Tag: brainstorm

‘paint with all the colours of the wind’ Sai; Naruto

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I know what this is referencing, but for some reason I just cannot get this Teen Wolf fic out of my head. More specifically the fake children’s TV show that Scott and Stiles have and the catchphrase in which Scott says “I have rainbows in my daydreams,” and the audience is meant to shout back “Paint the world!”

I guess in the accidental-television-celebrity ‘verse that has Shikako as the equivalent of Indiana Jones and Bear Grylls I would totally want Sai and Naruto to have a kids show that’s a little bit like the one Scott and Stiles have in that fic.

A little Reading Rainbow meets Bob Ross, I suppose, with the adorable epic friendship of Troy and Abed from Community… relationship?

Also, in my defense, Naruto has already made his media debut in the same movie Shikako did. Except where she got the my older brother is dead action-adventure potential sequel subplot, Naruto got to hit the bad guy with a Rasengan of RAINBOW CHAKRA and if that isn’t a potential spinoff of it’s own about defeating negativity with colors and art and friendship then…

I lost track of where I was going with that.

So basically anon:

Paint With All The Colours Of The Wind

According to Naruto, every episode of Colour Time is their best episode ever. According to Sai that is a denotationally impossible statement.

Regardless of who is right, they’re both having fun and that’s all that matters.

(The ratings are nice, too)

Like with Shikako, they probably stumble into children’s television stardom accidentally–Team Seven luck holding strong and all that–I’m thinking Naruto and the Konohamaru corps are trying to explain the painting things for fun. Sai doesn’t quite get it because, not only are his paintings practical literal weapons, but also graffiti is against the law and won’t the Hokage be mad at them?

The Hokage is mad at them, but the Hokage is also wilier than them (not sure if I’m talking about Tsunade or Kakashi at this time but it applies to both) and not only has them clean up the mess but also has them tagged for all the painting related D-ranks in perpetuity.

Murals everywhere.

The Konohamaru corps are probably also punished alongside them for the “first episode” but after that it’s always a different genin team.

And I guess they go around painting fences and houses and etc with charming murals (there was a lot of rebuilding, wasn’t there? Functionality was prioritized over aesthetics, but better late than never right?)

And because Team Seven luck, something always goes… sideways with these punishment D-rank missions. Nothing DANGEROUS, but definitely weird. And, of course, the power of art saves the day?

Like, early on the problems are actually pretty small. Two of the genin are fighting and Art and Friendship helps resolve their differences. Then at one point there’s two businesses who can’t agree on their shared wall or are rivals or something and because Art and Naruto’s empathy and Sai’s more practical problem solving they join up and are now a combination bakery and blacksmith. Which is not a thing one would think would go together but is unsurprisingly very popular in Konoha.

And it escalates.

They don’t really leave Land of Fire (not as well traveled as Shikako’s bizarre fuinjutsu trips) but they do move beyond Konoha. Possibly even to the Daimyo’s court where somehow the bitter decision of succession is solved when all of the Daimyo’s heirs just… paint it out? And realize they all love each other as siblings? And most of them realize they don’t want to be daimyo or only like part of the responsibilities and, hey, how convenient that they’re all complementary parts. I don’t know.

Like Shikako’s adventures, Colour Time starts pretty low-tech. Photos of the respective murals and the murals being popular installments of art, the painting process (with Naruto’s more creative methods including but not limited to: paint balloons, wind jutsu, just throwing an entire paint can at the wall, bodily rolling in paint and using his clothes as a roller, his hair once and never again, Rasengan pretty frequently until the Hokage made him stop, etc) getting recorded and uploaded by the respective genin teams. Sai just tends to use brushes at first. Until he becomes more comfortable with himself and makes COLORFUL PAINT ANIMALS WHO THROW THEMSELVES AT THE WALL and thus beats all methods Naruto has used thus far.

I think I’ve gotten off track?

I guess maybe if graffiti artists were also children’s television hosts that’s what Colour Time would be. And ninja.

fake fic, dos, “seven deadly sins”

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Seven Deadly Sins

Even heroes have flaws. Team Seven just happens to have more than most.

Oh anon, this has to be an extended Team Seven character study right? Like with each of the members as a respective deadly sin. I mean, I don’t know what else would match so perfectly? Let me just figure out which character is which sin, I guess?

I mean, I suppose it doesn’t necessarily have to be canon DoS extended Team Seven. Perhaps this is set in the Friendship Is A (Mutual) Con ‘verse? Regardless it’d still be character studies of sorts, perhaps different POVs of a greater heist/mission…

Actually, yeah lets go with that.

It starts with Sai, dressed up as a waiter with a platter of hors d’oeuvres. Gluttony. In his mind he’s thinking about how he’s empty. How he’s always hungry. No matter what he does or what he eats it all just tastes like ink on his tongue. Nothing can sate him. He’s a yawning black hole that consumes and consumes.

He holds the platter out, watches as a man takes one unheedingly and begins to eat. Begins to choke. The hors d’oeuvres have scallops in it and the man is allergic to shellfish. The man also has access to the building’s security system.

It’s okay, there’s a medical student in the crowd, she can mitigate the allergic reaction, and if she hands off the man’s key card to Sai while opening his shirt collar so he can breathe? Well, who notices the waitstaff?

Paramedics show up, take the man away–just in case–and Sakura is the darling of the gala just as planned. “Your necklace is beautiful,” she says to the CEO who comes to thank the hero of the hour in person.

Envy for Sakura, then. At having to play distraction. At having to stay in this relatively safe and boring role. DoS or not, she wanted to be more involved. She wants to be a proper field agent, like Shikako, wants to be where the action is not outside as decorative and useless as a flower.

Better than getting ogled and groped by ladies (and men) old enough to be his grandparent, Sasuke thinks, drifting closer and closer to the guarded doors. Lust. Probably some wordplay to make that bloodlust, too, because while he can’t exactly go around punching rich old ladies (and men) at the very least he gets to “drunkenly” fight the security team, enough for the rest of Team Seven to go through.

He gets a very stern talking to, which ought to have been getting booted out of the gala, but he does look very nice in his suit so…

Over the comms, Naruto laughs, his own outfit less formal and more “cat burglar.” Sai has control of the cameras, has been narrating the goings on of everyone for intel and for fun, as well as some of the alarms, but there’s a field of lasers and pressure sensors that can only be turned off in the morning or by a panel on the other side of the room. It’s okay, Naruto’s got this. Pride. He’s the best.

After a no doubt amazing montage of Naruto breakdancing out of the way of lasers and disarming the room for Shikako to scuttle through. There’s a vault and between the two of them they open it quickly. Inside the vault, though… they’re only supposed to take the contents of one of the boxes–the one Kakashi-sensei told them to–but somewhere in here are the blueprints for prosthetics that have been bogged down by red tape because it’s not profitable enough. Greed. She needs it for her brother.

Cut to Tenzou, arm around another guard’s neck, slowly lowering them to the ground as they fall unconscious. Sloth. He’s only supposed to be back up, doesn’t approve of this job really, why are they taking so long? They should have been in and out minutes ago.

And along comes Kakashi, sauntering in, subtly waving Sasuke and Sakura away. Eying one of the security cameras, knowing Sai will pass on the order. He wasn’t supposed to be on site, not really. It’s his job but he’s too emotionally invested. This was the company that killed Obito–and Rin, years later, when she began asking too many questions. Kakashi goes to the CEO and dispenses his Wrath.

… So… if you’ve ever watched Leverage (which I highly recommend, it’s on Netflix and maybe Hulu too?) you probably know exactly what I’m imagining here…

dreaming of sunshine, kakashi (and maybe team 7) from any au, ‘Wolves like you can never truly be tamed, can they?’

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That phrase is a little long for a title, wildtabbykat, so I’m going to shorten that to

Tamed

“Wolves like you can never truly be tamed, can they?”

Or, elite jounin Kakashi Hatake takes on his biggest challenge yet: adulthood.

And, you know, making sure the idiots under his care don’t die.

AKA Kakashi’s ANBU shenanigans! Probably heavily featuring a greatly hassled Tenzou, badass former captain Mikoto, way too many trips to the hospital, awkward bodyguard/babysitting missions for all of baby Team Seven, and probably a few “flash forwards” to Sasuke’s own ANBU training in which ANBU Wolf comes out of retirement long enough to mess with his adorable genin. And also, you know, to be badass himself.

Touch a single hair on his adorable genin’s head?

~Sharingan no Kakashi has arrived and is ready to murder the fuck out of people~

Which would be canon DoS interpretation of the prompt, but you did specify an AU so hm…

Hrmph… I got it!

It’s definitely going to be

Tamed

Through a series of bizarre and, frankly, unappreciated events Big Bad Wolf Kakashi has somehow found himself responsible for not one, not two, but THREE different Happily Ever Afters.

The sooner he can get these three fairy tale protagonists back on track, the sooner he can return to his lone wolf ways–he’s got a reputation to maintain, after all.

Featuring: Sasuke the angrily awake Sleeping Beauty; Naruto the Giantkiller who does less killing of giants and more talking them through their problems instead; and Cinder’kako who would prefer to stay at home and play with fire than go to some ball and get MARRIED. Ugh.

Kakashi has his work cut out for him.

I’m actually really fond of this AU now and I just made it up in five minutes. Aw, snap, I think I like this better than the canon DoS ANBU shenanigans summary.

Team Seven in a fairy tale world defying their prescribed roles and doing whatever they want. Which is becoming a group of badass heroes, obviously, with a “reluctant” Kakashi keeping them safe and “trying to bring them back to their respective stories.”

Sasuke–through the sheer power of vengeance and fury, probably–woke himself up from Itachi’s century long sleeping curse, cut his way through the wall of thorns, in order to kill his brother and revive his kingdom.

Naruto, striving to be friends with everyone–even his own villains–ends up talking it out with the giant (who might definitely be Jiraiya) and getting some cool human sized questing gear in exchange for not letting everyone know that he’s hidden himself in a cloud castle to write smut instead of running the kingdom that he “earned” by finding Princess Tsunade. She runs it better than he ever could, anyway?

Shikako is pretty self explanatory, I think. The Nara family aren’t evil so much as they are fondly exasperated at the increasingly destructive experiments happening in their backyard. They were hoping by sending her to the ball she’d get hired by the royal family as some kind of explosives expert for the kingdom’s army, but they suppose her going off questing is an equally acceptable outlet.

Kakashi really just wanted to be left alone in his forest and read the smut that Jiraiya the Giant writes. Alas, it is not to be.

for the fake fic titles challenge: ‘blitzkrieg” kuroko no basuke, with kuroko and anyone else of your choice

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Anon! Anoooooooooon! Aaaaaaaah! This would be the perfect title for the Trailblazers x KnB crossover I’ve been doing. I would totally love to use this as the title for that. Pleeeeeeease? It technically fits your prompt?

If not, then I guess a non crossover fic would probably be something like:

Blitzkrieg

Speed, strength, surprise–the three factors to victory. He has the last–has it in spades–but the first two?

He’s going to need help with that.

Okay so not a crossover, but maybe a slight AU. Unsure if I just want a Canon Divergence AU or an Age Swap AU, but basically after the Generation of Miracles falls apart in their Melodramatic Boy Band Breakup™, Kuroko finds the Aida gym (or is guided to the Aida gym?) and he and Riko become Friends™ where she basically whips him into shape.

He’ll never be Miracles worthy physically, but combined with a more active training of his misdirection and increase in his base ability will compound.

And along with Riko come the other second years who basically, as per canon, help Kuroko get over the Melodramatic Boy Band Breakup™ through the power of Friendship™.

Or maybe not second years if I do an Age Swap and Kuroko is the one that’s a year older. Hm, how would that even work?

Oh man, but that makes it sad since if Kuroko is a second year at Seirin and the basketball team doesn’t come about until Riko, Hyuuga, and Kiyoshi become first years then that means Kuroko deliberately chose to go to a school that didn’t have a basketball team. Which means the split up Generation of Miracles brawled it out their first year of high school without Kuroko and probably did not get the Emotional Closure™ they desperately needed.

That’s so awful.

I love it.

And it kind of puts an interesting spin on the Uncrowned Generals because they weren’t senpai swept away by a bunch of kouhai. They’re kouhai striving to match their senpai. Which, I mean, is kind of the usual and doesn’t seem all that compelling, but the idea that the Miracles is a kind of “one day maybe I’ll be that good” goal instead of a natural talent and good fortune sort of helps with the hard work can turn someone into a Miracle which Kuroko’s training would be aimed at.

Or perhaps, at first, it’s not really training.

Maybe Kuroko is Heartbroken™ after Melodramatic Boy Band Breakup™ but he isn’t ready to go back to basketball, which is why he chooses Seirin which has no team, but he still want to be ready and in shape for when/if he does go back. And I legit have no idea what his canon home life is like (headcanon is that it’s just really empty and sad) and he doesn’t even have a dog in this AU so maybe he tries to get a job at the Aida gym. He doesn’t really need money, since his parents are providers if nothing else, but he just wants a reason to be out of the house.

Most places he can’t really work at because his unconscious misdirection means he can’t really be in customer service jobs or even, you know, apply. But while the Aidas aren’t immune to his misdirection, they do kind of learn the trick to perceive Kuroko and it’s not like he’s working there to be a trainer. He’s probably just doing stuff like cleaning the equipment, making sure everything thing is organized properly.

OH!

So when Riko becomes a first year and the basketball team is being made at first she asks Kuroko to be the manager 😀

Because he already does basically that at the gym and it’s not like he’s told her the truth about the Melodramatic Boy Band Breakup™ so as far as she knows he was just a third string on the Teikou team–loved the sport but couldn’t play at all. Which isn’t exactly wrong.

Oh man! Yeah! And then Seirin’s first practice game Kisei’s just like–wtf, Kurokocchi why are you not in a uniform? And everyone’s just baffled because Kuroko is their manager and why is a Miracle talking to him?

Unsure how old Kagami should be… He wouldn’t go to a school with no basketball team, surely, so he wouldn’t have gone to Seirin if he were also age swapped like Kuroko. He could be a new second year, I guess… hm…

Uh. My bad, I’ve gotten off track.

Basically, anon, Age Swap Kuroko and Riko Friendship™

(But please can I use the title for the Trailblazers x KnB crossover series, please?)

“Desperate Endeavors,” Shikako and Kakashi (Dreaming of Sunshine)?

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Desperate Endeavors

The first rule of Team Seven is ‘no dying.’

Shikako and Kakashi have seventy two hours to stick to that rule.

(Or, in which Tsukuyomi isn’t torture. It’s a Trial.)

Non canonical, obviously, but basically the first thought that came to me from the title was as Orpheus and Eurydice-esque vibe. Platonic, please.

I had actually pictured it more of a literal death and Shikako, having been dead before, would be the best choice to guide Kakashi back. But I couldn’t really figure out the mechanics of how that would work or how Shikako would know it would work and as much as I think Shikako loves Kakashi (again, platonically) I don’t think she’d risk dying for such a minuscule chance to revive him when there are so many other people she loves that would be there to stop her.

If it were for Shikamaru, definitely. Naruto, she’d have to. Sasuke, probably? But with Kakashi, I don’t know… there’s a sense of… not only would other people not want Shikako to do it, but Kakashi wouldn’t want her to either? I’m pretty sure I’ve written this somewhere, but his greatest fear is putting one of his precious people in danger–him being the cause of their deaths (again)–and it’s DoS canon for the Hospital arc that he can barely accept them pulling a couple of all-nighters researching to save his life much less Shikako literally entering the death plane with much risk to her mortal soul. Or whatever deal she’d have to strike with the Shinigami or Gelel.

So literal death was out.

And then I remembered, hey, they were both in Tsukuyomi at the same time. And that’s… kiiinda like a death plane. So I figured, what if Tsukuyomi weren’t so much a set it and forget it torture genjutsu as it was an astral plane that just happened to be full of torture.

Like. Maybe Itachi just never used it on more than one person at a time? Maybe, given how much of a “pacifist” he is, torturing people mentally is something he does for a personal touch? Or not often enough to realize that there’s more to Tsukuyomi than the set it and forget it torture? I dunno.

But the point is, during their seventy two hours / one month of being in Tsukuyomi, Shikako and Kakashi basically break out of their isolated torture bubbles, find each other, and try to escape. It’s Bizarro Konoha featuring seven year old Shikako and barely-in-his-twenties Kakashi.

Maybe they stumble on the other victims of Tsukuyomi–or their shades, as such–in their own isolated torture bubbles. Including bby!Sasuke, poor child. Maybe they meet Shisui and he helps them out? MAYBE THEY MEET MIKOTO?!

I suppose it’d basically be a two person version of Lies Beyond Morning, except less head-trip-y and more run/escape the nightmare. I do like the idea of both of them being in their seven-years-ago-bodies and Kakashi having to bodily carry Shikako around because she is very small now and they are up against an army of Itachis and she cannot run very fast. Curse these short legs.

Maybe it’s a little bit of a… like when Ino went up against Orochimaru’s horcrux. Information goldmine, but at what cost. Like a leftover roadmap to Itachi’s mind (so I suppose more Inception than Kingdom Hearts), and if the two of them don’t get caught then they can uncover the truth behind the Uchiha Massacre. I mean, Shikako already knows. But this is a way for her to share what she knows with someone else. And, also, getting to the “safe” means getting out/waking up.

Shikamaru, DOS, “Babysitting”

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Babysitting

Doing a favor for his sister probably shouldn’t feel so much like doing a D-rank mission, but apparently–despite being S-rank war heroes–Team Seven really might as well be a bunch of children.

(Or, that ONE TIME Shikako asked her brother to look after her team for a week and he STUPIDLY agreed)

The funny thing is, I’m pretty sure that Shikamaru is actually really fond of actual children. The eagerness to help out with Baby Kino, the fact that his “dream” includes having two kids. If it didn’t require so much effort, he’d probably want to be an Academy teacher.

Shikamaru loves kids. He does not love overpowered idiots who act like kids. Poor Shikamaru, the title is not literal.

I don’t exactly know what would happen in this fic except for a bunch of The Hangover-esque shenanigans. I don’t even know why Shikako needs Shikamaru to watch her team.

Probably the rest of Team Ten is helping, too, but it’s very possible that Ino and Chouji contribute to the chaos: Ino and Sai have decided to paint floral murals on the administrative building, Chouji has brought all of Kakashi’s ninken to an all you can eat barbecue restaurant. Asuma (because… maybe he’s alive I don’t know) and Naruto are trying to outdo each other with wind ninjutsu and have managed to blow off the roofs of some buildings. They might also be having an ongoing heart to heart about their vastly differing emotions regarding the Sandaime. Sasuke keeps getting into fights with the chuunin on patrol. All of them. Every chuunin, every patrol. Shikamaru can’t find Kakashi ANYWHERE.

(Kakashi is definitely the child that wanders off in the grocery store and is only found when the PA system announces a clean up is needed in aisle four, will someone please collect their strange grey-haired child)

I think maybe it’s Shikako and Yakumo’s genjutsu-fuinjutsu collaboration. Or like a seal that’s meant to self-activate whenever a genjutsu is cast on the person (like an automatic kai) except it kind of backfired and now Team Seven think they’re in a genjutsu? Actually, now that I think about it… maybe they are actual literal children via temporary de-aging? Mentally, at least 😀 

Basically, it’s Shikamaru running around trying to herd the worst cats and his own team making things EVEN WORSE.

When Shikako comes back he swears never again.

And Way Down We Go. I’ve been listening to Kaleo and this struck me.

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Another song inspired title with no other context, so I listened to this song on loop and tried to narrow down the idea so I wouldn’t end up rambling horribly like with I Am Your Lionheart, so hopefully you like what has shaken out, anon.

And Way Down We Go

This is not her journey. The fate of this world does not rest on her shoulders.

But she’ll be damned if she doesn’t try to help anyway.

I hope it doesn’t come off as me recycling previous ideas, but for this song I got very strong Tolkien ‘verse feels. More specifically one of those “Shikako gets reincarnated again in a different universe.” I mean, I suppose it doesn’t necessarily have to be Shikako’s second reincarnation, it could just be some SI!OC’s first reincarnation, but that’s what came to mind for the song what with all the very powerful Nara-esque lyrics of the song

Anyway Hartley Proudfoot(?) is perhaps not the most typical hobbit–too serious and too quiet and somehow always sad–but the Proudfoot clan is a genteel family, and they’ve always been a bit strange. Perhaps she’ll end up a spinster, unfortunate but not surprising.

Thankfully, there’s a different Shire oddball who has everyone’s attention–Bilbo Baggins, quite eligible bachelor and inheritor of not one but two fortunes… and his mother’s troubles.

(I suppose this would work with The Lord of the Rings instead of The Hobbit, but I am more familiar with The Hobbit give how recently those movies came out, and given the fake fic title it matches more with The Hobbit, I think.)

So, yeah, Gandalf comes around, dwarves in tow, dispensing quests like the world’s nosiest NPC and as they leave–the most conspicuous caravan to ever be found in the Shire–Hartley happens upon them.

And here’s the thing–whether or not she is Shikako or some other SI!OC, she knows who Gandalf is. She knows what his presence in the Shire means (beyond just the childish firecrackers that he brings to the Party Tree). She could, very easily, avoid him and live a calm, peaceful, utterly boring life.

Maybe she wants that! (She does not)

So as the group is leaving (or trying to, they seem to be going around in circles for some reason), Hartley approaches them and basically offers up her services.

Which includes as much of Shikako’s abilities as she could transfer over to this world. Which is actually quite a lot.

Seals may not exist, but explosives certainly do. Chakra doesn’t either, but taijutsu is free and the skills from the Academy can still apply. Blades are blades no matter the universe. And animals in Middle Earth are a lot hardier and smarter than the ones she knew from her first life. Maybe the deer aren’t Heijomaru and her summons, but the antlers are not for show.

As far as the dwarves know, two Hobbits just means that if one dies along the way they’ll have a backup. As far as Bilbo knows, he appreciates not being the only civilized person in the group (although he knows the Proudfoot clan are… odd, and Hartley isn’t exactly proving him wrong). As far as Gandalf knows, the last hobbit who asked him to go on an adventure was Belladonna Took.

So, yes, Hartley is added to the fellowship. And, I mean, without doing a massive retelling with all the stations of canon, she does change a few things but not everything.

But she is a hobbit, and in this world hobbits can do great things beyond themselves.

There is no romance on Hartley’s part (Bagginshield is, of course, up to interpretation) but she does become friends with all of the dwarves. I would like for her existence to change the fates for the line of Durin–whether that means for all of them or only the nephews…

She knows what the ring is. I don’t think she’d take it from Bilbo, since he did hold onto it without issues for decades, but maybe she’d tell Gandalf. Maybe that fellowship of the ring has a different lineup, a few decades early.

Maybe she and Tauriel (and Dis) bond over being badass ladies. Maybe, instead of heading all the way back to the Shire where she’s never really belonged, she platonically lives with Beorn and raises ginormous deer a hop and a skip away from all her friends.

Fake Fic for the girls of DOS ‘Nevertheless, She Persisted”

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Nevertheless, She Persisted

There is no easy path to becoming a kunoichi; no open doors or vacant spots.

Or, how every woman creates her place.

So this would, obviously, be character studies for the ladies of DoS (or, even just canon Naruto seeing as how poorly treated they are) and their struggles to become the women and kunoichi that they are.

Unsure if I’d just stick to the Konoha Thirteen ladies or include some of the adults. But seeing as how I’m probably not going to write it anyway, I guess I might as well go into what I’d write for all of them.

So Tsunade, Yoshino, Kurenai, Anko, TenTen, Sakura, Ino, Hinata, Shikako? Maybe not Shikako. DoS is already from her POV and we already see her struggles so…

For Tsunade I’d probably go in depth about how she was the first combat medic. How, when she began studying medicine, everyone was kind of relieved? That the princess would be staying behind and healing in the village. Except, no… this princess wants to go out on the field. This princess wants to be on the front lines. She’s going to punch everything.

I wonder if Mokuton is actually a bloodline or a Hashirama-unique ability. Because if it is a bloodline, then Tsunade not having it would add to the whole–oh no, just stay in the village, you’re not as powerful as your grandfather–and her literally creating a super strength technique is a rebellion against that.

Yoshino… well… I suppose all my feels for Yoshino are in my Stars Also Dream series (never mind that it’s a Star Wars fusion/crossover) though otherwise as a non-clan kunoichi there’d be a lot of overlap with TenTen and Sakura’s stories.

Kurenai… there’s something to be said about a kunoichi who is so completely the typical kunoichi but still becomes a jounin. And, don’t get me wrong, I have a lot of love for women who defy gender norms and this applies to kunoichi as well. But there’s part of me that’s viciously pleased to see a woman excel not despite but through the gender norms. And I suppose this might apply to Shizune, too what with the poisons and barrier seals and all.

The difference between special jounin and jounin doesn’t seem like much, but I imagine for Kurenai it was huge. I have the feeling that she might have fallen into that trap that Shikako side-stepped. Genjutsu was her specialty and so she accepted a promotion to special jounin because of it early on (it explains why she’s only recently become a jounin even though she became a chuunin at fourteen I think?). And then she had to become even more of a master of genjutsu in order to make that leap between ranks. And it may very well have been something that people told her to give up on. Or tried to “help” her by telling her to expand her repertoire–essentially mimic Tsunade and get a combat specific talent to complement her genjutsu–but that’s not who Kurenai is. Of course she can fight, but she’s not going to stray from who she is just for a promotion.

Anko’s would be very much so a post-Orochimaru thing for her. She’s trying to be a good and loyal Konoha soldier but no one fucking trusts her anymore. No one wants her on their team, no one wants her for their mission, for a long time she can’t handle classified information. She can’t do shit. But of course she’s going to still try. Of course she is. If she gives up, if she defects, then that bastard wins. It doesn’t matter what everyone else thinks of her, she’s Anko Mitarashi, certified badass, she doesn’t need anyone else’s approval but her own.

I have a lot of TenTen feels but I don’t know if they’re cliche or not for a TenTen character study. It’s a lot about how she’s clawing her way up. Her pinpoint accuracy isn’t a natural talent, not a bloodline. It’s something she worked hard at. It’s something she suffered calluses for, scrapes and cuts and nicks. TenTen was running errands for the blacksmith and learning about different alloys alongside furtive, hesitant attempts to memorize flower types and their meanings. The girls were taught calligraphy to better go undercover and blend in with nobility, but TenTen forced herself to choke it down because it would help with fuinjutsu. She’s not good at the typical feminine arts, no matter how much she tries she’ll never be the next Tsunade, but she can be the first TenTen.

DoS Sakura is definitely different from canon Sakura so a character study of her would be different, too. But it’s still hard to shake the Tsunade parallels–I mean, they exist in DoS still as well so–especially since she’s a medic in training who wants to one day be a field medic and is learning a super strength technique to do so.

DoS Ino I would do post Sasuke Retrieval arc because I have a feeling that her being so adamant about Shikamaru not quitting as a shinobi might be a parallel to him doing the same for her. I think, maybe, Inoichi and the other Yamanaka clan members probably meant well? When they said she didn’t have to be a shinobi anymore. That she could retire. That after such a traumatic experience, it’d be understandable. And she was, maybe, considering it. If Orochimaru was influencing her, he’d want her to get stronger. Want her to insinuate herself even further into Konoha. Turn her into a sleeper cell. Retiring would mean she’s not a risk to her village. But retiring would also mean giving up, giving in, and she won’t let Team Ten go on without her.

Aaaand Hinata… it’s gotta be about her clan. Her awful, terrible clan. Man they’re the worst. THE WOOOOOORST. I mean… do I even need to write what this would be about? This is basically canon Hinata’s character arc (or what isn’t built around Naruto, anyway).

I guess I could add Shizune and Yakumo… but I don’t really know enough about either of them?

I am your lionheart? For the prompt thing?

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

Okay so this is clearly a reference to the Of Monsters and Men song King and Lionheart which is about the artists who are brother and sister. So with that alone and no specific fandom or character for context I guess I’ll shuffle through a couple of potential fics I’d write for this title?

So the thing is…

The nearest fic I have that I think best embodies a “you’re my king and I’m your lionheart” vibe would be my FFVII fic Into Thin Air, in which my SI!OC is Cloud’s genderfluid twin. (And, well, given that I’ve always pictured Windy to have curly hair then it’s kind of hilariously on point since Cloud’s spiky hair could be a crown and Windy’s curly hair would be a mane). Except, obviously, that’s already titled.

It may also apply to the Into Thin Air x Naruto crossover series I play with every now and then. It does have an additional layer of feels, beyond the parallel of Naruto is Cloud’s distant descendant, since in the beginning Windy is depressed and traumatized and grieving and doesn’t have the energy to be brave for this strange child that looks so much like her brother but zie tries anyway. For this familiar looking touchstone, zie’ll try.

I don’t think I’d do a DoS fic for this since it’s very obviously a “Shikako’s feelings about Shikamaru” and that’s already included in Dreaming of Sunshine so anything I’d write would be redundant? (I’m actually surprised that this song hasn’t already been recced for the DoS Soundtrack for the Nara twins. Especially for the Land of the Moon arc… I’ll just scuttle over there and do that real quick)

Hm, let’s see…

… Maybe if I were a little more keen I’d do a Katsuki siblings fic for Yuri on Ice, because surely Mari has a lot of thoughts surrounding her glass hearted national skating ace baby brother except I would rather read this fic than write it because I have no idea what those thoughts would be and how best to articulate them… (… or 映利’s POV)

I think I’m getting off track, anon.

Okay, flat out from the title alone–no trying to shoehorn it into a series I already have, no adhering too much to the song and the artist’s meaning–I’m getting Katekyo Hitman Reborn vibes but for two different fic which is… okay.

One fic would be from Kyoko’s POV, in a Kyoko-is-Sun-Guardian!AU or even in my Trailblazers ‘verse, and it would be about her growing up from cardboard-cutout-of-a-shounen-love-interest into a vital part of an international crime organization and it would definitely include her determination from Ryohei (and Tetsuki), her platonic feelings about Tsuna, and her opinion of Vongola.

Character study, basically.

The other fic I don’t think I’d ever actually write, given I already have Trailblazers as an SI!OC fic, but I think I’ve actually done a fake fic summary for this idea? (Ah, here it is)

Basically, Tsuna has a female twin. One who isn’t as disastrously dame as he is, but is still plainly average. The Sawada twins are Vongola’s “spare and mare” (in the nobility used to have three children the heir, the spare, and the mare) but given that all the heirs are dead (or unfit and frozen in magical ice) that means Tsuna and Nina (short for Giannina and to match the 27 thing?) are the only heirs left.

And while pitting the twins against each other in a competition to inherit a crime organization doesn’t automatically have the same emotional resonance as the song, I do kind of think at the root of Nina’s conflicted emotions about the situation that she’s doing this for Tsuna. The world of the mafia is dangerous, her brother can barely get through a school day without a bruise or scrape of some sort, he’s repeatedly said he doesn’t want to be part of the mafia. So she’s going to defeat him and become Decima so that he doesn’t have to.

He’s “king” in the sense that he’s the most important person to her and she will brave the sins of Vongola for him, but only so long as he doesn’t actually become “king” of Vongola.

above the abyss: what it means to be a nara (from the pov of our new baby kinokawa? older maybe)

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

Ooh… Baby Kino Fic… I am both delighted and wary by this one, anon. He’s literally a newborn so we don’t know anything about him and I don’t want to presume what Silver Queen will do with him.

Then again, given the timeline of canon, baby Kino will only be at most four years old when the final Big Bad clash happens so it’s not exactly as if he’ll have a definitive personality by that point anyway so I could predict anything and it probably won’t contradict much.

Let’s see…

—

Above the Abyss

Kinokawa Nara grows up in the shadow of shadows, knowing his place in the world.

(Or, five times someone was wrong about Kinokawa and one time they were absolutely right)

—

The problem is, I just said five and one because that’s fandom standard but I don’t actually know what the five and one are. It just felt like the right format for this? I mean, a character study for a literal newborn kind of needs some support via formatting.

Here are some vague ideas that I have for this fic:

1) Much like his older siblings, Kinokawa is a very intelligent baby. Shikako possibly suspects too much like her and too intelligent–as in, also reincarnated from the real world. Shikako makes some very oblique references to canon to see if Kino reacts in any way. After several failures to respond, Shikako abandons the idea. Kino’s unusual maturity isn’t because he’s a reincarnated SI!OC–he’s just a super chill, very intelligent baby.  

2) Kinokawa spends a lot of time meditating? He is the most patient child? Calmest child, wisest child, Shikaku has no idea what’s going on. But he knows better than to presume what said child wants to do so he’s kinda like… Kino, did you want to go to the Fire Temple instead of the Academy? Because, I don’t know, maybe his third child wants to be a monk–Shikaku refuses to be surprised at this point. Thankfully(?) Kino is quite satisfied with going to the Academy, so… (One day he will be the equivalent of Kasuga-jiisan, I think. The wise old mystic with complete understanding of the spiritual side of the Nara clan jutsu. But that is several decades in the future)

3) According to @jickysilver, Kino is a precursor for Shikadai in that he’s a Nara boy with pretty eyes (and probably has fangirls). Said fangirls originally assume that he’s dark and mysterious and broody, a tortured soul who needs love to cure his inner sorrow. He is not that at all. Kino is the softest and sweetest child, he probably makes flower crowns with Ino-nee at the shop.  Or he gets free pastries from the Akimichi bakeries for doing easy errands for them. He is so gentle with animals, he probably talks to stray cats–Tora actively seeks him out. So soft. If anything, the truth increases the number of fangirls he has.

4) Shikamaru spends the entirety of Kino’s last year at the Academy overly paranoid that he’ll follow in their sister’s footsteps and end up on a team with awful luck and constant danger. It’s not helped much that there aren’t any Yamanaka or Akimichi in his class? (There’s a set of Akimichi triplets at the Academy but they’re in the year below and the next upcoming Yamanaka is only a second year, damn it). But come team assignments, Kino’s put on Team Six** with a Nohara and a Kurama under Shizune-san and Shikamaru will never admit that he cried tears of relief.

5) @jickysilver made the fantastic suggestion that the day Kino graduates from the Academy, six of the paperwork nin retired. They just couldn’t do it. Oh, they respect the Jounin Commander, but they cannot go through this a third time. Sure, Shikamaru isn’t nowhere near as bad as Shikako and the rest of Team Seven, but still. Their nerves are already frayed. They need hazard pay at this point. But, weirdly enough, not only does Kino not end up on disastrously bizarre missions he turns in fantastic reports. Just. The best reports. Bless this child. He turns them in on time, with everything filled out perfectly and not a coffee circle or grass stain in sight. (Possibly ends up joining the administrative team at least on a part time basis when he becomes a chuunin a la Iruka-sensei, and enjoys it. He finds paperwork soothing. The rest of the paperwork ninja chant one of us, one of us, while bringing him under their easily frazzled wings. His siblings do not understand at all but support whatever makes him happy).

+1) on the day of Kinokawa Nara’s birth, once all the visitors have gone home and only mother and child remain in the hospital room, Yoshino tells the newborn, “You’re going to make us so proud.”

… oh… I guess that’s five and one.

Yeah?

(**My headcanon for the Academy’s team designations/numbering system can be found here, but basically Team Six is the “general support” team unlike the heavy hitters that make up Team Seven. So relatively safer for one’s baby brother’s genin team.)