Word Prompts (I25): Introduction

Konran Uzumaki – Counterpoise

(Spiral in, storm out.)

She wears wire in her hair, braids of red and metal winding round and round her head. Pins blunt against her scalp, sharp points outward, everything hidden under a bandana rigged to blow.

Uzushio’s legacy, beneath dark cloth.

Kiyoshi Utsugi – (In)Difference

(Neutrality brings peace.)

Lightning thrums under her skin, running along her nerves, writhing. Wind at her fingertips, whipping at her cheek, waiting to be unleashed.

Conscious clear, target in sight: shoot.

Tetsuki Kaiza – Trailblazers / Externality / Iron Will

(Fate worse than death.)

The first time around she is furious-regretful-afraid-satisfied, at least, she will be swiftly avenged.

The second time she is desperate: she doesn’t want to go, doesn’t want to do this again, doesn’t want this curse.

By the third she is hollowed out and resigned.

Aomi (Inuzuka) – B*tch Please

(Humanity is beastly.)

The rage in her has nothing to do with the fangs in her mouth or the growl in her lungs. She dreams of hunting intangible things–justice, strength, the future–plans like shaky ground beneath her paws.

Truth and loyalty require sacrifice.

Windy Strife – Into Thin Air

(Steps ahead, left behind.)

The suit sits heavy on her shoulders, fabric stiff and blue still new. The bow, long carried, doesn’t quite match but it fits perfectly in his hand.

Zie is a weapon, forged and honed, then and now.

Reyniero Chason – Running Backwards

(Battle fiercely for the king.)

There are no options, train on the track, future written down and read in the past. And yet, here I am, poised to defy the fate put on him.

If anyone is the spare, it’s me.

Branton Evans – Growing Strong (Burning Bright)

(Thorns, sparks, and silver linings.)

He knows much about regret, had felt it even as he continued to walk away, needing to follow through. Time doesn’t always heal, sometimes it erodes instead.

Nevertheless, things can still be salvaged.

Haru Kuwabara – (En)Closure

(Winning might be everything.)

Go is a battle, is a conversation, is life–according to her grandfather anyway. But she knows death, so she knows that despite all the drama, go is just a game.

But against gods and murderers and the stark face of justice, it’s a nice thought.

Ember Ketchum – A Year With The Moon

(Knowledge is double edged.)

Sight beyond does not make her immune, does not make her anything but a liability. Her entire existence is a dilemma and now, it seems, she has made the wrong choice.

Behind a glowing wall in her mind, she watches herself attack her brother.

~

A/N: Surprisingly, the word prompt is relevant to the writing! Except for the last one, each section is basically a motto + three sentence fic (or four sentence fic) summarizing my various OCs. Almost like little trailers for the different series… (The last one isn’t because I realized that Ash having a twin during the first Pokemon movie, ie the one featuring Mewtwo, would have the potential for EPIC FEELS).

Basically, after my weird breakdown/rant/fit of low self-esteem that I had yesterday I kind of wanted to make up for that. Sorry, again, @to-someplace-else, it wasn’t your fault, I go through moods, I hope you (and other readers) enjoy this.

Post Word Count: 422, TOTAL Word Count: 10860

So… last day of November. Unsurprisingly, did not meet the NaNo quota but that’s okay because a lot of my posts this month (like this one) were three sentence fic and for some reason I wrote a lot of poetry…

Ask Box Three Sentence Fic, 4/? (2016-10-26)

image

(1 – anonymous – Shikako/Sasuke, battle prowess)

Every fight that Shikako has is a new one–she has a near endless list of abilities and the intelligence to utilize them.

But Sasuke has trained beside her even before they became a team, and he knows her more than anyone else.

She still takes his breath away.

image

(2 – anonymous – more 3.4, Shikako/Gaara, modern royalty!AU)

“The crown princess of Wind Country’s coronation is next month,” Dad says, blandly, as if he were talking about a particularly flavorless bowl of porridge.

For once in their lives, Shikamaru moves faster than she does, “Not it,” he says, finger to his nose, smug at the sound of his sister cursing.

It’s not exactly Once Upon A Time but, nevertheless, that’s how it starts.

image

(3 – anonymous – Haku/Shikako, post-canon wandering, home)

No one from Konoha really understands it, the need to keep moving, keep learning, keep growing–if she stops, she’s dead, no matter that all the threats have been dealt with.

But Haku was raised traveling with Zabuza, the wind in his hair and the road beneath his feet.

It’s not about running away from something, or running to someplace: it’s about running with someone.

image

(4 – anonymous – reincarnated as puppy… B*tch Please)

A bark and a whine and two pairs of puppy eyes staring beseechingly up at you.

The black puppy with white spots licks at your hand; the white puppy with black spots brazenly flips belly up, twitching his paws.

“Fine,” you huff, far less exasperated than you aim for, “But only this once,” you add in a tone that not even you really believe.

image

(5 – anonymous – more 3.4, Shikako/Gaara, modern royalty!AU, tabloids)

“It’s your portmanteau,” Sakura explains, carefully clipping out the newspaper article and handing it over to Ino who slides it into their scrapbook next to a pressed red camellia.

“My what?” Shikako asks, eyeing the floral cover dubiously.

Ino sighs, rolls her eyes, “Your shipping name, Shikako, honestly; your PR team has their work cut out for them.”

~

A/N: So for anonymous 4′s prompt… I actually already have a SI!OC-as-an-Inuzuka-ninken series–I don’t do much with it, but it seemed to make more sense to use that than to have it somehow be Shikako.

Anyway, in B*tch Please, Aomi is the littermate of Akamaru and also Kiba’s ninken (if Hana can have three, Kiba can easily have two). You can check out that tag if you’re interested in the few other ficlets I’ve done for the series.

B*tch Please drabble (2015-11-29)

Meeting my new mother for the first time–after being born again, that is–explained a lot. If Kuromaru-alpha is a very large dog, then Shiromi-mother is a giant.

Right now, Akamaru-brother and I are about the size of normal puppies, but according to what I remember, we’re going to grow to be huge. Much larger than the Haimaru-litter-packmates, larger than Kuromaru-alpha even. Well, Akamaru-brother will, at least. I’m not so sure about me. I shouldn’t even exist, after all.

“The runt has returned,” Shiromi-mother says in human language, her voice is deep and strong–no doubt corresponding to her massive lungs.

Kuromaru-alpha and the Haimaru-litter-packmates are about the size of dogs I’d seen in my previous life; like a Great Dane or a Saint Bernard, except far more ferocious looking. But Shiromi-mother was an impossibility–a dog the size of a bear!

No wonder Kiba-brother would one day be able to ride Akamaru-brother! I don’t know if I’ll get that big, too. I’m the runt, a puppy that shouldn’t have lived and a person that shouldn’t exist, I don’t know anything about my future.

“Shiromi-mother,” I say, in my small puppy voice, steeling myself for the conversation.

“Oh? The runt has something to say?” Shiromi-mother doesn’t mean to be cruel, it is how a higher ranking packmate should talk to a lower ranking one. But it’s such a deep contrast from what I remember of my own mother, that I can’t help but feel hurt.

“I don’t want to be a breeder,” I say, as calmly as I can, even though this is something that twists me up inside. I want to do what’s best for the Inuzuka clan, and any female–even a runt–is something precious, a future mother to continue the line. And, well, it’s true I am scared–the world is a dangerous place, and Inuzuka familiars are expected to keep up with their human counterparts.

But I don’t want to just be some puppy-making machine, no matter how well treated breeders are. I want to be able to change the world–or at least help keep my part of it safe.

“I want to be a ninken!”

~

A/N: Realized it was midnight and scrounged together a tiny scene from B*tch Please. Hehehehe, it’s pretty fun.

B*tch Please drabble (2015-11-22)

The first few weeks of my new life was somehow both boring and frightening. I couldn’t see anything, could barely hear anything–all I could do was feel the way others effortlessly moved me about.

For some reason, I was small and so incompetent, that others needed to help me with absolutely everything–moving, eating, cleaning myself–it was pretty embarrassing.

My hearing and sense of smell kicked in soon enough, oddly before my sight did, which made my situation less frightening and boring. But also more bewildering.

My name is Aomi, I used to be a girl who enjoyed manga. Now? I’m the littermate of Akamaru and one of Inuzuka Kiba’s ninken.

I’m a fucking dog.

Communication is different when you’re a canine. Yes, there are some vocalizations–barking and whining and, occasionally, if Kuromaru-alpha doesn’t catch us fast enough, howling about the injustice of having to wait for dinner–but a lot of it is body language. A wagging tail is obvious, even non-Inuzuka humans know what that means, but even the tilt of a head or the splay of our legs can mean different things.

That being said, I didn’t fully think through just how well Inuzuka really understand their ninken.

“Danzo-asshole,” I growled, head tucked down from my customary spot in Kiba-brother’s hood–while Akamaru-brother preferred to rest on top of our human partner’s head, I liked the warmth and relative privacy of the hood; like a hammock just for me. “God, that bastard just needs to fuck a cactus and die.”

Akamaru-brother, being a relatively normal ninken puppy, whined and flicked his ears in confusion. Kiba-brother, being a fairly uncouth seven year old boy, snickered at my statement even if he didn’t fully understand everything.

Tsume-alpha, on the other hand?

I yelped, kicking my paws out futilely as a comparatively large hand plucked me from my warm spot by my scruff and shook me in scolding.

“Just where did you learn that kind of language, Aomi?” She asked, teeth bared in a sadistically pleased smile, “Kiba! You’re not being a bad influence on your ninken are you?”

While my human partner and littermate protested such a thing, I whined, turning my head this way and that in conflicting efforts to escape and show submission. Kuromaru-alpha, from his place on the floor, looked up at me distinctly unimpressed.

Eventually, I ceded defeat, tail tucked between my legs and beseeching puppy eyes on full blast.

“Nice try, pup,” Tsume-alpha laughed, before tossing me through the air. Before I could land on my feet, Kuromaru-alpha snapped me up, fangs gentle on my puppy skin. I’d witnessed him bite through a kunai once, and knew what kind of power he could wield–but he was my alpha, and for all that Akamaru-brother and I were annoying and mischievous, he would never seriously hurt us.

Tsume-alpha walked toward her study–a disorganized mess of scrolls and furniture that somehow expertly managed the Inuzuka Clan, Konoha’s Sensory Squad, and the Veterinary Department of the hospital–and we trailed behind her obediently.

Her tattoos and wild features looked out of place sitting at a desk, and yet she looked all the more dangerous for it, “Now then, Aomi, how do you even know councilor Shimura Danzo and just why do you think he needs to die a painful and shameful death?”

The best and worst thing to happen to me in this second life–barring the whole having been reborn at all thing–was definitely Juujin Bunshin.

For Akamaru-brother, when he and Kiba-brother used the technique, they became mirror images of each other. But when I used it, I turned into myself. Or, rather, the myself I used to be before I became a dog named Aomi.

“Whoa,” Kiba-brother breathed, face as astonished as I felt.

I pressed my hands–hands, not paws!–to my cheeks, passing it across my face. No muzzle, a dry nose, lips–soft, sparse peach fuzz instead of thick fur.

I ran to the slowly moving stream cutting through Team Eight’s training grounds, my brothers and hunting mates following after me. The water was glassy enough that I could see my face. My human face.

And it really was mine–even with the Inuzuka tattoos which I never had before, it was still recognizably me as I had been.

Human.

“I’m human!” I barked, then paused, “I’m human,” I tried again, but only a whimper escaped from my throat.

“Aomi-sister,” Akamaru-brother whined, crowding close to be picked up the same way he did whenever Hinata-hunting-mate needed cheering up.

“Aomi,” Kiba-brother said, so low and soft that I knew something must be wrong.

“I’m not human,” I cried, letting my brothers wipe away my tears.

A/N: Some random excerpts from a Dreaming of Sunshine inspired semi-humorous SI!OC fic in which said SI!OC is not reincarnated as any human but, rather, as a puppy.

I don’t think I’ll pursue this seriously, but the idea was pretty fun to play with so no doubt more snippets will hit me later on.

Anyway, some unnecessary headcanons under the cut!

Aomi was the runt of the litter and probably would have died had it not been for SI!OC’s soul clinging tenaciously to life. She also turns dark blue when she eats a soldier pill in contrast with Akamaru’s red.

Like Shikako of DoS, Aomi is a fair bit more motivated than her twin (not that that’s hard considering Shikamaru is laziness personified and Akamaru is literally a puppy) and works to be able to speak like a human–like Kuromaru and Kakashi’s ninken).

As for Aomi’s name: 青美. Well, I was considering Aomaru, since all of the Inuzuka dogs that are named are “color-maru” but then I decided I wanted a girl’s name. I chose the “mi” suffix instead of the other common girl’s names suffix “ko” because Aoko seemed too human sounding and also since “maru” can mean both round/circle and perfection, “mi” (as in beautiful) kind of fit well. So, Red Perfection and Blue Beauty for a pair of puppies.