Ask Box Three Sentence Fic, 9/? (2016-11-03)

(1 – anonymous – Shikako & Ibiki, partners in crime)

Shikako glances at the box in Ibiki’s hands, then to the still smoking pile of rubble in front of them, then back at the box.

“I mean, if you really get into the letter of the law, technically–”

“You’re twenty years too early to be lecturing me about technicalities,” Ibiki interrupts her, before doing the same glance between box and rubble, “… but, yes, this isn’t actually illegal.”

(2 – anonymous – even more 6.1, Shikako/Haku, Project Runway!AU, Haku comforting stressed out Shikako)

During the three months before Fashion Week, Haku visits Shikako’s home–it’s further south and thus hotter than his own, full of sprawling forests and rolling hills and bright sunshine. In a way, it explains a lot about his designer.

Haku enters Shikako’s work room and finds her flopped over onto a nest of fabric scraps, a line of coffee mugs standing guard: that explains the rest of his designer.

(3 – anonymous – Shikako’s alternate rise to stardom… Primadonna Girl (Says No Thank You)!AU?)

Shikako blinks away her tears, hiding her sorrow as her brother leaves, she tries to keep quiet but the sudden implacable thought hits her: this might be the last time she sees him alive.

She tries to shout, but her voice is twisted with utter dread–this is when a swell of music will be edited in to reinforce her feelings, she really hopes it’s not more My Heart Will Go On–on cue, she manages to choke out, “Shishimaru!”

“Cut!”

(4 – anonymous – Team Seven, revolution against injustice)

The Jounin Commander ends up in a coma and she knows it doesn’t compare–he’s still alive, she still has her mother–but she goes to her team, desperate and shaken.

“We’re going after Danzo,” she says, doesn’t ask, doesn’t need to ask, certainly not after she explains everything he’s done.

She used to be concerned about plausible deniability–about subtlety and staying under the radar–but what’s the point of that now?

(5 – anonymous – Shikako/??, bodyguard!AU)

Shikako Nara is the Jounin Commander’s daughter, friends with the major clan heirs, and a burgeoning fuinjutsu master. Powerful, but vulnerable.

Danzo tasks Sai with her protection–and her recruitment–but it seems he has still somehow underestimated her.

~

A/N: I realize now that keeping track of word count while doing Three Sentence Fic is counterintuitive, because the point of NaNoWriMo is to hit 50,000 words, but the point of Three Sentence Fic is to be succinct…

I mean, I’ll still do it, but now I know not to be disappointed in myself for having such a low word count–I’m literally writing at cross purposes.

Post Word Count: 322, Running Word Count: 1039

Ask Box Three Sentence Fic, 8/? (2016-11-02)

image

(1 – anonymous – Team Seven as dragon riders)

The Uchiha have always been people of fire, dragons passed down throughout the generations.

Naruto was born bonded to the strongest dragon in the world.

Shikako comes from a clan of ground walkers–a family satisfied with their forests and herds–but she’s always dreamed of flying.

image

(2 – anonymous – music Shikako has shared with her friends)

They are a crowd of colorful silks and beautiful patterns, a troupe of pretty musicians invited to perform for the daimyo: with Yakumo’s genjutsu, as far as the audience knows, all five performers are on stage even though two of them are sitting off to the side.

Further in the palace, kimono traded for stealthier outfits, the strains of music reach Ino and Shikako’s ears–familiar music, even.

Shikako murmurs with a smile, “Smooth Criminal, really?”

image

(3 – anonymous – more 6.3, Shikako/Gaara, youkai!AU / Inuyasha!AU)

For someone meant to be the reincarnation of a priestess, she finds herself empathizing with the demons more than those on their supposedly holy mission.

“Step aside, Shikabane, this demon is not worth your efforts,” the cloaked priest says, hand extended towards them.

She stays where she is, unwilling to move from her spot in front of Gaara’s prone form, “My name is Shikako, and I won’t let you hurt him.”

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

She fidgets, tries not to, keenly aware of how literally outclassed she is here; she knows she’s wrinkling her outfit and hopes that Ino won’t notice.

He keeps blinking, so tired but unable to sleep, insomnia combined with secondhand nerves and the duties of being one of Her Majesty’s younger brothers.

They bump into each other, an awkward clash of limbs and a flurry of stilted apologies–the photos instead capture a theatric tableau of love at first sight.

image

(5 – @captainlibrarynerdstuff – even more 6.1, Shikako/Haku, Project Runway!AU, outsider POV)

“It’s all luck,” Netsui snarls, leaning in close when the cameras are away, “You’d never have gotten this far without it.”

The other models observe, judging: it’s obvious which designs are at the bottom this week, and Netsui’s designer has never won a challenge.

Haku smiles, silent, and walks away.

~

A/N: No worries, still doing this, though I may start using prompts that’ve been languishing on my to-do list from before I started this three sentence fic meme. I hope those prompters don’t mind.

Post Word Count: 319, Running Word Count: 717

Ask Box Three Sentence Fic, 7/? (2016-10-30)

image

(1 – anonymous – more 6.1, Shikako/Haku, Project Runway!AU, Haku POV)

Being a model is stressful enough without being in a competition against and living together with a bunch of other stressed out models–but its worse when everything is being recorded.

“I’m fortunate to have such a talented designer,” Haku says, with a smile wide enough that everyone else in the house will think he’s being duplicitous and leave him alone when, in fact, he has never been more sincere in his life.

He really is lucky Shikako chose him and continues to choose him–she was always so creative and talented and driven and ever so careful to make sure he was comfortable with her designs–she’s so out of his league.

image

(2 – anonymous – Team Seven, idol!AU with rookies!genin, former-idol-turned-manager!Kakashi, and company-president!Tsunade)

“So we have a self-taught guitarist, a classically-trained cellist, and a drummer who was originally slated to be a pyro-technician,” Tsunade sums up, after reading through the three files handed to her by a grinning Kakashi.

“She can still be our pyro-technician, if she wants,” he says, completely unhelpful, as per usual.

“Well,” Tsunade says, considering, “This is either the worst thing you’ve ever tried to get approved or they’re going to be famous.”

image

(3 – anonymous – Shikako/Neji, taking the world by storm)

Like the moon pulls the sea,
waves and tides,
something compelling,
waxing and following.

Sight beyond,
both space and time,
and the flow of chakra,
burning.

The clarity to act,
the will to change,
drowning all in their path,
pages dissolving away.

(4 – anonymous – Shikako/Neji, taking the Hyuuga clan by storm)

Maybe, if she had been born to this world completely, she wouldn’t have given it a second thought.

Maybe, if she had less to prove and more to lose, she would have stopped and considered.

But they just took out an entire organization that used seals on children to control them–ROOT has been dealt with, the Caged Bird Seal is next.

image

(5 – anonymous – more 5.1, Shikako/Sasuke, cooking battle)

“On this episode of Beat Kakashi Hatake: two of my adorable sous chefs are going to duke it out using an ingredient of my choice to see who gets the honor of going up against their beloved sensei in culinary battle.”

Sasuke and Shikako’s matching expressions convey just how unimpressed with the spiel they are, but–given the cameras around, and the live studio audience cheering wildly–they gamely stay silent.

It doesn’t help that Naruto is practically laughing his head off at the judges’ table.

~

A/N: Did the Shikako/Neji one twice because…  because.

Ask Box Three Sentence Fic, 6/? (2016-10-29)

(1 – anonymous – Shikako/Haku, Project Runway!AU)

“I could dress him in garbage,” Shikako groans from where she’s mashed her face onto the table, “and the judges wouldn’t even notice because he’s so damn beautiful.”

Kiba stares at her, unaware or uncaring of the bright fuchsia sparkles smeared across his face, “You have, actually, dressed him in trash; you won that week’s challenge.”

Shikako sighs wistfully, remembering the distressed vintage-inspired wedding gown she made out of discarded coffee cups: gods, Haku had looked so good in it, and he was so kind about her last minute meltdown when the zipper broke and she had to practically hot glue him into the gown–he’s so out of her league.

(2 – anonymous – Shikako/Deidara, fanboy-ing over Touch Blast)

Sasori glances at his partner: the irritation is normal, the embarrassment is familiar, but the bewilderment? That’s new.

“She touched my face,” Deidara sighs almost dreamily; the seal sequence is inert–Deidara is an S-rank demolitions expert, if he doesn’t want something to explode it won’t–but he’s kept the pattern on his face as if it were an autograph.

(3 – anonymous – Shikako/Gaara, youkai!AU… Inuyasha!AU?)

“Gaara,” she says as calmly as possible, though she can hear the wavering in her voice, “You need to give me the Gelel shard, please, I haven’t purified it yet.”

His green eyes, normally so kind, are clouded over, the markings on his face more vibrant and lethal.

The moon is full tonight.

(4 – anonymous – Shikako/Sasuke, Hades and Persephone!AU)

“He just needs a place to lay low for a bit,” says Naruto, god of tricksters, wind, and the only deity who regularly visits her home.

The Underworld isn’t exactly a welcoming place, but it is the last place people would think to look for the god of summer’s little brother, and she could do with some company.

If Shikako had known it would lead to a six month long literal cold war and a semipermanent roommate she wouldn’t have–well, no, she’s fond of Sasuke, the half year long siege was worth it.

(5 – anonymous – Walking Around ‘verse Team Seven, What Would Sakako Do?)

When Shikako was younger and needed guidance–needed to be wilder or braver or kinder–she would ask herself: What Would Naruto Do?

Over twenty years later, she’d be pleased to know, his son does the same with her daughter.

What Would Sakako Do?

~

A/N: Should I post these on ao3? And if so, as a separate work or as chapter(s) on Dreaming One Shots…