sasuke.
Which might be part of it, too?
(By the way, I donāt know if Iām rehashing someone elseās ideas but if I am, sorryā¦)
So Shikako tries to interfere with the Uchiha Massacre (by befriending Itachi?) and ends up in Danzoās clutches. But maybe not a full time thingāIām still pretty sure that Yamanaka Fuu had to be trained in the clan mind jutsu, so he couldnāt be completely disappeared off to the bowels of Konoha like with Torune and the many orphansāso she still gets to go home and learn shadow jutsu and despair about all the secrets sheās keeping from her family š
Which gives an interesting twist on her determination to learn fuinjutsu if sheās got the secrecy seal on her tongue (ā¦ maybe not somewhere so obvious, but the idea applies).
Sai would act as her ROOT partner/handler (while she secretly acts as Itachiās Konoha contact/handler?) and when the canon time for Academy graduation comes around, sheās still put on a genin team with Naruto and Sasuke as per canon but maybe she goes on more dangerous with Sai on nights after D-ranks with Team Seven?
Hrmā¦ nah, Iām not liking that too much. Thereās too many wheels and itās not really feasible.
Sai is definitely still Shikakoās ROOT partner/handler (after they both killed off their respective training partners?) and I do think sheās only a part time ROOT memberāin that, sheās still part of the Nara clanābut maybe she was ordered to flunk out of the Academy ābecause of chakra hypersensitivityā or Danzo used his influence to put her on Team One and have them failed? Yeah, having her on Team Seven AND a ROOT member would be way too much to juggle.
And any connection with Itachi would be minor or for much later in the fic. Maybe Itachi remembers the little girl who tried to help him, or maybe he doesnāt, but he definitely finds it suspicious that sheās one of Danzoās agents soā¦
I wonder if Danzo tries to train her as a higher functioning agentāpossibly his successor, if he were a smidge less delusionalāand so her āsurfaceā job is his assistant or something like that. And, well, even if he doesnāt want her as his philosophical successor, then having one of the two possible candidates for Jounin Commander in his pocket is a pretty smart idea.
Yeah, just a lot of precarious maneuvering as a secret ROOT member, trying to build up enough hard evidence to take out Danzo and making sure Sai doesnāt get punished for her own overreaches (Danzo normally isnāt one for whipping boys since that requires emotional attachment on one side, at least, but in this case itās highly effective). The good news is, Sai probably begins his journey to emotional development and mental liberation much earlier. The bad news is, neither of them get to express that while under Danzoās command for obvious reasons. So itās just both of them mentally suffering, but at least they suffer together?
the dark side of the moon
Secrets and silence and synchronous rotations.
Shikako and Sai dance to someone elseās tune and try to stay alive the whole way through.
Oh, and help save the worldāthatās important, too.
Uhā¦ dragon rider!AUā¦ I had to go back in my catalogue and since theyāre not tagged by anything in particular it took me a while to find them, but hereĀ are thoseĀ posts.
So to stay compatible with those previous posts of dragon rider!AU, Team Seven is the crew of Pakkunāthe Hatake clanās middleweight dragonāand Gaara is the captain of a near-feral Shukaku who is Sandās heavyweight.
Hrmā¦ how do I get Shikaara from this set up?
Itās gotta be a Gelel thing, right?
Then again, minus Kakashi, Team Seven and Pakkun were canonically fighting Shukaku during the Konoha Chuunin Exam/Sand and Sound Invasion so it could be a situation in which middleweight Pakkun takes on heavyweight Shukaku without his captain, andā¦ nah, thatās their first meeting how would I make that Shikaara? Unless itās just an adaptation of canon Shikako and Gaara interactions into this dragon rider!AU, but thatās not veryā¦
ARGH! I think Iāve been falling into a trap with these brainstorms of trying to stick too closely to canon or something Iāve already done, and thatās not fair at all!
So Iām going to disregard all that and go with what I would write in a sideways world without previous posts to hold me down:
find me where the wild things are
Beyond the forest,
over the mountains,
across the desert dry,
Is a land full of
adventure where both
humans and dragons fly.Or, Shikako comes from a clan of ground walkers, but thatās not what will save her friends.
A little bit of the already established dragon rider!AU mixed with some fairy tale-esque vibes. I think this version of dragon rider!AU would draw more heavily from the How To Train Your Dragon mythos than Temeraire.
I like the idea that there is a different story going on between Naruto, Sasuke, the Kyuubi, and the Akatsuki madness which Shikako is trying to extricate them from but wonāt actually be part of until, like, ābook twoā of this imaginary now-trilogy.
Book one is about Shikako traveling to Sand where she knows other dragon riders are in order to petition their help or something, and she meets Gaara not knowing he is both the prince and the rider of Sandās strongest dragon until the time for her official royal audience which, because bureaucracy, is a few weeks away.
Possibly Gelel is a dragon that Shikako stumbles upon and bonds withāalternatively itās some magical technique which can calm/heal/control dragons? Unsure. Whatever it is, she uses it on Shukaku to his and Sandās benefit which bumps her up in the petition queue (understandably).
And then thereās the ārevealā when Gaara commits to helping her, and while sheās grateful for that sheās also somewhat hurt that he āliedā to her about his identity, etc. etc.
Yes? I mean I have briefly considered how the SasuNaru ship in DoS would differ from in canon, but I never consider any ship canon unless its actually written by SQ or actual canon (for example Yoshino/Shikaku).
I donāt think Sasuke and Naruto having a relationship would necessarily be something Shikako is overly surprised by, but its not as if sheās preoccupied with the live lives of her friendsāafter all, she didnāt know when Shikamaru and TenTen started dating but she didnāt have a huge reaction either.
Especially if its post-canon. SQ has already said DoS (and Shikako) are running up to a particular point in canon, so the travesty that is Chapter 700 wouldnāt apply which means Shikako has no expectations of what canon relationships Naruto may end up with and even less expectations about DoS Narutoās relationships.
So yes, Iāve thought of it, but nothing extensive or interesting.
So pro patria mori is only the ādie for oneās countryā part of that phrase which is a fairly important distinction from the full version. The implication then is that there is no sweetness or honor, which influences the story that would match this title.
And, since you did not specify a fandom Iām going to step away from DoS (anyway, theyāre a militaristic society, thatās an easy choice) and go withā¦
Iām getting some very strong Harry Potter vibesāunsurprising, given the Latinābut Iām also getting some Kingdom Hearts vibes soā¦
I could do two separate brainstorms or one fusion brainstorm. Letās see.
The thing is, for the Kingdom Hearts fic I know Iād want to do keyblade wielders who died in the war, but that would involve OCs and while I love the KH franchise, I love it because of the characters not the bewildering story soā¦ unless I adapt characters from somewhere else as keyblade wielders.
Donāt get me wrong, I have many OCs and I love them but this fic would call for at least three of them in the KH world before the events of the games and that doesnāt sound appealing to either write or read. Like. I will stick an OC in the events of story that could use a shake up (and a dash of feminism), but thatās different from multiple OCs in the world but not plot of a storyāat that point I might as well adapt it into original fiction.
Alternatively, itād be multiple vignettes of the last moments of various Disney characters as their world fall into darkness (and as they possibly become summons as the last survivors/strong spirits). Which isnāt as unappealing but doesnāt exactly evoke much of a story/summary.
So Harry Potter it is, I guess.
Or, hey, you know what? Most of my Chronicles of Narnia stuff is āfour kids in place of the Pevensiesā because I love crossovers/fusions, but I do actually love the Pevensies and I especially love canon divergences in which Peter, Edmund, and Lucy donāt die and we get to find out what kind of badasses all the Pevensies grow up to be in the real world.
And timing wise that might match up with Tom Riddleās own rise to power. The Pevensies arenāt magical, but they arenāt exactly normal muggles either, and I do love the idea of Pevensies battling the Death Eaters. But itās so removed from the battles of Narnia that itās not the same.
Itās not for glory or honor or for protecting their kingdom. Itās bloody and exhausting and horrific. For a good while I think they begin to doubt themselves, especially when the magical world (as ungrateful and useless as in canon) consider them invading muggles who need to obliviated and imprisoned in Azkaban.
Andā¦ I think they die. Or at least, three out of the four of them die, and Susan as in canon lives on and decides to live on. Away from the horrific tragedy that took her family from her.Ā And arguably that could very well be compatible with HP canon seeing as how we donāt know all of the details of Voldemortās first rise. Yeah?
Pro Patria Mori
Britain is still their home, for all that itās not Narnia, and theyāve never been one to let evil freely reign. But they are not the kings and queens they once were:
There is no magnificence or gentleness, no justice or valianceāthere is only war.
Cool? Not one of my own childhood movies, but I was always fond of how the Barbie movie franchise looked at any and all fairy tales and was likeāhell yeah, weāre doing that somehow. Doesnāt matter if there arenāt any female characters traditionally, stick a heroine in that story.
Canāt really think of how a Princess/Prince&Pauper!AU would work because who looks enough like someone else toā¦Ā
Oh, waitā¦ Sasuke and Sai?
Maybe thatās Saiās fairy tale origin in Tamed?
Hahahaha! š
As soon as you put on a mask, youāve joined the Kakashi hive mind:Ā Kakashi is all, all are Kakashi.
Maybe itās a running joke in ANBUāany unidentified masked people are called Kakashi, and while eventually it becomes a sort ofĀ āoh, of course, scarecrows that makes senseāĀ the truth is itās referring to the one, the only, infinite masks himself.
I am now wondering about a Majoraās Mask fusion/crossover, but unsure where Iād go with thatā¦
Christmas doesnāt quite jive with Naruto worldās culture, but there is an annual festival held in December in Nara, Japan, called the Kasuga Wakamiya On-Matsuri which I think would be a suitable winter holiday substitution that the deer summons would be involved with.
Letās see, the festival IRL is nearly a millennia old and was meant to offer prayers to eradicate an epidemic and ask for rich harvest. Which could easily be reimagined as how the Akimichi-Nara-Yamanaka alliance becomes solidified (or changes from servitude to friendship) when the three of them came together to stop a plague and pool resources.
Seeing as how Shikako is the first full summoner in a long time (canonically, Sembei-obaasan hasnāt been able to summon Heijomaru for a while) thereās probably a role that the deer summons used to have in the festival that has gone undone for several years, or modified to use regular deer (who, while no doubt smart and friendly to people, are not as capable as sentient ninken), or human stand-in for the summons (like a chosen person wearing a ceremonial deer mask).
So I guess itād be a lot of clan lore, a lot of world building, a lot of Shikako being trolled by Sembei-obaa and all the other elderly clan members sending the youngins off on various errands. Team Ten is also greatly trolled by the respective clan elders.
Maybe also being trolled by Heijomaru? Shikako having to keep track of Nagaoka (because as the youngest member of the Sika Tribe, he plays an important role in the festival?) which as a very excitable fawn is extremely difficult.
Basically ābackstageā mishaps for the festival featuring the deer summons and clan mythology. Maybe thereās a parade through Konoha with the deer summons at the front (which Iām sure Shikako is suuuuuper fond of) except Nagaoka is missing and Heijomaru and Sembei-obaa are just watching, amused, as the youngins run around trying to find the meaning of Christmas. I mean, the meaning of friendship?
An (Almost) Relaxing Day
āTwas the day before festival,Ā when all through the compound,
the young leader of the paradeĀ was nowhere to be found.
His summoner searched in the village displeased,
knowing the venture would not pass with easeā¦ā¦ it did not.
(No, I would not write the entire thing in that format. Just this summary. Which, embarrassingly, took me a disgusting amount of time.)
JackSGreyson Says 